Earl Blumenauer: “I would like to include the following article, which I referenced on the floor, in the Record of the debate on H.R. 282…”

“I would like to include the following article, which I referenced on the floor, in the Record of the debate on H.R. 282, the ``Iran Freedom Support Act.'' [From the Asia Times, March 30, 2006] Neo-Con Cabal Blocked 2003 Nuclear Talks (By Gareth Porter) Washington.--The George W. Bush administration failed to enter into negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program in May 2003 because neo-conservatives who advocated destabilization and regime change were able to block any serious diplomatic engagement with Tehran, according to former administration officials. The same neo-conservative veto power also prevented the administration from adopting any official policy statement on Iran, those same officials said. Lawrence Wilkerson, then chief of staff to secretary of state Colin Powell, said the failure to adopt a formal Iran policy in 2002-03 was the result of obstruction by a ``secret cabal'' of neo-conservatives in the administration, led by Vice President Dick Cheney. ``The secret cabal got what it wanted: no negotiations with Tehran,'' Wilkerson wrote in an e-mail to Inter Press Service (IPS). The Iranian negotiating offer, transmitted to the State Department in early May 2003 by the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, acknowledged that Iran would have to address U.S.…”