Ackerman backs Iran outreach

A senior Jewish U.S. congressman slammed the Bush administration for refusing to engage with Iran. “The Bush administration remains stuck behind the idea that diplomacy is equivalent to appeasement and that negotiation is akin to surrender,” Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) said in hearings last week. “Consequently, with regard to Iran, we seem determined to achieve the worst of all policy outcomes.” Ackerman is considered close to elements of the pro-Israel community that back isolating Iran as long as it rejects nuclear transparency. He said the recent confrontational posture the United States is taking toward Iran in Iraq is dangerous unless there’s a diplomatic fallback. “Without question, face-to-face dialogue with the Iranians would be difficult, unpleasant and likely to fail,” he said. “However, if there are no talks, a negotiated resolution of either the Iranian nuclear problem or the instability and violence in Iraq is essentially impossible.”