We need to talk

. . . with Iran. We have had no official contact since 1979, a too-long silence that didn't even exist with the Soviet Union during the Cold War!

http://www.truth-out.org/urging-obama-stop-rush-iran-war/1325349237

Can you imagine how Kennedy and Krushchev could have resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 if they couldn't/wouldn't talk to each other?

Ray McGovern and Elizabeth Murray show the way for Obama to open the communication channels:

1. Make public, as soon as possible, a declassified version of the key judgments of the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear development program . . .
2. Pick up on Adm. Mike Mullen’s suggestion . . .
3. Get yourself some advisers who . . .
4. Issue a formal statement that . . .
5. Sit back and look toward a New Year with a reasonable prospect of less, not more, tension in the Persian Gulf.

Need more background? McGovern and Murray state:

The dangers in and around the Strait of Hormuz were still on Mullen’s mind as he prepared to retire on Sept. 30, 2011. Ten days before, he told the Armed Force Press Service of his deep concern over the fact that the United States and Iran have had no formal communications since 1979:

“Even in the darkest days of the Cold War, we had links to the Soviet Union. … We are not talking to Iran. So we don’t understand each other. If something happens, it’s virtually assured that we won’t get it right, that there will be miscalculations.”

Playing with fire: With the macho game of chicken currently under way between Iranian and U.S. naval forces in the area of the Strait of Hormuz, the potential for an incident has increased markedly.

An accident, or provocation, could spiral out of control quickly, with all sides — Iran, the U.S. and Israel making hurried decisions with, you guessed it, “unintended consequences.”