Bush Administration Said NO to Iran in 2003

[dantes76]

Washington 'snubbed Iran offer'



Iran gives millions of dollars to support the Hezbollah movement

Iran offered the US a package of concessions in 2003, but it was rejected, a senior former US official has told the BBC's Newsnight programme.

Tehran proposed ending support for Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups and helping to stabilise Iraq following the US-led invasion.

Offers, including making its nuclear programme more transparent, were conditional on the US ending hostility.

But Vice-President Dick Cheney's office rejected the plan, the official said.

The offers came in a letter, seen by Newsnight, which was unsigned but which the US state department apparently believed to have been approved by the highest authorities.

In return for its concessions, Tehran asked Washington to end its hostility, to end sanctions, and to disband the Iranian rebel group the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq and repatriate its members.


But as soon as it got to the White House, the old mantra of 'We don't talk to evil'... reasserted itself
Lawrence Wilkerson
Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had allowed the rebel group to base itself in Iraq, putting it under US power after the invasion.

One of the then Secretary of State Colin Powell's top aides told the BBC the state department was keen on the plan - but was over-ruled.

"We thought it was a very propitious moment to do that," Lawrence Wilkerson told Newsnight.

"But as soon as it got to the White House, and as soon as it got to the Vice-President's office, the old mantra of 'We don't talk to evil'... reasserted itself."

Observers say the Iranian offer as outlined nearly four years ago corresponds pretty closely to what Washington is demanding from Tehran now.

Since that time, Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah inflicted significant military losses on the major US ally in the region, Israel, in the 2006 conflict and is now claiming increased political power in Lebanon.

Palestinian militant group Hamas won power in parliamentary elections a year ago, opening a new chapter of conflict in Gaza and the West Bank.

The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran following its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.

Iran denies US accusations that its nuclear programme is designed to produce weapons.

Thursday, 18 January 2007, 10:55 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6274147.stm

[dantes76]

US rejected Iranian overtures in 2003
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 18, 2006

Officials in US President George W. Bush's administration turned down a 2003 Iranian offer to begin talks with the US, recognize Israel, and end support of Palestinian terror organizations, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The proposal, which arrived via fax along with a letter of authentication by a Swiss ambassador, was ignored. Reports have circulated in the past that Iran had extended its hand to the US, but the document itself was only recently obtained by the Post - reportedly from Iranian sources - and confirmed as genuine by both American and Iranian officials.



Former administration officials said that in failing to consider the overtures made by Teheran, the US missed an opportunity to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capability. Flynt Leverett, who was at that time a senior director of the National Security Council, said that the proposal was "a serious effort, a respectable effort to lay out a comprehensive agenda for US-Iranian rapprochement."

"At the time, the Iranians were not spinning centrifuges, they were not enriching uranium," Leverett told the Post.

The document details Iran's aims: ending sanctions, development of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, and a recognition of its "legitimate security interests." Iran also agreed to discuss a number of US demands: full cooperation on nuclear safeguards, "decisive action" on terrorism, coordinated efforts in Iraq, cessation of "material support" for terror organizations, and accepting the 2002 Saudi solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"What the Iranians wanted earlier was to be one-on-one with the United States so that this could be about the United States and Iran," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who when Teheran faxed its proposal was serving as Bush's national security adviser. "Now it is Iran and the international community, and Iran has to answer to the international community. I think that's the strongest possible position to be in," Rice said.

Other than Rice, White House and State Department officials refused any further comment on the Iranian offer.


http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...icle%2FPrinter

[shambler1]

Se è per questo anche le loro controparti in Israele hanno rifiutato di trattare coi siriani.
Perchè abbassarsi a trattare quando si è molto più forti?

[dantes76]

Originariamente inviato da shambler1

Se è per questo anche le loro controparti in Israele hanno rifiutato di trattare coi siriani.
Perchè abbassarsi a trattare quando si è molto più forti?

Fonte?

[shambler1]

Ci sono molti articoli su haaret, la settima scorsa e le precedenti
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/814325.html

[dantes76]

Up...

[fsdfdsddijsdfsdfo]

mi piacerebbe sentire gli interventisti adesso.

[dantes76]

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