Time for the U.S. to Be Bold with Iran

It's all bad -- the Egyptian coup-by-another-name, the Syrian rebels turning their guns on each other, the ongoing Libyan anarchy. Isn't there any good news in the Middle East these days? Why, yes: Hassan Rouhani will be sworn in as the president of Iran on August 4. I know Rouhani is arm candy for the grim theocrats who run the show over there. But that's not all he is. Iran's next president is a pragmatic figure of moderate temperament who admonished a crowd of clerics in a publicly televised meeting last week that "government's involvement in the social and private lives of people should diminish." And let's remember that Rouhani was the chief nuclear negotiator when Iran agreed in 2004 to temporarily suspend its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for modest economic benefits. Rouhani's accession to power just might be good for Iran, and good for the West.