...Agency officials told us that they had concluded on their own that the original draft included no classified material, but that they had to bow to the White House.
Indeed, the deleted portions of the original draft reveal no classified material. These passages go into aspects of American-Iranian relations during the Bush administration’s first term that have been publicly discussed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; a former State Department policy planning director, Richard Haass; and a former special envoy to Afghanistan, James Dobbins.
These aspects have been extensively reported in the news media, and one of us, Mr. Leverett, has written about them in The Times and other publications with the explicit permission of the review board. We provided the following citations to the board to demonstrate that all of the material the White House objected to is already in the public domain...
Citations
* “Iran’s Leader Condemns Saudi Attacks,” The Washington Post, May 15, 2003
(Articles on The Washington Post are preview only. Full versions require purchase.)
* “Time to Deal With Iran,” The Washington Post, May 6, 2004
* “Foreign Minister Briefs MP’s on Talks With the United States,” BBC Monitoring, May 20, 2003
* “In 2003, U.S. Spurned Iran’s Offer of Dialogue: Some Officials Lament Lost Opportunity,” The Washington Post, June 18, 2006
* “U.S. Ready to Resume Talks With Iran, Armitage Says,” The Washington Post, Oct. 29, 2003
* “U.S. Eyes Pressing Uprising in Iran: Officials Cite Al Qaeda’s Link, Nuclear Program,” The Washington Post, May 25, 2003
* “Iran, Afghanistan Juggle Hot Potato Hekmatyar,” Time, Feb. 23, 2002
* “The Gulf Between Us,” The New York Times, Jan. 24, 2006
* “Dealing with Tehran: Assessing U.S. Diplomatic Options Toward Iran,” (PDF) Century Foundation, Dec. 4, 2006
* “Iran, U.S. Holding Talks in Geneva,” USA Today, May 11, 2003
* “Mutual Terror Accusations Halt U.S.-Iran Talks,” USA Today, May 21, 2003
* “Press Briefing on Board Plane, En Route Moscow,” State Department Web site, Dec. 9, 2001
Interesting the White House doesn't want to admit Iran's been trying to negotiate with us about Iraq for a few years now. Especially since Iran's main saber rattler, Ahmadinejad, is beginning to have a hard time electorally in Iraq.
Nationwide, his allies won fewer than 20 percent of the city council seats in the elections, held last Friday.
In the politically influential Tehran council, which commands a large budget, four seats went to reformist politicians and eight to moderate conservatives close to the current mayor, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. The winners for those slates included three prominent athletes. An independent candidate also won a seat.
Reformist politicians complained about the vote count, which was controlled by Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Qalibaf. Reformist members of Parliament were barred from monitoring the counting.
But since the elections, some of the most outspoken critics of Mr. Ahmadinejad, a leader whose extreme views have been criticized in the West, have been his former supporters here.
Emad Afrough, a former supporter, said the vote was a rejection of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s “superstitious and populist tendencies,” the news agency ISNA reported.
“People said ‘no’ to a superficial interpretation of justice that cannot tolerate cultural, political and economic aspects of justice and does not respect the rights of citizens,” Mr. Afrough was quoted as saying, referring to the crackdown on civil liberties by Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Sounds like another saber-rattling fundamentalist President is having serious problems with his own Party. It's hard to start a World War without support, isn't it?
Meanwhile, the on the Sunni side of the street, Prince Bandar seems to be trying to do his part to support the Bu$h family business.
...cross the kingdom, in both official and casual conversation, once-quiet concern over the chaos in Iraq and Iran’s growing regional influence has burst into the open.[Iraqi] insurgency, during a visit in October, and they have indicated that they may support Iraq’s Sunnis over the majority Shiites with links to Iran. All were meant to send a message to Iran...
Saudi newspapers now denounce Iran’s growing power. Religious leaders here, who view Shiism as heresy, have begun talking about a “Persian onslaught” that threatens Islam. In the salons and diwans of Riyadh, the “Iranian threat” is raised almost as frequently as the stock market....
...In recent weeks, the Saudis, with other Persian Gulf countries, have announced plans to develop peaceful nuclear power. Saudi officials publicly welcomed the Iraqi Harith al-Dhari, whose Muslim Scholars Association has links to the
The apparent split burst into the open last week when Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington, abruptly resigned after just 15 months. The resignation is seen by many here as part of a long-running battle over Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy.
On Tuesday, Prince Saud al-Faisal, the country’s ailing foreign minister, confirmed the ambassador’s resignation, citing personal reasons. Privately some Saudi officials and analysts with knowledge of the situation say Prince Turki resigned over deep differences with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the national security minister and former Washington ambassador, over how to deal with Iran.
Prince Bandar is believed to favor the tough American approach of confronting Iran, analysts say, while Prince Turki advocates more diplomatic tactics, including negotiating with Iran.
If this is the case, then the successor to Prince Turki as Saudi ambassador — Adel al-Jubeir, a foreign policy adviser to King Abdullah — is a wild card, Saudi and American officials said Thursday.
Polished and American-educated, Mr. Jubeir, 44, once worked for Prince Bandar when he was ambassador to Washington. Mr. Jubeir became well known as the public face of Saudi Arabia, defending Saudi policy after the Sept. 11 attacks, appearing on talk shows and escorting NBC’s White House correspondent at the time, Campbell Brown, around town...
A wild card that does whatever Prince Bandar and King Abdullah say. A yes-man sort of wild card. A wild card that is extremely dependable; just follow the money.
But let's get this straight.
Iraq, now led by Shiia fundamentalists, is basically in accord with Dear Leader's grand new strategeric plan that looks pretty much like the same old plan with more American soldiers.
On the other hand, Bandar Bu$h is funneling money directly to the Sunni insurgency in Iraq- the Al Qaeda-linked one, not the secular Sunni Ba'athists.
On the other hand (there's always another hand in the multiverse), the Iranian people are starting to get really annoyed by their Dear Leader with nukular aspirations, so our Dear Leader's people are going out their way to bury any indication the Iranians have ever wanted to talk peace.
Oh yes, this is indeed the front line of the War on Terra.
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