White House Turned Down Cooperation Deal from Iran in 2003

Out of Control White House Craves Conflict-The Dark Side of Dick Cheney could be our downfall
(yes, those are skulls!) By paul angelo

With a dangerous conflict with Iran looming, Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, has revealed to BBC's Newsnight that the White House rejected an offer from Iran in 2003 to help stabilize Iraq, end its support of Hezbollah and Hamas, and to increase transparency of their nuclear energy program. According to Wilkerson, once the offer arrived on the desk of Vice President Dick Cheney, the offer was stopped cold in its tracks, despite the State Departments determination that the letter containing the offer came from the highest authorities in Iran.

In Wilkerson's own words, "We thought it was a very propitious moment to (strike the deal)," Wilkerson said, "But as soon as it got to the White House, and as soon as it got to the vice president's office, the old mantra of 'We don't talk to evil' ... reasserted itself."

Wilkerson asserts that what Iran was asking for in return is that economic sanctions on Iran be lifted, that the US dismantle the Mujahedeen Khalq, an Iranian opposition group inside Iraq, and that the US government end its general hostility toward Iran.

This revelation takes on great significance in light of the ongoing crisis over Iran's nuclear energy program, and the allegations by Cheney and Bush that Iran is interfering with and destabilizing the Iraq situation. It also, once again, calls into question the claims of the Bush administration that they don not desire conflict.

If they truly desire to live up to their responsibility to try to resolve conflicts diplomatically; if they are interested in fighting a war on terrorism; and if they do not simply crave war and military domination of oil rich nations - why then would they reject an offer from a major state sponsor of terrorism to cease their support of recognized terrorist organizations? Why, if they are so concerned about Iran's nuclear program, would they have rejected an offer from Iran to provide greater transparency of said nuclear program?

Could it be that the Bush administration was and is still insistent on allowing relations with Iran to degrade so badly, so that in time they would be given an opportunity to trick the American people into another invasion, this time in Iran? In fact, we are in the midst of a campaign by the Bush White House to convince Americans that Iran is irrational, bent on destroying Israel and dominating the region with nuclear weapons?

Here are Dick Cheney's own words, uttered just this Sunday in a Fox News interview:

"And Iran's a problem in a much larger sense. They have begun to conduct themselves in ways that have created a great deal of tension throughout the region. If you go and talk with the Gulf states or if you talk with the Saudis or if you talk about the Israelis or the Jordanians, the entire region is worried, partly because of the conduct of Mr. Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, who appears to be a radical, a man who believes in an apocalyptic vision of the future and who thinks it's imminent.

At the same time, of course, they're pursuing the acquisition of nuclear weapons. They are in a position where they sit astride the Straits of Hormuz, where over 20 percent of the world's supply of oil transits every single day, over 18 million barrels a day.

They use Hezbollah as a surrogate. And working through Syria with Hezbollah, they're trying to topple the democratically elected government in Iran. Working through Hamas and their support for Hamas in Gaza, they're interfering in the peace process.

So the threat that Iran represents is growing, its multi- dimensional, and it is, in fact, of concern to everybody in the region."

What has changed since 2003, when Iran offered to cease their support of Hezbollah and Hamas, help to stabilize Iraq and provide greater transparency of their nuclear energy program?

Actually, one very significant thing has occurred. The White house gained a much needed Iranian boogeyman when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005. Ahmadinejad's ranting about Israel and his staunch refusal to relinquish Iran's right to nuclear energy, has provided Cheney and Bush with the necessary all-evil despot for which to focus the American people's fear.

But what is interesting, and what Cheney and Bush leave out, is that the true power in Iran lies with the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the other mullahs who advise him. They are the ones who put forth the deal for cooperation in 2003, only to be rejected by Dick Cheney, an action for which they most likely took offense. Would they be open to striking a mutually beneficial deal today? We will never know because the White House refuses to engage diplomatically with Iran.

So what options does all of this leave the United States today? Well, without diplomacy, there will inevitably be conflict, which is apparently all the Bush administration is interested in - conflicts in which American men and women die, as well as those in the far off lands we use as our battlefields.