I have good news and bad news. Good news: Cheney doesn't talk to himself...

[originalpckelly]

Bad news: he also won't talk to Iran.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-18-US-iran_x.htm?csp=34

"LONDON (AP) — An Iranian offer to help the United States stabilize Iraq and end its military support for Hezbollah and Hamas was turned down by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in 2003, a former top State Department official told the British Broadcasting Corp.

The U.S. State Department was open to the offer, which came in an unsigned letter sent shortly after the American invasion of Iraq, but Cheney nipped the deal in the bud, Lawrence Wilkerson, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told BBC's Newsnight in a program broadcast Wednesday night.

"We thought it was a very propitious moment to (strike the deal)," Wilkerson said, "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."

In return for its cooperation, Tehran asked Washington to lift its sanctions on the country and to dismantle the Mujahedeen Khalq, an Iranian opposition group which has bases in Iraq. Iran also offered to increase the transparency of its nuclear program, according to Wilkerson."

[fooj]

1. WE don't talk to evil?

WTF?

[originalpckelly]

4. I'm sure someone in America has had a conversation with old Dick...

but who knows?

[mikelewis]

2. "We don't talk to evil"... yet we'll do business with them... "Halliburton operates in Iran"

Halliburton operates in Iran despite sanctions
How do U.S. contractors legally do business there?

By Lisa Myers & the NBC investigative unit
Updated: 12:24 a.m. ET March 8, 2005

It's just another Halliburton oil and gas operation. The company name is emblazoned everywhere: On trucks, equipment, large storage silos and workers' uniforms.

But this isn't Texas. It's Iran. U.S. companies aren't supposed to do business here.

Yet, in January, Halliburton won a contract to drill at a huge Iranian gas field called Pars, which an Iranian government spokesman said "served the interests" of Iran.

Still, Halliburton stands out because its operations in Iran are now under a federal criminal investigation. Government sources say the focus is on whether the company set out to illegally evade the sanctions imposed ten years ago.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7119752/

Edited with link

[mikelewis]

3. From FOX News... Vice President Dick Cheney pushed to lift U.S. trade sanctions against Tehran...

Cheney Pushed for More Trade With Iran
Saturday, October 09, 2004

While he headed the Houston-based oil services and construction company, Cheney strongly criticized sanctions against countries like Iran and Libya. President Clinton cut off all U.S. trade with Iran in 1995 because of Tehran's support for terrorism.

Cheney argued then that sanctions did not work and punished American companies. The former defense secretary complained in a 1998 speech that U.S. companies were "cut out of the action" in Iran because of the sanctions.

At an energy industry conference in 1996, Cheney said sanctions were the greatest threat to Halliburton and other American oil-related companies trying to expand overseas.

--

Much of Halliburton's business with Iran comes through Halliburton Products & Services Ltd., a subsidiary incorporated in the Cayman Islands and based in the United Arab Emirates. Halliburton Products & Services opened a Tehran office in early 2000, before Cheney left Halliburton to become Bush's running mate.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134836,00.html