Today, 14 September, at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill (400 New Jersey Avenue, NW; Washington, DC), a conference titled "U.S. Strategy Towards Iran: Thinking Through the Unthinkables -- Beyond a Binary Choice?" will take place from 10:30 a.m. sharp til 2:00 p.m.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will kick off the meeting at 10:30 am sharp. If you can join us, feel free. No time to confirm your RSVP -- so just come over and mention The Washington Note.

Here is a draft of the schedule:

10:30 am

Welcoming Remarks

STEVEN CLEMONS
Director, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation

Beyond False Choices: A Call for a Credible Strategy in Middle East and Towards Iran

THE HON. HARRY REID (D-NV)
Senate Democratic Leader

Bombing, Appeasing, Bad Consequences, Possible Opportunities: American Options Towards Iran

FLYNT LEVERETT
Director, Geopolitics of Energy Initiative, New America Foundation
Former Sr Staff Member, National Security Council; State Department, and CIA
Author, “Illusions and Reality: The Case for Negotiations,” American Prospect (September 2006)

THE HON. ROBERT BLACKWILL*
President, Barbour Griffiths & Rogers
Former Deputy Director for Strategic Planning, National Security Council
Former Presidential Envoy to Iraq
Former U.S. Ambassador to India

DAFNA LINZER
National Security Correspondent, Washington Post

DIMITRI K. SIMES
President, The Nixon Center
Publisher, The National Interest

DANIEL LEVY
Senior Fellow & Director, Middle East Policy Initiative, New America Foundation
Former Senior Policy Advisor to Israel’s Prime Minister

11:30 am
America's Brewing Iran Challenge: An "Other Options" Discussion

DAVID SANGER
White House Correspondent, New York Times

GEORGE SOROS
Chairman, Soros Fund Management
Chairman, Open Society Institute
Author, The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror

JUAN COLE
Professor of Middle East History, University of Michigan
Blogger, Informed Comment at www.juancole.com

GUY DINMORE
Diplomatic Correspondent, Financial Times

GEORGE PERKOVICH
Vice President for Studies -- Global Security & Economic Development
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

12:30 pm
The Fear and Mistrust Problem in the US-Iran Standoff: Framing Public Discussion

COL. LAWRENCE WILKERSON
Former Chief of Staff, Department of State
Former Director, US Marine War College
Adjunct Professor, College of William & Mary

CHARLES KUPCHAN
Professor of International Relations, Georgetown University
Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

CHRISTOPHER PREBLE
Director, Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute

AFSHIN MOLAVI
Fellow, New America Foundation
Author, The Soul of Iran

STEVEN KULL
Director, Program on International Policy Attitudes
Editor, www.WorldPublicOpinion.org

HOOMAN MADJ
Freelance journalist, GQ Magazine; New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker
Advisor and Interpreter to former Iran President Mohammed Khatami during Sept 2006 US Trip

moderator
PRISCILLA LEWIS
Director, US in the World Initiative -- New America Foundation
Former Senior Program Officer, Peace & Security, Rockefeller Brothers Fund

2:00 pm
Next Steps and Concluding Remarks

Food will be served at lunch (no brown bag this time), and it's an interesting roster of personalities and perspectives for a good discussion about Iran.

Moee later.

-- Stheve Clemons