I’m sure, like most of you who have an inkling of intelligence, that we readers and consumers of news be it mainstream or otherwise, hardly hear 100% of the news in the world. It is likely that we hear less than 50% of it, to be sure.

So as I’m blogsurfing around I run across the Washington Post article by Glenn Kesler talking about a fax sent to the US about sincere talks, from of all places, Iran. As they write:

Just after the lightning takeover of Baghdad by U.S. forces three years ago, an unusual two-page document spewed out of a fax machine at the Near East bureau of the State Department. It was a proposal from Iran for a broad dialogue with the United States, and the fax suggested everything was on the table — including full cooperation on nuclear programs, acceptance of Israel and the termination of Iranian support for Palestinian militant groups.

But top Bush administration officials, convinced the Iranian government was on the verge of collapse, belittled the initiative. Instead, they formally complained to the Swiss ambassador who had sent the fax with a cover letter certifying it as a genuine proposal supported by key power centers in Iran, former administration officials said.

Are the powers that be so blinded by their own arrogance that they hear only what they want to hear?

The Heretik has a good last paragraph in his post on this:

Before the world blows up, maybe we will now have some sensible talk. Is the goal eliminating a nuclear threat from Iran? Or is the goal eliminating the current government of Iran?

If only we could tell! It seems that we, the people, never have any say in this matter and that even if 95% of us wanted dialogue with Iran, there would never be any unless it was forced upon our governments.

And to put things in their proper perspective, The Washington Monthly has a Note to the post editors about where this article was placed, page A16. Now only if the media/newspapers were unbiased and wanted to really get a public response, they might have realized page 1 would be a better place…