http://www.rawstory.com//news/2007/Powell_tried_to_push_Iran_talks_02...

Wednesday February 14, 2007

Powell tried to push Iran talks in 2003 and was rebuffed, former
official says

Brian Beutler

Former Bush National Security Council official also says Rice likely
lied about not seeing document

Former Bush National Security Council official Flynt Leverett,
speaking on Wednesday at a forum held by the New America Foundation,
told a crowd in a Senate office building that in 2003 then-Secretary
of State Colin Powell received a "grand bargain" offer from Iran and
was rebuffed by the White House, RAW STORY can reveal.

"I know as a fact from multiple sources this went all the way up to
Secretary Powell," Leverett said, citing multiple sources at the State
Department and the NSC.

"In [Secretary Powell's] words, he 'couldn't sell it at the White
House.'"

Leverett said the letter was also delivered to the United Nations
Security Council.

Rice told Congress last week that she'd never seen it.

"The document went over to the NSC" and "it is unthinkable" that it
wouldn't have gone to then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice,
Leverett asserted.

"She owes Congress an apology for saying she had not seen the
document."

"The statements she is making before Congress are not true," Leverett
added, noting that Rice almost certainly "knows" they aren't true.

Leverett, who served as the senior director for Middle East affairs on
the National Security Council from March 2002 to March 2003, added
that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was probably lying when she
said she had not seen the offer Iran made, which was channeled through
Tim Guldimann, the Swiss ambassador to Iran.

The Washington Post printed a pdf of the offer in today's online
edition of the paper.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/documents/us_iran_roadmap.pdf

Guldimann told U.S. officials in 2003 that an Iranian proposal for
comprehensive talks had been approved by Iran's supreme religious
leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, then-President Mohammad Khatami, and
then-Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, according to a copy of the cover
letter to the Iranian document obtained by the Post.

Yesterday, the State Department played down the significance of Iran's
offer.

"This document did not come through official channels but rather was a
creative exercise on the part of the Swiss ambassador," State
Department spokesman Tom Casey told the Post.

"The last 30 years are filled with examples of individuals claiming to
represent Iranian views. We have offered to Iran a chance to sit
across the table from us and discuss their nuclear issue and anything
else they would like, should they simply, verifiably suspend their
uranium-enrichment activities."

But Leverett disagreed with that interpretation.

"It was a serious proposal," Leverett said, "It was not vague."

He went on to defend the Swiss ambassador, saying that Guldimann "was
not some flake off the street," but rather, "a serious official" who
was doing his job.

More background on Iran's 2003 offer is available at the Post. The
story was printed on page A14 of the paper.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/13/AR200...

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More evidence that the Bush Crime Family thrives on war.

Harry