Barbara Slavin on Ahmadinejad's Visit to New York

Barbara Slavin, senior diplomatic reporter for USA Today and a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, published an Op-Ed in The National Interest on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York. She sums up the implications of his trip well:

"As easy as it is to demonize and ridicule him, Ahmadinejad is a member of a collective leadership that will make decisions in the next few months that could improve the prospects for peace in a troubled region or lead to another devastating conflict. While there is still time, Iranians and Americans should make use of every opportunity for dialogue, even if sometimes it seems like a dialogue of the deaf. As one religious leader, Drew Christiansen, told Ahmadinejad in New York, quoting Winston Churchill: 'to jaw jaw is always better than to war war.'"