Former CIA Deputy: "Even Superpowers Have To Talk To Bad Guys."

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"(E)ven superpowers have to talk to bad guys. The absence of a diplomatic relationship with Iran and the deterioration of the one with Syria -- two countries that bear enormous responsibility for the current crisis -- leave the United States with fewer options and levers than might otherwise have been the case."

That's part of the message delivered in yesterday's Washington Post editorial page by John McLaughlin, CIA deputy director from 2000 to 2004. McLaughin seems to understand that you can't parachute into obstacle courses like the Middle East. Tough talk may lead to applause lines at home, but they don't make a difference when the audience is a state sponsor of terrorism, let alone the terrorist groups themselves.

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To read more common sense from McLaughlin, click here.

[JABBS]

1. more from McLaughlin

There needs to be "intense, unrelenting and daily attention by a senior and respected U.S. figure who wakes up every morning worrying about nothing else -- the role that Ambassador Dennis Ross played so effectively in the 1990s," McLaughlin writes.

As the Center for American Progress noted: "Real diplomacy requires more than just phone calls."