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.

[Bender2]

Nuke... the Iranian bastards bump--

Twice... !!!

[FreedomPoster]

And that President caused the events that occurred, by undercutting the Shah and forcing him from power. The Shah might not have been very “nice”, from a Western perspective, but he wasn’t dealing with a Western populace.

[444Flyer]

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

I am not nor ever will have the caliber of mind of some on this site, but I am a very good judge of character and reading people. I couldn’t get past the picture with the bare feet, in your face, “I’m full of truth and organic compounds” statement in the photograph.

Bush is many things, but he is not psychic.

[tarheelswamprat]

Diplomacy is about talking to your enemies. That's how wars are averted.

Nonsense. Diplomacy is the art of saying "nice doggie" while reaching behind you for a big stick...

Letting them then see the stick is how wars are averted...

[gonzo]

"...This would result in a dramatic increase in attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, attacks by proxy forces like Hezbollah, and an unknown reaction from the wobbly states of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where millions admire Iran's resistance to the Great Satan. "As disastrous as Iraq has been," says Mann, "an attack on Iran could engulf America in a war with the entire Muslim world."..."

What drivel! The entire muslim world is already at war with America and Israel. The entire article is leftist rubbish with the exception that they finally realise that Iran and hezbollah are soon to get their asses kicked.

And judging by the fact that the traitor-Murtha quit the inane dhimmicRAT genocide-of-the-1915-Armenians resolution today that would piss-off the Turks, it appears that the ass-kicking is gonna start real soon!

It should be interesting to watch all the candidates re-arranging their positions again ............................ FRegards

[sheik yerbouty]

Praise the Lord and blast them to Perdition! Allahu fubar!

[juliej]

I hope the Iranians are happy with what they have now - aytollahs who stone people to death.

[DallasMike]

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.

No way! My liberal friends and the liberal media keep on telling me that we rushed into war based on lies. Never mind that those "lies" were the same thing that the Clinton administrtion had been saying for years.

[FreedomPoster]

I hope the Left in this country is happy with what they have wrought. They won’t admit the cause/effect there, just like they won’t admit that their cutting support for our RVN allies resulted in the deaths and brutalization of millions as the communists took over in RVN and Cambodia.

[Phsstpok]

Good Lord these people are delusional

Bush has been on a path to war? Bush? What about 30 years of declared war by the Mullahs against "the great Satan?"

"Oh, that's just rhetoric, only for domestic consumption." 

Tell that to their victims, you leftist clowns. 

There have been thousands killed in terrorist attacks all over the world planned, funded or otherwise supported by their regime.

They have been openly waging war on us and until this administration we've been reading them their Miranda rights.

[Deb]

I’m always amused when I hear that some action we take will cause otherwise caring, puppy-loving Muslims to become crazed bombers.

[PRePublic]

Amen for your/wishes.

[M. Espinola]

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

Correct. Some will listen, some will listen and act, while an alarming majority could care less [now], very similar to before The Blitz, during the first half of 1939.

[JTC1767]

Amen, brother!