The military’s problem with the President’s Iran policy.
By SEYMOUR M. HERSH, The New Yorker, 7/10/06 issue
On May 31st, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced what
appeared to be a major change in U.S. foreign policy. The Bush
Administration, she said, would be willing to join Russia, China, and
its European allies in direct talks with Iran about its nuclear
program. There was a condition, however: the negotiations would not
begin until, as the President put it in a June 19th speech at the U.S.
Merchant Marine Academy, ‘the Iranian regime fully and verifiably
suspends its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.’ Iran,
which has insisted on its right to enrich uranium, was being asked to
concede the main point of the negotiations before they started. The
question was whether the Administration expected the Iranians to agree,
or was laying the diplomatic groundwork for future military action. [read more]
appeared to be a major change in U.S. foreign policy. The Bush
Administration, she said, would be willing to join Russia, China, and
its European allies in direct talks with Iran about its nuclear
program. There was a condition, however: the negotiations would not
begin until, as the President put it in a June 19th speech at the U.S.
Merchant Marine Academy, ‘the Iranian regime fully and verifiably
suspends its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.’ Iran,
which has insisted on its right to enrich uranium, was being asked to
concede the main point of the negotiations before they started. The
question was whether the Administration expected the Iranians to agree,
or was laying the diplomatic groundwork for future military action. [read more]