The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran (118 page)

44.
“Iran: Khamenei on Albright’s ‘Deceitful’ Remarks,” Iranian News Agency, FBIS, March 25, 2000.

45.
Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Edward Walker memorandum, “Iran Policy,” February 16, 2001.

C
HAPTER 22
A
N
A
TROCITY

1.
October 11, 2000, presidential debate,
www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-11-2000-debate-transcript
, accessed July 1, 2010.

2.
CINCCENT briefing, “Assessment of Military Options to Iranian Sponsored Terrorism,” January 2001.

3.
Lieutenant General Greg Newbold, USMC (Ret.), interview with author, June 18, 2010.

4.
On November 25, 2000, both Richard Clarke and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger wrote Clinton that the FBI and CIA believed that al-Qaeda had been behind the attacks. General Shelton remained uncertain about who had perpetrated the attack.
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
(New York: Norton, 2004), pp. 194–95. The DIA had several unsubstantiated intelligence reports from human sources that pointed to Lebanese Hezbollah as having trained and provided the explosives to the perpetrators.

5.
9/11 Commission Report
, p. 201.

6.
During the same briefing, Newbold described the military plans against al-Qaeda. Polo Step was also the name used by CENTCOM to protect Iraqi military plans. See General Tommy Franks autobiography
American Soldier
(New York: ReganBooks, 2004), p. 384.

7.
Cited in Craig Whitlock, “Probe of USS
Cole
Bombing Unravels,”
Washington Post
, May 4, 2008, p. A1.

8.
Larry Wilkerson, interview with author, June 24, 2010; Haass,
War of Necessity
, p. 176.

9.
Lieutenant Colonel Kim Olson, USAF memorandum, “Iran 101,” February 1, 2001.

10.
Pollack interview; Newbold interview.

11.
Donald Rumsfeld memorandum to Condi Rice, “Iraq,” July 27, 2001.

12.
Donald Rumsfeld,
Known and Unknown
(New York: Sentinel, 2011), pp. 420–21.

13.
Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke,
America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 10–12.

14.
David Rose, “Heads in the Sand,”
Vanity Fair
, May 12, 2009.

15.
“An Open Letter to President Clinton,” Project for the New American Century, January 26, 1998,
www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm
, accessed July 2006; Robert Kagan, “A Way to Oust Saddam,”
Weekly Standard
, September 28, 1998; Richard Perle, “Rethinking the Middle East,” speech before the American Enterprise Institute, October 14, 1998,
www.aei.org/speech/16436
, accessed August 3, 2010.

16.
Frank Miller, interview with author, July 1, 2010. Five others who worked in senior positions within the Bush administration, who did not want to go on record, shared a similar view as Miller’s.

17.
During an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer promoting his book
Decision Points
, Bush echoed a frequent dismissive refrain about the judgment of history: “I’m gonna be dead, Matt, when they finally figure it out.” President George Bush interview with Matt Lauer, NBC, November 8, 2010.

18.
Interview with senior NSC official. Also see Peter Rodman,
Presidential Command: Power, Leadership, and the Making of Foreign Policy from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush
(New York: Knopf, 2009), pp. 249–50.

19.
Office of the Secretary of Defense, “Department of Defense Position on Liberation Options,” June 1, 2001.

20.
John Bolton, interview with author, August 31, 2010.

21.
Newbold interview.

22.
Alfred Goldberg, Sarandis Papadopoulos, et al.,
Pentagon 9/11
, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Historical Office, 2007, p. 35.

23.
Stephen Cambone notebook, entry for September 11, 2001, redacted copy posted at
www.tomflocco.com/Docs/Dsn/DodStaffNotes.htm
, accessed August 17, 2010.

24.
Paul Wolfowitz memorandum to Donald Rumsfeld, “Question of Identity of Hijackers,” September 19, 2001.

25.
Paul Wolfowitz memorandum to Donald Rumsfeld, “Preventing More Events,” September 17, 2001; Paul Wolfowitz memorandum to Donald Rumsfeld, “How Certain Can We Be about the True Identity of the Hijackers,” October 14, 2001.

26.
Newbold interview.

27.
Condoleezza Rice’s testimony before the 9/11 Commission, April 8, 2004, at CBC News Online,
www.cbc.ca/news/background/sep11/rice_transcript.html
, accessed April 10, 2011.

28.
Douglas Feith, interview with author, June 22, 2010.

29.
Douglas Feith,
War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism
(New York: Harper-Collins, 2008), pp. 229–34; Feith interview.

30.
Interview with Iranian officials, February 9, 2011.

31.
“Showdown with Iran,” PBS
Frontline
, October 23, 2007.

