The switch [by the Bush administration to offering direct negotiatios with Iran] is perhaps an unspoken recognition that American public opinion, and the world's, are not likely to swallow easily another U.S. invasion in the Middle East, no matter what the rationale, unless a much stronger dose of diplomacy, in concert with others, is first truly exhausted.

The willingness to join the talks with Iran is also no doubt a measure of Bush's eroding political support at home, which for so long sustained his preference for unilateralist solutions in a world in which the United States is recognized as the remaining superpower.

The inability to put down the insurgency in Iraq, the continuing American casualties there and a public sense of stalemate have all contributed to the poll findings that a majority of Americans now say the war in Iraq was a mistake, and the aftermath badly handled.

For an administration that once failed to give diplomacy an adequate chance, I guess this is progress - unless this latest offer was made to be refused, just to assuage the Europeans. (my emphasis)