A 'Good-Cop, Bad-Cop' Approach on Iran (says Armitage) [View All]

[Rose Siding]

SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 20 - It took the bluntest-talking member of the Bush administration - Richard L. Armitage, who is leaving his post as deputy secretary of state - to explain the strategy of suddenly increasing the heat on Iran's nuclear program.

Interviewed on Al Jazeera, the Arab-language television network, on Friday, Mr. Armitage argued that it made sense for Europe to offer incentives to Iran to give up its program while President Bush continues to take a hard line.

"My view would be that the incentives of the Europeans only work against the backdrop of the United States being strong and firm on this issue," he said. "In the vernacular, it's kind of a good-cop bad-cop arrangement. If it works, we'll all have been successful."

That may explain why Iran, which is nowhere near the Pacific Ocean, became a repeated subject of conversation on Saturday as President Bush arrived at his first post-election summit meeting, the annual gathering of leaders of Asian nations and countries from Chile to Canada whose borders touch the Pacific.

http://nytimes.com/2004/11/21/international/middleeast/21tehran.html