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Eugene Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 10:47 PM
Original message
AP: Rice Disputes Claim of Iranian Overture
Rice Disputes Claim of Iranian Overture

By ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 7, 2007; 10:02 PM

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disputed claims Wednesday that the
Bush administration bungled a diplomatic overture from Iran that offered a broad dialogue
with the United States after nearly a quarter-century of enmity.

Rice told Congress she does not remember seeing the 2003 Iranian proposal, which suggested
Iran was ready to discuss its disputed nuclear program, support for militant groups that the
United States labels terrorists and the acceptance of Israel.

"We had people who said the Iranians went to talk to you, lots of people who said the
Iranians want to talk to you," Rice said during an exchange with Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla.

"But I think I would have noticed if the Iranians had said, 'We're ready to recognize Israel,'"
Rice said. "I just don't remember ever seeing any such thing."

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020701961.html
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Fridays Child Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 10:51 PM
Response to Original message
1. Criminal ineptitude.
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msongs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 10:55 PM
Response to Original message
2. Bushler and his Condo could INITIATE contact and dialog could they not? nt
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Old and In the Way Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 10:55 PM
Response to Original message
3. They want war...not diplomacy. Iraq didn't quench their taste for
destruction and misery.

nt
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Miss Chybil Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 10:58 PM
Response to Original message
4. "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US"
That's all there is to say about Ms. Rice.
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Bitwit1234 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 11:00 PM
Response to Original message
5. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil damn
Libby forgets important stuff. rice reads reports and forgets and now she didn't SEE stuff.. bush giggles and laughs at serious and dangerous information, what kind of people are running this country does anybody know.
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Boo Boo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 11:30 PM
Response to Original message
6. "I just don't remember..."
Edited on Wed Feb-07-07 11:31 PM by Boo Boo
I just don't believe you.

What a sad fucking joke.
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 11:30 PM
Response to Original message
7. get to the table without PREconditions!
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goclark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 11:44 PM
Response to Original message
8. But she remembers what size shoe she wears


And she remembers how to insert foot in mouth every time. :puke:
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seafan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-07-07 11:48 PM
Response to Original message
9. Oh, yes she SHOULD remember Iran's overture. She was Bush's Nat'l Security Adviser at the time.
Edited on Wed Feb-07-07 11:59 PM by seafan
Rice Disputes Claim of Iranian Overture

By ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press

February 7, 2007


....

The document, faxed to the State Department in the early days of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, proposed direct talks, perhaps in Paris. Iraq was at the top of the proposed agenda, with Tehran proposing "active Iranian support for Iraqi stabilization."

The text of the document has been provided to news organizations, including The Associated Press.

"You did not see that supposed fax?" Wexler asked Rice.

"I just have to tell you that perhaps somebody saw something of the like, but I can tell you I would have noticed if the Iranians had offered to recognize Israel," she replied.

The administration dismissed the proposal, which has since become a touchstone for criticism that the Bush administration muffed a chance to avert Iran's rush toward nuclear proficiency that could produce a bomb.

Rice was asked about such criticism from a former National Security Council aide, Flynt Leverett.

"I don't know what Flynt Leverett's talking about, quite frankly," Rice said. "Maybe I should ask him when he came to me and said, 'We have a proposal from Iran and we really ought to take it.'"

Leverett had left the NSC by the time the fax arrived, but he said in an interview that he knows the document was sent to the NSC. It also went to Rice's predecessor as secretary of state, Colin Powell, former officials have said.




From this thread:


Iran offered up "the grand bargain" to Bush in May, 2003, and he blew it off.

From Craig Unger in the March, 2007 issue of Vanity Fair:


Shortly after the invasion of Iraq, when the U.S. mission there seemed accomplished or at least accomplishable, Iran came to fear that it would be next in the crosshairs. To stave off that possibility, Iran's leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, began to assemble a negotiating package. Suddenly, everything was on the table—Iran's nuclear program, policy toward Israel, support of Hamas and Hezbollah, and control over al-Qaeda operatives captured since the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan.

