I literally started quivering with rage upon reading this article in the New York Sun.  Turns out Iran is CURRENTLY holding American Citizens as hostages, Haleh Esfandiari and Ali Shakeri, to name a couple.  This is really maddening how much we are letting the Iranian government get away with.  What are we going to let them do next, test launch whatever new ICBM’s the have been developing?  Finish their uranium enrichment?  Somebody tell me. 

On the other hand, I was recently listening to a speech by abbas miliani, who, by every appearance, seems to be the most reasonable thinker… who seems to believe that fostering democracy in Iran is the best permanent solution for dealing with the Iranian regime.  Although he has never said it explicitly (to my knowledge)… I would also assume he would agree that a hard showing of political pressure by the U.S. government against Tehran would not help to further this end.    Even so, according to the latest poll findings, Iranians as a whole have a very favorable view of the U.S., despite the fact that we have (mostly) refused diplomatic ties with the current regime.  Quite interesting to say the least.  

I agree with Miliani yet am unwilling to make the compromises necessary to achieve that end without taking a stand in particular cases, especially where individual citizens are involved. I think Bush has dropped the ball big on this Iran thing… let’s hope our next president is another Reagan so we can get those hostages back home…. ASAP.