News Flash!!! "You can't find Moderates in the Islamic Republic, Gate Says"

Washinton Post: Gates has repeatedly criticized Iranian involvement in providing weapons to fighters in Iraq, including roadside "explosively formed projectiles" -- considered one of the most lethal munitions used against U.S. troops.

Drawing on a Cold War analogy, Gates recalled how he and then-national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski met with Iranian leaders in November 1979 with an offer of diplomatic recognition -- only to be met with Iranian demands that they hand over the shah. Three days later, he said, 66 Americans were seized at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

"The American search for elusive Iranian 'moderates' is a recurring -- and mostly fruitless -- theme since the revolution in 1979," he said.