Now hold on a minute...

For as long as I can remember, which admittedly on stretches back 3 Presidents , every man, or now woman that has had a shot at going for the White House has made the same grand proclamation that "The United States does not negotiate with terrorists," or something along those lines.
But "terrorists," that's a funny word. The Bush administrations have taken it to mean any Arab organization that doesn't coo with admiration when talking about the West. Sure, the Shah was nice to the US but he killed his own people. Still, that's not terrorism, no matter how scary it may be to have a ruler who wants to kill you. So now the Ahmedinejad-backed government is listed as a state sponsor of terrorists. Iran's hardline regime may be unsavory, but their domestic rule is merely an interpretation of the Koran. No motive to induce terror. Likewise, the main reasoning behind labeling Iran as a sponsor of terrorism is that it gives money and arms to Hezbollah who admittedly wreaked havoc across Lebanon in the Civil War.
However, times have changed. To describe Hezbollah as an active terrorist organization would be loose. Leader Hassan Nasrallah condemned the 9/11 attacks. Osama must be banging his head against a brick wall.
Likewise, Kim Jong Il undeniably leads an oppressive, totalitarian regime but has never committed an actual act of terrorism.
Point is, when Obama said yesterday that "The USA does not negotiate with his terrorists," he basically said nothing about rescinding his promise to engage in dialogue with "rogue" states such as Iran or North Korea. Just because they don't like us, doesn't mean they want to blow us up. I'm starting to see how the IDF got Israel into such a mess. Indeed, if we're calling Hezbollah a terrorist organization, surely the IDF are as well. After all, I'd be pretty terrified if I was sitting on Beirut Airport's runway two summers ago and massive craters started appearing all around me. But hey, food for thought.