In an important Guardian article, Noam Chomsky cites the claim of Flynt Leverett, then a senior official in Bush's National Security Council, that in 2003 the US knocked by an Iranian offer to discuss:
- weapons of mass destruction
- a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict i.e. recognising Israel
- the future of Hizbullah
- cooperation with the UN nuclear safeguards agency
A year later Iran offered to stop uranium enrichment if the EU could guarantee that the US or Israel would not attack them. Again, the US refused.
Well worth reading the article for a proposal on the way forward, and Henry Kissinger grossly contradicting himself.
Is it a coincidence that the link is dead on Guardian's site now?
*admonishes his conspiracy-theories-concocting-mind*
Anyway, the article is available at either Google's cache of the same Guardian page or this URL:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0619-28.htm
Posted by: Imad | 23 June 2006 at 05:58 PM
Would imagine it to be cockup rather than conspiracy. Still on the Guardian's CIF:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1800659,00.html
Posted by: Osama | 23 June 2006 at 08:05 PM