The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran That the White House Doesn't Want You to Know

Esquire magazine ^ | October 17, 2007 | John H. Richardon

[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.

[TexasRepublic]

I am against a war in Iran unless we will squash them like a bug.

[philled]

"Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments."
-- Frederick the Great

It may be time to encourage Pete Townsend to start smashing guitars again, so to speak...

[enough_idiocy]

“Diplomacy is about talking to your enemies. That’s how wars are averted.”

ROTFLMAO

Yup, stopped Hilter right Nev? Working well in Darfur. Awesome job in Rwanda! Bosnia, Kosovo, man did that diplomacy thing save lives! I mean, heck, just look at how it’s averted violence between Israel and Palestine. Decades of diplomacy and such wonderful outcomes!

Knowing you’re going to get your a** kicked averts wars. Knowing your enemy doesn’t have the b*lls to do anything assures war. I believe Reagan addressed this in his infamous speech “a time for choosing”

[kitkat]

***I only look at the pictures...;’}***

Ahh, an honest man.

[shield]

Did you read the article?

[Perdogg]

I read some of it.

[Kevmo]

bmflr

[america4vr]

Your point is very well taken.. As similarly expressed by a previous commenter when invoking the name Neville “Peace in Our time” Chamberlain, no doubt history’s most obsequious appeaser, no amount of diplomacy will ever conclude in anything constructive if your adversary is intent on war. Hitler, it was said, was disappointed that his plan for war was disrupted by Chamberlain’s continuous pandering. Iran’s intentions are every bit as peaceful as Hitler’s.

[rfp1234]

“the ballless wonder of a President” Carter: the first female President?

Well, he did win the 'Noballs Peace Prize'.

[Salem]

The title caught my eye on this one. The bias and glaringly willful historical and factual omissions are jaw-dropping, for those with the time to get aggravated sifting through the anti-Bush propaganda concerning his Middle East policy. I only made it halfway through to here:

"But the important thing is that the Iranians agreed to talk unconditionally, Mann says. "They specifically told me time and again that they were doing this because they understood the impact of this attack on the U.S., and they thought that if they helped us unconditionally, that would be the way to change the dynamic for the first time in twenty-five years."

"She believed them."

"But while Leverett was still moving into the Old Executive Office Building next to the White House, Mann was wrapped up in the crisis over a ship called the Karin A that left Iran loaded with fifty tons of weapons. According to the Israeli navy, which intercepted the Karin A in the Red Sea, it was headed for the PLO. In staff meetings at the White House, Mann argued for caution. The Iranian government probably didn't even know about the arms shipments. It was issuing official denials in the most passionate way, even sending its deputy foreign minister onto Fox News to say "categorically" that "all segments of the Iranian government" had nothing to do with the arms shipment, which meant the "total government, not simply President Khatami's administration."

This was in the early 2000's, while the "moderate/reformer" Khatami was "categorically" denying any connection to the Karin A. Meanwhile Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rising to power at the forefront of the violent Basenji movement with the blessing of the Mullahs.

These people's assessment was naive back then and truly outdated today, and there is absolutely nothing the Bush Administration could have done more to influence what has happened internally in Iran. The U.S. was on the verge of dialoguing with Iran in a more profound way, as the testimony of these people prove.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (elected Aug, 2005), the Mullahs, the Basenji and Iranian Revolutionary Guards who radically changed the dynamic, and thus, history.

Yet these people are attacking the Bush Administration policy in response to this, and Ahmadinejad threatening to wipe Israel off the map.

Finally, when they said, "Now they are afraid of the White House, and watching what they say. But still, they feel they have to speak out."

Oh, puh-leeze! These people are attention mongers on par with Cindy Sheehan. America and the West are facing the very real threat of global nuclear proliferation and weapons in the hands of these apocalyptic Islamists, and the American people are being fed this type of garbage.

·Bush: Threat of World War III if Iran goes nuclear
·Russia backs Iran nuclear rights

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AMERICA AT WAR
At Salem the Soldier's Homepage ~
Islam, a Religion of Peace®? Some links...  by backhoe
Translated Pre-War IRAQ Documents  by jveritas
Mohammed, The Mad Poet Quoted....  by PsyOp
"PLAES DO NOT TOCH THE WAR"  by AnnaZ
The Clash of Ideologies - A Review

"...It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world." [FReeper Retief]

"...That the totalitarian force pitted against freedom wears a religious makes this civil war among mankind all the more difficult to engage. Loving freedom as we do, it seems reprehensible to deliberate against a religion. But this is no ordinary religion as it demands absolute obedience of all to their religion at the cost of freedom itself." [FReeper Backtothestreets]

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[M. Espinola]

The stage is set .....

Russia promises to complete A-plant in Iran

[Salem]

"The stage is set ....."

Yeah, Israel will demolish their nascent nuclear weapons program, the Iran will invoke their mutual defense agreements and Marxist Russia and the other Islamist allies will "preemptively" move on the Middle East and Israel (like we did, setting the precedent, to counter Hussein and Iraq) to stop this "threat" to peace (but it will inevitably be about control of the oil regions)—and then it all goes higgley piggley for them.

Oh well, it's not like they haven't been warned.

[tet68]

Pathetic article, no need to read past,
“ 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.”

Actually that’s how wars are started, just ask Chamberlain.

” It was just like Iraq, when the White House was so eager for war it couldn’t wait for the UN inspectors to leave. “

Right, right, just how many years was that any way?

[MHGinTN]

The following from the first paragraph tells you you don’t need to read any further, the author is an idiot liberal: “... it had been set on this course for years.”

[MHGinTN]

Not surrender, codependency. Trouble is, the leftist fools don’t now nor will they ever realize prior to their being slaughtered that the ones they are enabling with their idiot talkfests want nothing more than to kill them in any way and at any time they can get it done.

[Deb]

It's hard to believe these guys were giving anyone advice since the administration policy has always been to only deal with Iran as part of a group.

Iran wants to make it between us and them. Bush wants it to be Iran against the World.

[billmor]

Man i need oxygen after reading that..Is that what Ambrose really wrote—what Ike said to the reporters?..because everything i have read about Ike says that the date of the D-Day invasion was known only to a very small circle of people, maybe 3 or 4 at most right up until just before the invasion date was set..

Agree with the rest of your good post..