[DoctorZIn]

Iran: The Mystery Meeting

NEWSWEEK

Aug. 18 issue — Why were two top Pentagon experts on Iran meeting with a notorious character from the Iran-contra scandal? DOD’s answer: it was by accident—both times. In high-summer Washington, though, conspiracy theories abound.

ONE SOURCE FAMILIAR with administration infighting on Iran says that neocons in the Defense Department don’t trust “appeasers” at State and the CIA to give unbiased intelligence about Tehran. And because the hard-line ayatollahs who dominate Iran’s security agencies support terrorism—including Al Qaeda—these DOD hawks view State’s hopes of someday negotiating a new relationship with Iran as delusional. So, the conspiracy theory runs, they reach out to people like Iranian businessman Manucher Ghorbanifar for an alternative view of what’s going on in Tehran.

The reality, senior DOD officials assert, is that when Pentagon experts Harold Rhode and Larry Franklin met with a handful of Iranians in Italy more than a year ago—the Iranians had offered, through an American intermediary, to give the United States information on terrorism—the DOD pair were startled to find Ghorbanifar there and argued against his remaining. (The CIA once labeled Ghorbanifar “an intelligence fabricator and nuisance.”) Then, one of the DOD pair “ran into” Ghorbanifar again in Paris this summer. End of story, they say. “There is no Defense Department back-channel on Iran,” a senior official insisted. The Italy meetings were authorized by the White House, say officials, though the “unscheduled” Paris session was not.

—Mark Hosenball and John Barry

http://www.msnbc.com/news/950458.asp

[DoctorZIn]

Iran: The Mystery Meeting

NEWSWEEK 8.17.2003 Issue

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/961369/posts?page=3#3

"If you want on or off this Iran ping list, Freepmail me”

[Pro-Bush]

The reality, senior DOD officials assert, is that when Pentagon experts Harold Rhode and Larry Franklin met with a handful of Iranians in Italy more than a year ago—the Iranians had offered, through an American intermediary, to give the United States information on terrorism—the DOD pair were startled to find Ghorbanifar there and argued against his remaining. (The CIA once labeled Ghorbanifar “an intelligence fabricator and nuisance.”) Then, one of the DOD pair “ran into” Ghorbanifar again in Paris this summer. End of story, they say.

So what's the deal? Is Newsweek claiming that that the USA is cooperating with terrorists? Did we?

[BlackVeil]

'There is no Defense Department back-channel on Iran,' a senior official insisted.

Er, right. OK. Sure.

[Valin]

The CIA once labeled Ghorbanifar “an intelligence fabricator and nuisance.

Translation, he doesn't work for us.