RSSUsing PayPal
Andrea Mitchell Says Secret 2003 Iran Negotiations Proposal Will Be Topic of Concern in Main Stream Media
Share / Recommend - Comment - Print - Sunday, Feb 18 2007, 12:18PM
CLOSE 
SOCIAL WEBSITES
http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2007/02/andrea_mitchell/&title=Andrea Mitchell Says Secret 2003 Iran Negotiations Proposal Will Be Topic of Concern in Main Stream Media&topic=political_opinion" target="_blank">Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Facebook
Newsvine
Stumble UponEMAIL THIS ARTICLE
This morning on The Chris Matthews Show, NBC Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell stated that she thought that discussion of the alleged May 2003 Iran proposal to the US would become more prominent in the main stream media.
Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post, Guy Dinmore of the Financial Times, Michael Hirsh of Newsweek, and Barbara Slavin of USA Today have been doing good digging on the story -- but I agree with Andrea Mitchell that there will be broader coverage soon, particularly now since the cast of characters now includes Karl Rove. (more here)
More soon.
-- Steve Clemons
« Previous Article - Chuck Hagel's Future: All Options on the Table» Next Article - An Insider's Insider: Richard Hohlt and the Plame Affair
Reader Comments (24) - post a comment
There is nothing wrong with Obama taking a vacation!! He needs to take one now instead of when the trouble makers, I mean law makers get back. It will give his brain a break and he can regroup. By the way can you tell me how many vacations Bush had to this same date?
Neither Steambomb's nor ET's suggestion works for me. Try as I might, when the window becomes "widened" I can't seem to undo it.
Steve, I tried emailing you to no avail, so...
Could you Please Please PLEEEEASE switch your comments window to a normal resizable one?
Posted by Mr. G in PA at February 18, 2007 11:25 PM
Do this....
Right click on the comments link
Choose open in new window.
Iran has continued sending letters requesting diplomatic talks.
Kevin Drum has several posts on this over the past 3 or 6 months.
Steve, I tried emailing you to no avail, so...
Could you Please Please PLEEEEASE switch your comments window to a normal resizable one?
Machiavelli wrote that to control the people the Government must control all organs so any crticism is either not allowed or put down as anti-staet. The Bush Administration and Merrs. Karl Rove & Co. have done just that. The question, when will the American public realize that they have been taken for a ride in the name of national security?
Steve, heres a handy link for you. It shortens links so that they do not change the viewing window of your comments section. Its great to use when you want to email links as well.
Well, I agree with Mullah Cimoc -- Faux News is an intellectual vacuum where right-wing delusions thrive. I like Juan Williams though, he's definitely outnumbered at Faux.
Ameriki need google: mighty wurlitzer +cia
this him teach media not free is usa. this not amerika of mr. thomas jefferson .
the fox news espeically bad for design for only most stupid 20% of amerika people. this kind of admission of guilt. admit stupidest of aemrikans when admit watching the fox news.
this william kristol. who am him. why rupert murdoch pay and pay for this magazine never make profit, never come close for make profit.
this admission weekly standard magazine not for make money but for be part of mighty wurlitzer keep ameriki people so stupid.
and this juan williams. him fake liberal? is this trick or this dumb dumb man make the comment?
I am posting this for "Ken at Ken's Kitchen":
Why is this story news to Andrea Mitchell and the US press corps? I'm no reporter, just a regular reader of blogs, and I was aware that the US had blown off an Iranian proposal for US/Iran negotiations that happened around the time of our Iraq invasion. I just couldn't remember exact dates or details.
Just to make sure I wasn't mis-remembering or having deja-vu I went Googling around and bingo! Eric Alterman remembered the story too. He has a post up over at Think Again, called Media Amnesia on Iran. Alterman says the story originally appeared in a Financial Times article back in 2003 and a follow up story appeared in 2004.
Link here to Alterman's post: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/06/b1746445.html
Text of original July 2003 FT story is reprinted here, as well as the FT's 2004 story in a blog post that mirrors Alterman's observation about the US press and this story:
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:9eIcKV1Sd00J:www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000467.htm+iran,+US,+swiss+ambassador,+offer&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=53&gl=us&ie=UTF-8
Here's the first paragraph of the 2003 FT story:
"Iran has communicated to the US its readiness to open direct talks about its nuclear programme as a first step towards tackling other issues, such as terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but US officials say the Bush administration is keeping the door closed..."
