KUHNER: Bush's Iran U-turn

The "military option" could result in a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East. The US is acting wisely and responsibly to explore other options. This is a critical period in the development and balancing of global markets and finance. Rogue nations have quite a bit to offer free trade and open markets if they can be convinced to link up. Other opposing ideologies in the recent past have come to the conclusion that it's nice to eat. If Iran is given the appropriate opportunity to save face I believe they will take it. They have no choice. The alternative is unthinkable. They know they are out of time. The sweat is on. There are numerous ways to make this a win-win situation. Patient careful diplomacy will find them.

Kkuhner seems to have forgotten that there was a time the U.S. had the world's largest reserves of oil and gas and was the world's largest oil exporter. Times change, and reserves deplete --- and that will happen to Iran, too. Also, Iran's oil isn't usable energy in the south and east, because there aren't any pipelines through earthquake-prone desert to those places. Iran may be lying about its nuclear programs, but a plausible case can also be made that it's building for the future, when its oil resources will have been outstripped by the world demand. Kuhner's argument as way too simplistic for my taste.