EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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 Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:54 am Post subject: Blundering into Iran? |
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Or just part of the plan? A bungle in the desert or a calculated move to bring conflict in the future? A .pdf of the supposed framework:
Swiss Ambassador Tries to Settle Iran Issue - 2003
Powell tried to push Iran talks in 2003 and was rebuffed
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Former Bush National Security Council official also says Rice likely lied about not seeing document
Former Bush National Security Council official Flynt Leverett, speaking on Wednesday at a forum held by the New America Foundation, told a crowd in a Senate office building that in 2003 then-Secretary of State Colin Powell received a �grand bargain� offer from Iran and was rebuffed by the White House, RAW STORY can reveal.
�I know as a fact from multiple sources this went all the way up to Secretary Powell,� Leverett said, citing multiple sources at the State Department and the NSC. �In [Secretary Powell�s] words, he �couldn�t sell it at the White House.��
Leverett said the letter was also delivered to the National Security Council. Rice told Congress last week that she'd never seen it.
�The document went over to the NSC� and �it is unthinkable� that it wouldn�t have gone to then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Leverett asserted. �She owes Congress an apology for saying she had not seen the document.�
"The statements she is making before Congress are not true," Leverett added, noting that Rice almost certainly "knows" they aren't true...
Guldimann told U.S. officials in 2003 that an Iranian proposal for comprehensive talks had been approved by Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, then-President Mohammad Khatami, and then-Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi...
�This document did not come through official channels but rather was a creative exercise on the part of the Swiss ambassador,� State Department spokesman Tom Casey told the Post...
But Leverett disagreed with that interpretation. "It was a serious proposal," Leverett said, "It was not vague."
He went on to defend the Swiss ambassador, saying that Guldimann "was not some flake off the street," but rather, "a serious official" who was doing his job... |
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