U.S. Has Covertly Met With Iran Over The Years

In yet another case of U.S. government hypocrisy.

The White House has always overtly insisted that it will not talk directly with Iran, until Iran suspends it's nuclear program.

(which Iran has every right to partake in, since it is a signatory of the NPT, Since it's program is for energy purposes, since it's program is peaceful, and since its program is civilian and not militarized, and the West has never presented the World with concrete proof stating otherwise).

But U.S. officials have covertly met their Iranian counterparts one-on-one for more than a decade, often under the auspices of the United Nations.

David Satterfield --top adviser on Iraq to Condoleezza Rice -- said yesterday about the prospects of a "chance meeting," between Iranian and U.S. officials during the upcoming security meeting in Baghdad, Iraq:

"If we are approached over orange juice, we are not going to turn and walk away."

Both the Iranian's and the US' interest's meet in the region's security and resources.

"The point is that we think the Iranians can do a lot that will be conducive to peace," White House spokesman Tony Snow said last week.

"We're going to continue doing whatever we can to encourage them to do it." Snow said.

The Baltimore Sun (Via the Los Angeles Times) reported the following:

Whispered dealings between the longtime foes have had a way of going wrong. Secret negotiations by the Reagan administration for Iran's help securing the release of American hostages in Lebanon in exchange for sending arms to Nicaraguan rebels produced the Iran-contra scandal.

In 1994, President Clinton covertly condoned Iran's arms shipments to Bosnian Muslims, but criticism after it was revealed in 1996 kept Iran and the U.S. from broadening ties. In 1999, Clinton tried to bring the talks out in the open, offering an "authoritative and unconditional" dialogue with Iran, but Tehran insisted that the U.S. lift its sanctions first.

In the end, it was the U.N. that provided a discreet diplomatic safe house in which the two countries could talk.

In 1998, a U.N. diplomat from Algeria named Lakhdar Brahimi created a group called the "6+2" that met in New York about resolving the conflict in Afghanistan. It consisted of the country's six neighbors: China, Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, plus Russia and the U.S.

"I remember the Iranian diplomats and the Americans saying that this was the first time they were in the same small room together," Brahimi said in an interview.

In 2001, the U.N. created another forum to ease contacts between the U.S. and Iran, called the Geneva Initiative, which included Italy and Germany.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Iran and the U.S. suddenly had a common enemy in the Taliban: the Sunni rulers of Afghanistan, whom Iran regarded as a threat and the U.S. considered the protectors of Osama bin Laden.

In the days before the United States' Oct. 7, 2001, invasion of Afghanistan, officials from Iran and the U.S. met intensively through the U.N. in Geneva to coordinate the Iranian-backed anti-Taliban warlords with U.S. forces.

The cooperation continued politically as well.

Iranian diplomats were particularly helpful during a conference in Bonn in December 2001 that established Afghanistan's interim government.

James Dobbins, who represented the State Department at the time, said the Iranian diplomats were "essential" in shaping Afghanistan's new government.

Iran made clear it was interested in a broader strategic dialogue with the United States.

But the U.S., sensing it had the upper hand, brushed off the overtures, Dobbins said.

Then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell wrote to thank every foreign minister who had attended the conference - except Iran.

Six weeks later, in President Bush's 2002 State of the Union address, he dubbed Iran part of the "Axis of Evil."

Iranians had been expecting some sort of diplomatic reward in exchange for its help in Afghanistan, and took it as a slap in the face.

Still, Iranian diplomats continued to meet in Kabul with the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, for about another year, usually in Brahimi's U.N. villa, known as Palace 7.

The Afghan-born Khalilzad was at the Bonn conference and would become a key player in the cautious diplomatic connection. He spoke Farsi. He went on to become the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, has been nominated as the U.N. ambassador, and will be at the table tomorrow in Baghdad.

Courtesy Of:
BaltimoreSun.Com