Using tragic quake to restart U.S.-Iran relationship.(Insider Report)

The devastating earthquake that rocked Iran on December 26, 2003 left tens of thousands dead and thousands more homeless. President Bush responded to the tragedy by airlifting humanitarian aid to the stricken country. The president said the aid was a sign of compassion, not a message that he wants warmer ties with Tehran. "What we're doing in Iran is we're showing the Iranian people [that] the American people care, that they've got great compassion for human suffering," he said in an interview from his ranch in Texas.

However, like Team Clinton before it, Team Bush has been flirting with normalizing relations with Tehran since taking over the White House. The current humanitarian overture appears to be merely a prelude to that normalization effort with the infamous member of the "Axis of Evil." The Bush administration point man in this effort has been Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has publicly floated the prospect of renewed U.S.-Iran ties several times over the past few years. Claiming to see "a new attitude in Iran," Secretary Powell said in a Washington Post interview on December 29 that there "are things happening and ...