2006.09.21: September 21, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Malawi: Diplomacy: National Security: COS - Iran: Reuters: Blackwill in meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Malawi: RPCV Robert Blackwill (Malawi) : Special Report: Diplomat, National Security Advisor, and Malawi RPCV Robert Blackwill: 2006.09.21: September 21, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Malawi: Diplomacy: National Security: COS - Iran: Reuters: Blackwill in meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

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Blackwill in meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Blackwill in meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

After railing against U.S. global dominance at the United Nations this week, hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared with some of his most-prominent American critics to debate issues including Iran's nuclear program and his denial of the Holocaust. Robert Blackwill, a former deputy national security adviser under U.S. President George W. Bush, was quoted as wondering after the session whether negotiations with Ahmadinejad's government would ever be possible. "If this man represents the prevailing government opinion in Tehran, we are headed for a massive confrontation with Iran," Blackwill said. Robert Blackwill served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, Ambasssador to India, and as a Deputy National Security Advisor to Condoleezza Rice.

Blackwill in meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Ahmadinejad spars with U.S. policy heavyweights

Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:45 AM BST145

By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After railing against U.S. global dominance at the United Nations this week, hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared with some of his most-prominent American critics to debate issues including Iran's nuclear program and his denial of the Holocaust.

The 90-minute closed event on Wednesday night was hosted by the influential Council on Foreign Relations think tank and, the New York Times reported, boycotted by leaders of several Jewish groups.

The Times quoted Ahmadinejad as saying "The U.S. doesn't speak for the whole world" in its opposition to Iran's nuclear program. It also quoted Robert Blackwill, a former deputy national security adviser under U.S. President George W. Bush, as wondering after the session whether negotiations with Ahmadinejad's government would ever be possible.

"If this man represents the prevailing government opinion in Tehran, we are headed for a massive confrontation with Iran," Blackwill said.

The meeting represented the highest-level recent attempt at an informal Iranian-American dialogue, even as the two governments exchange heated rhetoric over nuclear weapons, terrorism and Middle East security.

"My sense was that, in principle, he (Ahmadinejad) was open to a relationship (with the United States) but that he wanted the United States to take the initiative to bring it about," Richard Haass, the council's president and a former senior U.S. State Department official under Bush, told Reuters.

Ahmadinejad, who took office in 2005, "seemed to enjoy the give-and-take" of intellectually sparring with the group of 19 council members, Haass said. "A lot of the significance of the meeting is the fact that it happened," he said.

Ahmadinejad was asked about his persistence in describing the Holocaust as a myth, why Tehran insists on enriching uranium when it could have access to nuclear power without doing so, and why some Iranian newspapers have been closed.

The Times, whose reporter David Sanger attended as an invited member of the council, quoted Ahmadinejad as repeatedly questioning evidence of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis. Noting the 60 million total death toll of World War Two, Ahmadinejad asked, "Why is such prominence given to a small portion of those 60 million?"

In a discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Times said, he asked why Palestinians should be asked to "pay for an event they had nothing to do with" in World War Two.

The council did not release a list of attendees.

Participants said the group, besides Blackwill, included Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser in the administration of Bush's father; former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk and former senior Pentagon official Ashton Carter, both of whom served in the Clinton administration.

No currently serving U.S. officials attended, Haass said.

The United States and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Since then, intermittent attempts to breach the divide have borne little fruit. The crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions has prompted new calls for dialogue.

Under pressure, Bush this year agreed to join other major powers in negotiations if Iran suspended uranium enrichment. The United States and allies say the enrichment program is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, but Tehran insists it is for electric-power generation.

Bush and Ahmadinejad have both expressed regard for each other's citizenry and urged people-to-people exchanges.

Earlier this month, the administration gave former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami, a moderate who preceded Ahmadinejad, an unrestricted visa to travel widely in the United States, where he gave speeches and held news conferences.

Last week, however, a senior Middle East researcher for the U.S. Congress was denied entry to Iran for a conference.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved





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Story Source: Reuters

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