November 8, (LPAC)--While the Bush Administration has been ratcheting up the rhetoric against Iran, and maybe even preparing for war, the Iranians have offered numerous opportunities for diplomatic engagement that the Bush Administration has either ignored or outright rejected. That was the gist of the testimony offered to the House National Security Subcommittee, yesterday, during a hearing on "Negotiating with the Iranians: Missed Opportunities and Paths Forward."

Ambassador James Dobbins, who had been the Bush Administration's first special envoy for Afghanistan after the Taliban were overthrown, told the panel of an Iranian offer, made through him, in February of 2002 to openly participate in a U.S.- led effort to build and train a new Afghan army. Dobbins said that while the Iranian offer was problematic in details, "a joint program of this sort would be a breath-taking departure after more than 20 years of mutual hostilities." He reported the offer back to Washington but, "There was no apparent interest in discussing," it.

Dobbins was followed by Hillary Mann Leverett and her husband, Flynt Leverett, both of whom were National Security Council staffers in the early part of the Bush Administration and deeply involved in diplomacy concerning Iran. Together, they described numerous discussions that occurred on tactical issues between the U.S. and Iran, from the time of the 9/11 attacks through mid-2003. This included a 17 month-long back channel dialogue with Iranian officials at the U.N. that continued despite President Bush's infamous "axis of evil" speech. Mann reported that Iran provided considerable assistance to the establishment of the Karzai government in Kabul, and deported hundreds of Al Qaeda suspects fleeing Afghanistan. When the dialogue came to an impasse in the spring of 2003, in part because the U.S. would not address their concerns about the MeK terrorist group, the Iranians made an offer to negotiate a comprehensive resolution of all the issues between the two countries, including Iran's support for Hamas and Hezbollah, its nuclear program and its role in Iraq.

The Bush Administration responded by rejecting the proposal outright and cutting off the dialogue less than two weeks later. "I believe this record indicates the Bush Administration cavalierly rejected multiple and significant opportunities to put its Iranian relations on a fundamentally more positive and constructive trajectory," which "continues to impose heavy costs on American interests and policy efforts in the Middle East," she said.