Posted on 10/17/2007 8:07:38 AM PDT by america4vr
In the years after 9/11, Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann worked at the highest levels of the Bush administration as Middle East policy experts for the National Security Council. Mann conducted secret negotiations with Iran. Leverett traveled with Colin Powell and advised Condoleezza Rice. They each played crucial roles in formulating policy for the region leading up to the war in Iraq. But when they left the White House, they left with a growing sense of alarm -- not only was the Bush administration headed straight for war with Iran, it had been set on this course for years. That was what people didn't realize. It was just like Iraq, when the White House was so eager for war it couldn't wait for the UN inspectors to leave. The steps have been many and steady and all in the same direction. And now things are getting much worse. We are getting closer and closer to the tripline, they say.
"The hard-liners are upping the pressure on the State Department," says Leverett. "They're basically saying, 'You've been trying to engage Iran for more than a year now and what do you have to show for it? They keep building more centrifuges, they're sending this IED stuff over into Iraq that's killing American soldiers, the human-rights internal political situation has gotten more repressive -- what the hell do you have to show for this engagement strategy?' "
But the engagement strategy was never serious and was designed to fail, they say. Over the last year, Rice has begun saying she would talk to "anybody, anywhere, anytime," but not to the Iranians unless they stopped enriching uranium first. That's not a serious approach to diplomacy, Mann says. Diplomacy is about talking to your enemies. That's how wars are averted.
(Excerpt) Read more at esquire.com ...
Just another campaign in the war on terror.
they make it sound like it was a bad thing? Time to open a can of Whoopass!
Whenever I want complete unbiased coverage of the White House, I turn to Esquire.
Duh. This is like being surprised that France was not the ultimate objective of the Normandy invasion.
How many times in the last presidential election did we hear a Dem candidate say Iran was the real threat instead of Iraq? Even they know what's going on.
STFU!!! These loud mouths are going to get us all killed!! Does NO ONE have ANY LOYALTY to the person who gave thema job? They make me sick.....and they sound like anti-SEMITES!
This was the most ridiculous, contradiction-filled, biased article I have read in quite some time.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
I read Vanity Fair - they have the most unbiased political reporting (sarc)
Let me tell you the history of how I will win the lottery in November.
Hey, nobody REALLY reads the articles in Esquire.
Until about two years ago, I didn’t know Esquire was still in business.
War is the complete failure of diplomacy. Diplomacy works only when both sides are negotiating in good faith. Iran has no such pretense. They see war as an inevitable outcome and want it hastened. They are religious fanatics that see themselves as the savior of the Islamic faith. They will not stop the enrichment program nor will they allow themselves to be intimidated by the West. It's all a matter of religious fervor to them. The USSR didn't have a death wish nor a built-in persecution complex. You cannot negotiate with a fanatic.................
***It was just like Iraq, when the White House was so eager for war it couldn’t wait for the UN inspectors to leave***
<<<Oh, really. Mind explaining why we sat on our hands for almost ten years then?<<<
Correct! AND spent fourteen months after 9/11 trying to get the UN to agree that we were attacked and had a right to protect ourselves.
(chuckle)
Most of the State Dept is Arab lovers.
Please join me in a prayer to Almighty God for peace or, baring that, for a nice, tight bomb pattern...
Arab Lovers and America Haters.....BAD combo.
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