TRUST, BUT VERIFY - AT 8:40 A.M. ET: 

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Saturday it would consider an invitation from its old foe the United States to attend a meeting on Afghanistan and that it was ready to help its neighbor as it battles a growing Taliban insurgency.

The United States said on Thursday that President Barack Obama's government intended to invite Iran to an international conference on Afghanistan planned for this month.

COMMENT:  Watch this one with both eyes, and a third if you have it.  Question one:  Why would we want Iran to have influence in Afghanistan, even if it was, at first, "helpful"?  Question two:  What do we give up in return for its "help"?  Words like "victory" do not come easily to the Obama crowd, and there is a powerful leftoid faction in the Democratic Party that wants us out of both Iraq and Afghanistan so the money saved can be spent on social programs at home.

The key point, of course, is what effect some sudden "cooperation" from Iran will have on its nuclear program, and on our efforts to stop it.  Will we pretend to still be concerned, while letting them move toward a bomb if they help us "bring the troops home" from Afghanistan?  What does this cost us and our allies down the line?

I can almost hear the speeches by Obama and Clinton welcoming the "fruits" of our new "engagement" with Iran, and the digs at President Bush.  It's what we won't be told that can lead to the ultimate tragedy.

March 7, 2009.