This comprehensive proposal, which diplomats took to calling "the grand bargain," was sent to Washington on May 2, 2003, just before a meeting in Geneva between Iran's U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, and neocon Zalmay Khalilzad, then a senior director at the National Security Council. (Khalilzad went on to become the U.S. ambassador to Iraq and was recently nominated to be America's envoy to the U.N.) According to a report by Gareth Porter in The American Prospect, Iran offered to take "decisive action against any terrorists (above all, al-Qaeda) in Iranian territory." In exchange, Iran wanted the U.S. to pursue "anti-Iranian terrorists"—i.e., the MEK. Specifically, Iran offered to share the names of senior al-Qaeda operatives in its custody in return for the names of MEK cadres captured by the U.S. in Iraq.

Well aware that the U.S. was concerned about its nuclear program, Iran proclaimed its right to "full access to peaceful nuclear technology," but offered to submit to much stricter inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.). On the subject of Israel, Iran offered to join with moderate Arab regimes such as Egypt and Jordan in accepting the 2002 Arab League Beirut declaration calling for peace with Israel in return for Israel's withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders. The negotiating package also included proposals to normalize Hezbollah into a mere "political organization within Lebanon," to bring about a "stop of any material support to Palestinian opposition groups (Hamas, Jihad, etc.) from Iranian territory," and to apply "pressure on these organizations to stop violent actions against civilians within borders of 1967."

To be sure, Iran's proposal was only a first step. There were countless unanswered questions, and many reasons not to trust the Islamic Republic. Given the initiative's historic scope, however, it was somewhat surprising when the Bush administration simply declined to respond. There was not even an interagency meeting to discuss it. "The State Department knew it had no chance at the interagency level of arguing the case for it successfully," former N.S.C. staffer Flynt Leverett told The American Prospect. "They weren't going to waste Powell's rapidly diminishing capital on something that unlikely."

Iran had sent the proposal through an intermediary, Tim Guldimann, the Swiss ambassador to the U.S. A few days later, Leverett said, the White House had the State Department send Guldimann a message reprimanding him for exceeding his diplomatic mandate. "We're not interested in any grand bargain," said Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton, who went on to become interim ambassador to the U.N. until his resignation last December.
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grytpype Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 12:09 AM
Response to Original message
10. "Doesn't remember seeing it" Holy Living Shit.
She sure has a way of not seeing things, or hearing about things, or reading things.

Look back over her testimony on 9/11 and Iraq and count the number of times she didn't hear, see, or read something. She has a knack for it.
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jaysunb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 12:54 AM
Response to Original message
11. Is there medicine for chronic amnesia ?????
:evilfrown:
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Bhaisahab Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 01:03 AM
Response to Original message
12. I just can't BELIEVE
how these people continue to rule America. What is America - is it a modern transparent democracy or is it a banana republic run by a fucking junta?

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G_j Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 09:49 AM
Response to Original message
13. Rice Disputes Claim of Iranian Overture
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6401912,00.html

Rice Disputes Claim of Iranian Overture

Thursday February 8, 2007 1:01 PM

By ANNE GEARAN

AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disputed claims Wednesday that the Bush administration bungled a diplomatic overture from Iran that offered a broad dialogue with the United States after nearly a quarter-century of enmity.

Rice told Congress she does not remember seeing the 2003 Iranian proposal, which suggested Iran was ready to discuss its disputed nuclear program, support for militant groups that the United States labels terrorists and the acceptance of Israel.

``We had people who said the Iranians went to talk to you, lots of people who said the Iranians want to talk to you,'' Rice said during an exchange with Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla.

``But I think I would have noticed if the Iranians had said, 'We're ready to recognize Israel,''' Rice said. ``I just don't remember ever seeing any such thing.''

..more..
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notadmblnd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. You know.. there is nothing special about me
I'm not highly educated, I have no leadership capabilities or desires. I'm just a mother trying to raise her child. But I can distinctly remember Iran's overtures to the US at the onset of the invasion of Afghanistan. I can't help but shake my head at our leaders and their performance. It seems to me that I could do the job Ms Rice has been doing the last six years. I at least have the ability to pay attention and remember facts.
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waiting for hope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #14
16. NPR covered the story this morning....
Heard it while I was dropping my kids off at school :hi: Mom! - They have her on tape from an earlier conversation with NPR - totally making her look like an idiot (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7260560), puppets do have their limitations!

