Ahmadinejad wants peace, the peace of the grave

Right Truth: What is the United States policy on Iran? Do we even have one, or are we just making it up as we go along? I'm not the only one asking that question.

For lo these six-plus years, the Bush administration’s Iran policy has been incoherent. Axis of evil ... but no regime change; incorrigible destabilizer supporting both Sunni and Shiite terror in Iraq ... yet Iraq's helpful neighbor who has no interest in destabilization; the terror master who cannot be negotiated with ... but a rational actor we believe will be brought around by negotiations. (source)

James Lyons in The Washington Times, (hat tip Peaced and Freedom) has an excellent article which reminds us of past acts of war against the United States by Iran. I won't copy it here, you can go read it for yourself. Sometimes we need reminding of all that has led us to the situation we now face.

In "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Man of Peace", Daniel Johnson writes:

The only peace with Israel that is acceptable to President Ahmadinejad is the peace of the grave. Several times he has called for “the false regime occupying Palestine” to be “wiped off the map,” “annihilated,” “eliminated,” or “erased.” Zionists are “nearing the last days of their lives,” and their state “has reached its finishing line.” [snip] It is a standard ploy for anti-Semites to depict Jews as warmongers. In his speech to the Reichstag on January 30, 1939, Hitler, too, insisted that he wanted peace, ... (read more here, emphasis mine)
But what do the Iranian people want, what does the 'average Mo' on the street think?

For The Los Angeles Times, Kim Murphy reports that there is growing open criticism of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s dismissal of UN Sanctions and US demands. This dissent, which indicates that many Iranians hope to avoid war, may pave the way for a compromise.
“If [Ahmadinejad] wants to start a new war, from where does he think he’s going to produce the army?...We are not agreeing with his radical, extreme policies…It is because of the propagandist speech of Ahmadinejad all over the world that we’re in the situation we’re in,” said Iranian political commentator Mohammed Atrianfar.

However, many Iranians fear openly questioning the government. “People cannot show their concern because of the need for solidarity. But they really are concerned now, and this is the discussion deep in all of the families,” said Managing the Atom Fellow Abbas Maleki. (source)

Yet Iranian human rights activist Ghazal Omid says:

... the current government of Iran is working to fulfill its prophesy. "This government can and will work to fulfill its prophecy. A prophecy the government of Iran declares will end in the destruction of the enemies of Islam, starting with Israel and the United States of America."
She says the Iranian government is turning its children into “ticking bombs.” (more at Peace and Freedom)

With the report today that "Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included "reporting of dubious quality or reliability" that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon's inspector general," how sure can we be that our intelligence on Iran is accurate?

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is telling the public that 'serial numbers and markings on explosives used in Iraq provide "pretty good" evidence that Iran is providing either weapons or technology for militants there.' Yet our government is telling the world that 'we have no intentions of attacking Iran'.

Why would we announce something like that if 'all options were still on the table' as we had previously been led to believe? Back to my original question, do we have a plan for Iran? I sure hope so, but it doesn't look like it so far.