[Mb-civic] U.S. Faces a Crossroads on Iran Policy WASHPost

[Michael Butler]

washingtonpost.com 

U.S. Faces a Crossroads on Iran Policy


By Robin Wright
 Washington Post Staff Writer
 Monday, July 19, 2004; Page A09

 The Bush administration is under mounting pressure to take action to deal
with Iran -- and end the drift that has characterized U.S. policy for more
than three years.

 The final report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks, due Thursday, may further intensify the policy debate, as it says
Iran let eight of the 19 hijackers transit through Iran from neighboring
Afghanistan -- a claim Tehran does not deny. The issue is whether it
happened with Iran's compliance or because of porous borders.

 Acting CIA Director John E. McLaughlin said yesterday that the United
States has known for "some time" about the al Qaeda passage through Iran,
although he said there is "no evidence" of a connection between Iran and the
Sept. 11 attacks.

 In response, Iran's Foreign Ministry said yesterday that preventing illegal
passage was difficult because of the long frontier, adding that it has since
tried to tighten control. "Even more people may [illegally] cross the border
between Mexico and the United States," spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told
reporters in Tehran.

 The dispute -- and uncertainty -- over al Qaeda's use of Iran comes as the
White House is being pulled in distinctly different directions on Tehran.

Since May, Congress has been moving -- with little notice -- toward a joint
resolution calling for punitive action against Iran if it does not fully
reveal details of its nuclear arms program. In language similar to the
prewar resolution on Iraq, a recent House resolution authorized the use of
"all appropriate means" to deter, dissuade and prevent Iran from acquiring
nuclear weaponry -- terminology often used to approve preemptive military
force. Reflecting the growing anxiety on Capitol Hill about Iran, it passed
376 to 3.

In contrast, two of the most prominent foreign policy groups in Washington
are calling for the United States to end a quarter-century of hostile
relations and begin new diplomatic overtures to Iran, despite disagreements
on a vast range of issues. Because the "solidly entrenched" government
provides the only "authoritative" interlocutors, Washington should "deal
with the current regime rather than wait for it to fall," says a Council on
Foreign Relations report released today.

The disparate range of proposals underscores the near void in U.S. policy
toward Iran -- in stark contrast to the two other countries in what
President Bush calls the "axis of evil." The administration launched a war
to oust Saddam Hussein in Iraq and is now engaged in delicate talks over
nuclear issues with North Korea. But six months before its first term ends,
the administration has still not formally signed off on a strategy for Iran
since a review of U.S. policy was begun in 2001, U.S. officials say.

Pressed to define U.S. policy on Iran, one frustrated senior U.S. official
cracked, "Oh, do we have one?"

Bush administration policy has generally been piecemeal and reactive to
broader or tangential issues, rather than to Iran itself, U.S. officials
say. "What we have is a summation of various pieces -- one piece on nuclear
weapons, one on human rights, another on terrorism, other pieces on drugs,
Iraq and Afghanistan," a senior State Department official said.

White House officials point to a three-paragraph presidential statement two
years ago this month as the core policy. It notes local and national
elections when voters supported reformers; it then calls on Tehran to
"listen to their hopes."

"As Iran's people move towards a future defined by greater freedom, greater
tolerance, they will have no better friend than the United States," the
statement reads. But it offers no policy specifics or prescriptions. It
instead reached out beyond Tehran in hopes that Iranians would be able to
change their government or its positions.

Since then, the Bush administration has warned Tehran about meddling in Iraq
and lashed out at the Islamic republic for not fulfilling its promise to
provide all information to the U.N. watchdog agency on its nuclear energy
program, which Washington suspects is being diverted to build a nuclear
weapon.

"The Iranians need to feel the pressure from the world that any nuclear
weapons program will be uniformly condemned," Bush told newspaper editors in
April. "The development of a nuclear weapon in Iran is intolerable."

But in a split reminiscent of the deep prewar divisions over Iraq, the
administration has been at odds over how to accomplish its goals --
engagement, containment or confrontation. Once again, the State Department
has been willing to explore areas of potential cooperation -- notably
narcotics interdiction, Afghanistan and Iraq -- to see whether discussions
under international auspices might lead to wider discussions.

In contrast, the Pentagon and Vice President Cheney's office have resisted
making overtures, U.S. officials say. After the heady victory in Afghanistan
and before Iraq, a few voices urged a toughened stance against Tehran next.
Yet in one of many mixed signals, the White House also offered to send Sen.
Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and a member of the Bush family to Iran with
humanitarian relief after an earthquake destroyed the ancient city of Bam
and killed tens of thousands in December. It was rebuffed.

Iran's even deeper political divisions -- a complex spectrum of reformers
and hardliners -- have not helped Washington determine the most effective
course to adopt. Further complicating U.S. policy, Tehran also appears to be
in transition, as hardliners swept parliamentary elections this year and are
poised to win the presidency next year.

"It's difficult in that landscape to take policy risks -- or even to develop
policy," said the senior State Department official, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity.

In the vacuum, Congress and top officials of former administrations are
increasingly weighing in. The region's changing dynamics over the past two
years, with new governments in Iraq and Afghanistan, provide the pretext for
new cooperation since Washington and Tehran share an interest in fostering
stability, some argue. But Iran's suspected nuclear program also spurs
deeper fears of Tehran's intentions than at any time since the 1979 Iranian
revolution unleashed Islamic extremism, foreign policy experts and
congressional officials say.

Increasingly alarmed over Iran's failure to come clean on its arms programs,
Congress is becoming tougher. Since House Resolution 398 passed on May 6, a
similar Senate resolution calling for punitive action, mainly through broad
new U.N. sanctions, is expected to be put to a vote -- and win overwhelming
support -- when Congress returns after Labor Day, congressional sources say.

In an even more dramatic move, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) plans to
introduce an Iran liberation act this fall, modeled on the Iraq Liberation
Act that mandated government change in Baghdad and provided more than $90
million to the Iraqi opposition. The goals would be the same for Iran,
including regime change, congressional officials said.

By contrast, top foreign policy officials from the past six Republican and
Democratic administrations are calling for diverse efforts at diplomatic
rapprochement. The Council on Foreign Relations report calls for "systematic
and pragmatic engagement" with Tehran, saying current U.S. policy and
expectations that the government will be ousted are unrealistic.

"The United States should not defer a political dialogue with Iran until
deep differences over its nuclear ambitions and involvement in regional
conflicts have been resolved. Just as the United States has a constructive
relationship with China (and earlier did so with the Soviet Union) while
strongly opposing certain aspects of its internal and international
policies, Washington should approach Iran with a readiness to explore areas
of common interests while continuing to contest objectionable policy," it
says.

Although acknowledging that a "grand bargain" covering all issues is also
unrealistic now, the report urges Washington to offer a "direct dialogue" on
regional stability; broaden cultural and economic links; and press for Iran
to hand over al Qaeda detainees in exchange for the United States disbanding
the Iraq-based Mujaheddin-e Khalq, the most militant Iran opposition force
that is also on the U.S. terrorism list.

The council's bipartisan panel was chaired by Robert M. Gates, CIA director
during the first Bush administration, and Carter administration national
security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. A second policy paper, due in August,
will be published by the Atlantic Council. Its co-chairs are first Bush
administration national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, Nixon
administration defense secretary James R. Schlesinger, and former chairman
of the House International Relations Committee, Lee H. Hamilton, vice
chairman of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

 Given the impending election, however, both congressional officials and
foreign policy analysts say the Bush administration is unlikely to give
formal shape to Iran policy, except to press for Tehran's full cooperation
with the United Nations on its nuclear program.

 © 2004 The Washington Post Company