...We have to. We pick and choose our battles, looking for the greatest good.
We negotiate with terrorists in the attempt to persuade them not to be terrorists any more. Turn their submachine guns into plowshares and all that.
One of my favorite bloggers (and high on my list of favorite people) is BakerStreet. If you don't read him, well all I can say it that you should. Gentleman and a scholar and all that. I have linked to his blog, in fact.
But this doesn't imply agreement in all things. In fact is has been my pleasure to DISAGREE with him upon occassion for about 5 years now. We do listen to each other and respect eash others opinions, but I have to express my disagreement with two of his recent articles.
If we were to adopt a policy of Zero tolerance toward terrorist nations (Hamas is the elected government of what is, for all intents and purposes a nation) we would need to break off negotiations with both Iran and North Korea to not build nuclear weapons. We would need to add Iran's primary ally, Syria, to this list. And Libya, a former (and maybe currently) terrorist nation. And Hamas financial supporters, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. And nations that harbor and aid terrorists, including Egypt and Jordan. Many of the newly elected officials in Iraq have dubious backgrounds.
Lets cut to the chase. Am I advocating that we might, under the right circumstances, negotiate with Al Quada and the Taliban? (Notice I hedged with the words "right circumstances.) My answer is "Yes." If Al Queda came to the table with a proposal for a lasting cessation of hostilities and renounced Bin Laden and Zawahiri, yeah, I think that we should listen. However morally repugnant, you recognize the reality and deal with it. I think that makes me a realist.
Al Fatah is not a party of innocents that we should bemoan their fall from power. They were terrorists, red-handed murderers, who became the legitimate government. We dealt with them and seemed to gain benefit from that compromise of our values.
Will Hamas change? Maybe. Can we provide the impetus and maybe direction for that change? Possible, but only through negotiation.
Menacheim Begin was a member of the group that bombed the King David Hotel and the Barclay Bank in Jerusalem. He became a respected world leader. Britain has negotiated with the IRA. Heck, they even granted official recogniton to a group of colonists that revolted against King and country.
Change is the only constant in politics and negotiation is a means of guiding that change.