More on Khatami's visit to the US....

Jeff Jacoby's got it right....

The Bush administration repeatedly warned that Iran would face serious consequences if it defied international demands to shut down its nuclear weapons program. So what did it do when Tehran blew off the Security Council’s Aug. 31 deadline to stop enriching uranium? It promptly issued a visa authorizing one of Iran’s leading theocrats, former president Mohammad Khatami, to embark on a propaganda tour of the United States. It is the first such visa issued to an Iranian president since 1979, when Islamist radicals loyal to the Ayatollah Khomeini seized the US embassy in Tehran and held American diplomats hostage for nearly 15 months.

That'll show 'em.

When it comes to Iran, this administration has been consistent only in its inconsistency. Time and again it has condemned the Tehran regime for its sponsorship of Islamist terror, its domestic repression, and its violent rhetoric. And time and again it has failed to back up those condemnations with action. In September 2001, when President Bush warned that "any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime," the mullahs might have thought they had reason to be afraid. Today they know better.

This schizophrenia is perfectly captured in the State Department's inane explanation for the decision allowing Khatami to enter the United States:

"We recognize that former President Khatami headed a regime that is a leading sponsor of terrorism (and) human rights abuses, and presided over Iran’s secret nuclear program which is now the focus of possible UN action. After careful deliberation, however, we determined that issuing Mr. Khatami a limited visa, and allowing Mr. Khatami to present his views directly to the American people, will demonstrate to Iran that the United States upholds its commitment to freedom and democracy." Got that? It's up to us to convince Iran that we really are free and democratic. And how? By letting one of Tehran's senior propagandists barnstorm across America. Only in Foggy Bottom could people get paid to concoct such arguments.