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Kagemusha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #14
17. I bet to Rice they weren't 'real overtures'
A real overture would be, as poster #3 mentions, offering to recognize Israel. For whatever reason that would be...
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #17
18. Its a condition for talks.
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Kagemusha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #18
19. It's a condition guaranteeing there won't be talks.
But I'm sure Rice is happily aware of that.
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Tin Man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #13
15. Rice: Iranian overture a non-starter - Tehran must recognize Israel first
``But I think I would have noticed if the Iranians had said, 'We're ready to recognize Israel,''' Rice said. ``I just don't remember ever seeing any such thing.''

Israel making US policy again. Lovely.
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KittyWampus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 11:35 AM
Response to Reply #15
22. So She DID see an Iranian proposal/offer but since it didn't include Israel she just
blew off the whole thing?
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Tin Man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 11:54 AM
Response to Reply #22
23. Yes. From the WaPo article:
Edited on Thu Feb-08-07 11:56 AM by Tin Man
---------
In June 2006, Rice had indicated that she was familiar with the proposal. She was asked about the offer during an interview with National Public Radio, and she appeared to provide the first official confirmation that it existed.

"What the Iranians wanted earlier was to be one-on-one with the United States so that this could be about the United States and Iran," Rice said then. She contrasted that with the current U.S. stance, in which the United States has offered to join European-led talks with Iran over its nuclear program if Iran meets preconditions. Iran has refused.

---------

So in fact, she knew about the proposal.

Now, parse her testimony to Congress yesterday:

---------
"We had people who said the Iranians went to talk to you, lots of people who said the Iranians want to talk to you," Rice said during an exchange with Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla.

"But I think I would have noticed if the Iranians had said, 'We're ready to recognize Israel,'" Rice said. "I just don't remember ever seeing any such thing."

---------

Rice wasn't lying to Congress because she didn't explicitly deny the existance of an overture from the Iranians. But what Rice suggested through her testimony was, the Iranian proposal didn't include mention of Israel's right to exist - so the US refused to continue any dialogue.

So yet again, we see how under this neocon administration, Israeli interests trump US interests, everytime.
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KittyWampus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #23
24. Note- I'm inclinded to say Likud interests trumps US interests.
Since there are Israeli's whose view of foreign affairs is much more moderate.
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DrDan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 10:19 AM
Response to Original message
20. it was probably in the PDB pile
she never reads those either
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HuffleClaw Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 11:15 AM
Response to Original message
21. "I just don't remember ever seeing any such thing."
hmmmmmmmmmmm

pretty funny when their defenses are reduced to a childish 'i don't know!!!!'
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Megahurtz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 01:10 PM
Response to Original message
25. Of Course Her and Her SideKick are going to Ignore It.
They want Oil by Force.

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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-08-07 11:09 PM
Response to Original message
26. Rice grilled over unproven allegations against Iran
great headline------wish the US papers would give us better headlines!



http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=19466

First Published 2007-02-08, Last Updated 2007-02-08 10:25:11


Where is the evidence?


Rice grilled over unproven allegations against Iran


US Secretary of State rejects suggestions administration is exaggerating its case against Iran to pave way for military action.


WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced a blistering challenge in Congress Wednesday over the administration's failure to provide evidence to back up allegations Iran is building nuclear weapons and fueling attacks on US forces in Iraq.

"Unproven charges against Iran's nuclear intentions are eerily reminiscent of the false charges made against Iraq before we invaded that country," said Ron Paul, a lawmaker from President George W. Bush's own Republican Party, during an appearance by Rice before a congressional panel.

He said "unproven accusations of Iranian support for the Iraqi insurgency" were also serving as a pretext for "escalating our sharp rhetoric toward Iran".

"Pressed for proof of dramatic claims of Iranian involvement in Iraq, the administration keeps promising that they are compiling it," he said............
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