Bush neo-con zealots blocked talks with Iran in 2003: Two articles

[BrklynLiberal]

POLITICS-US:
"Cabal" Blocked 2003 Nuclear Talks with Iran
Gareth Porter*

WASHINGTON, Mar 28 (IPS) - The George W. Bush administration failed to enter into negotiations with Iran on its nuclear programme in May 2003 because neoconservative zealots who advocated destabilisation and regime change were able to block any serious diplomatic engagement with Tehran, according to former administration officials.

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It also raised the possibility of cutting off Iran's support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad and converting Hezbollah into a purely socio-political organisation, according to Leverett. That was an explicit response to Powell's demand in late March that Iran "end its support for terrorism".

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Leverett also recalls that it was drafted with the blessing of all the major political players in the Iranian regime, including the "Supreme Leader", Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Realists, led by Powell and his Deputy Richard Armitage, were inclined to respond positively to the Iranian offer. Nevertheless, within a few days of its receipt, the State Department had rebuked the Swiss ambassador for having passed on the offer.

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Much More....
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32672
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America's Botched 2003 Iran Diplomacy: No Talks with Evil People in the "Axis" March 30, 2006

What follows is an email sent to me by former State Department Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson.

Col. Wilkerson has given me permission to share publicly:

In fact, in a speech I gave on Iran recently, I stated bluntly that we needed to open a strategic dialogue, we needed to send high-level representation to that dialogue, and only if and when that completely failed should we even be considering "other options".

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From the time of Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech and many, many years before -- it was clear that Iran's behavior was high on the roster of key U.S. national security priorities. We knew that Iran was a big nation, a key player in the Middle East, a financier of terrorist activity beyond its borders, and aspired to regional and international greatness, and that many factions inside Iran yearned for normalization of relations with America. It is a nation full of dramatic contradictions -- but it s a nation that needs to be dealt with, not ignored.

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But it's a real travesty when diplomacy is never really attempted-- and when the force that Cheney's wing of the foreign policy establishment wants applied actually wrecks American objectives, undermines our goals and interests, and frequently gives the thugs that we are trying to confront the legitimacy they need to grow stronger.

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http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001320.php