Is Bush Finessing or Appeasing?

AP reports that President Bush is considering joining Europe in an incentives-based approach to de-nuking Iran:

President Bush is considering joining European leaders in offering economic incentives to Iran in exchange for abandoning its nuclear fuel program, but he has no timetable for a decision, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday.

The Bush administration has opposed any rewards for Tehran's cooperation. During the president's trip overseas last week, European leaders urged him to join them in offering incentives such as possible membership at some time for Iran in the World Trade Organization.

This may not be mamby-pamby waffling at all. It is more likely an incentive to the people in Iran who want to follow their Lebanese brothers to take to the streets and demand democracy and freedom. After all, it's easy for the Mullahs to have an iron fist, and easier for the people to grudgingly support them, if there's a fear that US troops are poised to crush them like a Saddamroach under their heel.

Bush may be thinking that dialing back that threat will remove one more obstacle to the spread of the peaceful revolution he initiated by removing Saddam and bringing free elections to Iraq.