This story is like an outline - with nothing under the topics. I cannot read between the lines and tell what is really going on.
Does anyone here have a clue?
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Monday, November 28, 2005 3:41 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. President George W. Bush has authorized the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad to meet Iranian officials to help secure Iraq :?: after the Pentagon starts withdrawing troops, Newsweek reported on Monday.
In the December 5 issue of Newsweek, which hit news stands on Monday, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he had explicit permission from Bush to begin a diplomatic dialogue with Iran about Iraq.
I've been authorized by the president to engage the Iranians as I engaged them in Afghanistan directly," said Khalilzad, a former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan. "There will be meetings, and that's also a departure and an adjustment." :?:
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack confirmed the United States wanted to meet the Iranians to discuss issues related to Iraq but said discussions would not extend beyond that topic. <what topic?>
"It's a very narrow mandate that he (Khalilzad) has and it deals specifically with issues related to Iraq," he said.
"I know that we have said in the past that we believe Iran and Iraq should have the kind of good relations that most neighbors enjoy, that those relations be governed by mutual respect and by transparency," McCormack said. "So we would expect nothing less from Iran with respect to Iraq.
"I think you have heard the same from the Iraqis as well," McCormack said. "They have had exchanges of visits with the Iranian government."
Asked what prompted the "departure" from previous U.S. policy that Khalilzad mentioned, McCormack cited border control issues and "other things you might expect between" the Iraqi and Iranian governments. :?:
He stressed that any meetings would not address other concerns the United States has with Iran.
The United States and other Western countries have accused Iran of using its nuclear program as a front for attempting to make nuclear weapons, an accusation Tehran denies.
Iran is facing international pressure to let its most sensitive nuclear fuel work be conducted by Russia.
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Uncle
Does anyone here have a clue?
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Monday, November 28, 2005 3:41 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. President George W. Bush has authorized the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad to meet Iranian officials to help secure Iraq :?: after the Pentagon starts withdrawing troops, Newsweek reported on Monday.
In the December 5 issue of Newsweek, which hit news stands on Monday, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he had explicit permission from Bush to begin a diplomatic dialogue with Iran about Iraq.
I've been authorized by the president to engage the Iranians as I engaged them in Afghanistan directly," said Khalilzad, a former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan. "There will be meetings, and that's also a departure and an adjustment." :?:
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack confirmed the United States wanted to meet the Iranians to discuss issues related to Iraq but said discussions would not extend beyond that topic. <what topic?>
"It's a very narrow mandate that he (Khalilzad) has and it deals specifically with issues related to Iraq," he said.
"I know that we have said in the past that we believe Iran and Iraq should have the kind of good relations that most neighbors enjoy, that those relations be governed by mutual respect and by transparency," McCormack said. "So we would expect nothing less from Iran with respect to Iraq.
"I think you have heard the same from the Iraqis as well," McCormack said. "They have had exchanges of visits with the Iranian government."
Asked what prompted the "departure" from previous U.S. policy that Khalilzad mentioned, McCormack cited border control issues and "other things you might expect between" the Iraqi and Iranian governments. :?:
He stressed that any meetings would not address other concerns the United States has with Iran.
The United States and other Western countries have accused Iran of using its nuclear program as a front for attempting to make nuclear weapons, an accusation Tehran denies.
Iran is facing international pressure to let its most sensitive nuclear fuel work be conducted by Russia.
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Uncle