-- Ken at Ken's Kitchen
Should be interesting, as invading Iraq while antagonizing the Iranians effectively undermines al Qaeda and anti-Israeli sentiment by stimulating Sunni-Shia conflict, IMHO.
That picture is a little frightening. I wonder if Steve is trying to make some kind of political statement by posting a disembodied head here. Could Zionists be involved? And is he going to hand us a story about finding this on Andrea Mitchell's Web site?
Troubling, very troubling....
Wes Clark: the Crosswalk between War & Law
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/28/141459/949
IRAN-- 1000 FEET OF LEVERAGE
"We need to keep the threat of Iran in perspective. And in dealing with them we have to realize that we are the most powerful country in the world. We have incredible economic strength. We hold the key to the G-8, the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund...the key to advanced technology, energy development-- We have that. So when I hear rumors that the President is unable to talk to Iran right now because we don’t have "leverage"-
-- If you have 1000 feet of leverage – do you need another half inch?"
We have 1000 feet of leverage over Iran. We’re completely dominant over the country. Can’t the most powerful nation in the world deign to speak to an aspiring regional power?
(whoops of applause burst forth from the room at this refreshing common sensical proclamation)
I'll believe that when it happens. Andrea Mitchell asks only soft questions herself.
Rove must have access to numerous dossiers and must know a lot about everyone.
Better late than never.
Why is this story news to Andrea Mitchell and the US press corps? I'm no reporter, just a regular reader of blogs, and I was aware that the US had blown off an Iranian proposal for US/Iran negotiations that happened around the time of our Iraq invasion. I just couldn't remember exact dates or details.
Just to make sure I wasn't mis-remembering or having deja-vu I went Googling around and bingo! Eric Alterman rembered the story too. He has a post up over at Think Again, called Media Amnesia on Iran. Alterman says the story originally appeared in a Financial Times article back in 2003 and a follow up story appeared in 2004.
Link here to Alterman's post: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/06/b1746445.html
Text of original July 2003 FT story is reprinted here, as well as the FT's 2004 story:
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:9eIcKV1Sd00J:www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000467.htm+iran,+US,+swiss+ambassador,+offer&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=53&gl=us&ie=UTF-8
Here's the first paragraph of the 2003 FT story:
"Iran has communicated to the US its readiness to open direct talks about its nuclear programme as a first step towards tackling other issues, such as terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but US officials say the Bush administration is keeping the door closed..."
Ah I was going to be a shit and say something about that picture... but nevermind. It's all just too pathetic lately.
Great...It is one hell of a story to be told to the idiots that voted for that Nuremberg quality misfit residing in the white house..
This is a life and death story to be handled with precision. This revolting revelation may result in the saving of thousands of lives, and avoid more Bush inspired misery in the world. Maybe the MSM can atone for its vacuity so shamelessly shown in the runup to the Iraq invasion.
No wonder Bush threatened to prosecute Flint Leverett if he published that paper! Back a guilty administration into a corner......
Steve, do you read Glenn Greenwald? Did you hear him debating Frank Gaffney? I wish you and he would team up. The two of you would be incredibly effective MSM television and radio commentators.
and by the way, what indeed would be wrong with protecting the Iranian people from the results of more neocon fantasies, if we number the hundreds of thousands of innocents dead in Iraq as an indicator of the direct results of their conniving? Another country that is no direct threat to us. Like we as a nation need more blood guilt because of neocon scheming and manipulation.
The smears begin, or continue. Snow asserting some politicians "maybe are trying to 'protect' Iran" (vs the million and one valid reasons to avoid war); and he is "at a total loss" to find anything that supports "a runup to a war on Iran". This smirking liar and innuendo artist is fast ensconsing a place in the propaganda hall of fame.
Via Think Progress:
Rove has always sat in on high level cabinet meetings even when he was serving in a political capacity. Isn't it time that Andrea ask why??? Through the grapevine, I heard that there were concerns among certain cabinet members in 2001.
WilliamR -- Right you are! I goofed. It was "The Chris Matthews Show". Just on auto pilot this morning,
Steve Clemons
Hardball this morning? I thought it was a Monday - Friday show?
Leave a comment: