Powell calls for possible 'Talks with Islamic Republic'

Washington Post ^ | 6/18/03 | Washington Post

[freedom44]

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, June 17 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said today the United States encourages and supports demonstrations against the Iranian government. But he also held open the possibility of restarting secret direct talks with Iranian officials that were canceled after the bombings of Western residential compounds in Saudi Arabia last month.

Powell's comments reflected the delicate balance in the Bush administration's posture toward Iran, one of the three members of the "axis of evil" identified by President Bush, along with North Korea and Iraq before the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

Indeed, last week Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told students in Garmisch, Germany, that the U.S. policy was not to deal with either the unelected ruling clerics or the country's reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. "That's our policy," he said. Rumsfeld said Iran was ruled by a "clerical clique" that has installed a president they characterize as a reformer.

But if Khatami "goes too far, the clerics jerk his chain and stop him," Rumsfeld said. He also said the administration believed it was "not helpful to deal with either the clerics or the president, because they're doing things the bulk of the people oppose." Khatami has twice been elected president by popular vote, the second time in a landslide.

Powell suggested the direct talks had not been suspended permanently, though he refused to say whether any new talks were planned. "I don't think we've ever said anything's been suspended. I never said it," he said. "To suspend a meeting, a talk, for one reason or another, doesn't mean you suspended something forever. That's the conclusion that was leapt to."

[freedom44]

The State Department really needs to be dissolved. After 8 nights of protests Colin Powell comes out spewing crap about talking to the Mullahs. Talk about destroying the hopes of the Iranian people.

[freedom44]

on or off iran ping

[smith288]

Sounds to me, like the State dept wants Khatami to push very hard for democracy and if he gets pushed back, the deal is off and we will support the people any way we can.

[MJY1288]

If Powell sits down with these useless Mullah's, it will give them legitimacy that they do not deserve. This is the same regime that took our people hostage back in 1979.

Bad idea State Department & Powell

[AdmSmith]

I think that you and I have the same objectives, a secular western democracy i Iran, but we probably disagree about the means to get there.

It is important to have a face saving opportunity for the clerics to go back to the barracks, sorry mosques, in order to have a peaceful restoration of western values in the great country Iran. This is what State is working on. In the meantime we need the torch fire from DoD.

[BrooklynGOP]

I second that.

[Consort]

If Powell sits down with these useless Mullah's,...

The purposes of face to face meetings are to deliver a message that a government would want to put in writing, to deliver the message in a specific tone to convey the correct the specific conviction behind it, to assess the tone and body language of the opposition, etc.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Since Iran was one of the few democracies in the Mid East in recent history, they would be MUCH more receptive to a new democracy than the Iraqis.

[Consort]

"...that a government would want to put in writing..." should say "...that a government would not want to put in writing..."

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the ping and the post!

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[dixiechick2000]

Agreed!

BTTT!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Please put me on your ping list. Your efforts are highly appreciated!