Cheney rejected April 2003 Iran offer to open nuclear programme, stop funding Hamas & Hezbollah

[muriel_volestrangler]

What Iran wanted in return was for the US to raise sanctions against Iran, and dismantle the People's Mujahadeen, or PMOI or MEK or MKO (it seems to have several names), which wants to start a revolution in Iran. They wrote to the USA offering this in April 2003. BBC Newsnight has a copy the letter - it was sent via the Swiss from "the highest authorities" in Iran. Instead, the PMOI continue to live at Camp Ashraf, where Saddam housed them, although the Iraqi government wants them out.

Video here (about 20 minutes): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/6272661.stm (Click on 'Newsnight Player', or 'Latest Programme'; it should be up for about 23 hours from this posting). The first 10 minutes or so are background about the PMOI (they're quite strange - they expected 100s of members to divorce, and some set themselves on fire to protest the arrest of their leader); the politics starts around 10 minutes into it.

It includes Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Powell's chief of staff, and now strong critic of Bush. He says the State Department wanted the MEK disbanded; the Pentagon and Vice President's office didn't. They said "we don't talk to evil", so refused to talk to Iran. He says they criticised the Swiss for even forwarding the offer to them.

Way to go, Cheney - just because you wanted someone to help attack Iran later, you turned down the chance for proper peaceful relations with Iran.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Kick, because it never turned up on the 'Latest Threads' page

and someone might be interested that Cheney is blamed for rejecting an offer of cutting off Hamas and Hezbollah funding - who knows, if that had happened, Hezbollah might not have kidnapped the 2 Israeli soldiers, Israel might not have invaded Lebanon, and over 1000 people would still be alive ...

[me b zola]

2. k&r

[TahitiNut]

3. Bullies and sociopaths never negotiate.

Might makes right. :puke:

[Bozita]

4. This thread needs a 5th recommend

[jpak]

5. Done

Cheney has no soul...

[Recursion]

6. The irony is, these guys claim to idolize Reagan

When Reagan's whole foreign policy was based on the idea that we thought the USSR was evil and that's why we wanted to engage them and talk with them, because we knew our values and reasoning could win out over theirs. Which they did. Which they would if we did the same thing with Iran.

[slipslidingaway]

7. Very interesting broadcast and thanks for posting. There was an

article about this offer back in May. Glad to see this is getting a bit more press.


http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/26/iran_israel_and_nuclear_weapons.php


snip>>

"Then he went and wrote a superb article for American Prospect that ties it all together in one neat package.

The story Porter tells is surprising and absolutely essential reading. I'll excerpt now only the broad outlines of the plot, but you really need to read the entire thing.

Iran experts at the State Department had been working throughout 2001 on increasing relations with Mohammed Khatami's Iran. Post 9/11, they immediately realized the strategic value of working with Iran against a common enemy—al-Qaida.

It was the beginning of a period of extraordinary strategic cooperation between Iran and the United States. As America began preparing for the military operation in Afghanistan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ryan Crocker held a series of secret meetings with Iranian officials in Geneva. In those meetings, Iran offered search-and-rescue help, humanitarian assistance, and even advice on which targets to bomb in Afghanistan, according to one former administration official. The Iranians, who had been working for years with the main anti-Taliban coalition, the Northern Alliance, also advised the Americans about how to negotiate the major ethnic and political fault lines in the country."

[slipslidingaway]

8. More on the MEK or MKO that was not mentioned in the

broadcast.


http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rpt/fto/2801.htm#mek

snip>>

"During the 1970s the MEK staged terrorist attacks inside Iran and killed several US military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran. Supported the takeover in 1979 of the US Embassy in Tehran. In April 1992 conducted attacks on Iranian embassies in 13 different countries, demonstrating the group's ability to mount large-scale operations overseas. Recent attacks in Iran include three explosions in Tehran in June 1998 that killed three persons and the assassination of Asadollah Lajevardi, the former director of the Evin Prison.

Strength: Several thousand fighters based in Iraq with an extensive overseas support structure. Most of the fighters are organized in the MEK's National Liberation Army (NLA).

Location/Area of Operation: In the 1980s the MEK's leaders were forced by Iranian security forces to flee to France. Most resettled in Iraq by 1987. In the mid-1980s did not mount terrorist operations in Iran at a level similar to its activities in the 1970s. In recent years has claimed credit for a number of operations in Iran.

External Aid: Beyond support from Iraq, the MEK uses front organizations to solicit contributions from expatriate Iranian communities."



See also the NCRI who helped to organize protests against Iran at the U.N. back in September.

http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/12/26/


snip>>

The President and official spokesman of the National Council of Resistance is Massoud Rajavi.