32.
“Text of Khatami Statement Condemning Attacks on U.S. Cities,” Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 2, FBIS, September 11, 2001; “Qom Friday Prayers Leader Expresses Sympathy with Relatives of U.S. Victims,”
Aftab-e-Yazd
, FBIS, September 22, 2001; “Iran Professor Urges Dropping of ‘Death to America’ Slogan,”
Seda-ye Edalat
, FBIS, September 22, 2001; “Iran Denounces Massive Attacks on U.S., Expresses Sympathy with Victims,” Iranian News Agency, FBIS, September 11, 2001.

33.
In September 2000, Iran allowed foreign banks to operate in its free-trade zones and agreed to implement international standards for protection of intellectual property rights that computer companies wanted to safeguard their software from piracy.

34.
Flynt Leverett, interview with author, March 16, 2010.

35.
Less interview.

36.
James Dobbins, interview with author, May 12, 2010.

37.
Larry Franklin, “Talking Points on Iran,” February 13, 2002.

38.
Ryan Crocker, interview with author, May 2010.

39.
Ibid.

40.
Hillary Mann, interview with author, June 28, 2010.

41.
Douglas Feith memorandum to Donald Rumsfeld, “Key Point from Newt Gingrich Breakfast,” September 25, 2001.

42.
Feith interview.

43.
Crocker interview; Dobbins interview.

44.
James Dobbins,
After the Taliban: Nation-Building in Afghanistan
(Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, 2008), pp. 74–75.

45.
Ibid.

46.
Ibid., pp. 83–84.

47.
Ibid., p. 121; Dobbins interview.

48.
Armitage interview.

49.
Interviews with Iranian officials and U.S. intelligence reports all support this view of Iran’s relationship with a1-Qaeda held inside the country.

50.
Ibid.

51.
Mann interview.

C
HAPTER 23
A
N
A
XIS OF
E
VIL

1.
David Frum, interviewed by Linden MacIntyre, April 8, 2002, PBS
Frontline
,
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tehran/interviews/frum.html
, accessed April 22, 2011.

2.
General Richard Myers, USAF (Ret.), interview with author, June 25, 2010.

3.
“More on Khamene’i’s Rejection of Bush Accusations,” Iranian News Agency, January 31, 2002; “Rafsanjani Says U.S. Played ‘Nursemaid to Evil,’” Iranian News Agency, January 30, 2002. President Bush actually captured just under 30 percent of the eligible vote, or 48 percent of those who decided to go to the polls.

4.
“Iran’s Kharrazi Answers Bush’s Threats in Letter to UN Head,”
Nowruz
, February 6, 2002.

5.
Crocker interview.

6.
Myers interview.

7.
Ibid.

8.
Bolton interview.

9.
General Richard Myers memorandum, August 17, 2002.

10.
Peter Rodman memorandum for Secretary of Defense, “Talking Point for Iran for Principals,” January 2, 2003.

11.
Lieutenant Colonel S. McPherson background paper for February 7, 2002, Principals Committee Meeting.

12.
Algiers Accords, “Declaration of the Government of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria,” January 19, 1981, p. 1.

13.
Peter Rodman memorandum for Donald Rumsfeld, “Iran National Security Presidential Directive,” October 16, 2002.

14.
Notes by participant on draft National Security Presidential Directive, “Iran Policy,” October 8, 2002.

15.
Armitage interview.

16.
Ibid.

17.
Report on Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq Conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans within the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy
, U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Intelligence, 110th Congress, 2nd Session, June 2008. This provides a major overview of the Ledeen meetings and the talks with Ghorbanifar. Also Knut Royce and Timothy Phelps, “Arms Dealer in Talks with U.S. Officials about Iran,”
Sydney Morning Herald
, August 9, 2003,
www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/08/1060145871467.html
, accessed
August 20, 2010. Ledeen had first approached Peter Rodman suggesting the defense officials meet with the Iranians, but Rodman declined the offer. So Ledeen moved up the chain to the number two national security adviser.

18.
Tenet,
At the Center of the Storm
, pp. 311–14; Armitage interview.

19.
Tenet,
At the Center of the Storm
, pp. 311–14.

20.
Armitage interview.

21.
Tenet,
At the Center of the Storm
, pp. 11–14.

22.
While Iran and North Korea were long-standing targets of the neocons in the administration too, in the days just before and after 9/11 the principal focus at the White House had been stopping Russia from selling advanced weapons to Iran and debating whether to oppose the completion of the reactor at Bushehr. National Security Council, “Options Paper for Deputies, Russia-Iran Proliferation,” November 8, 2001.

23.
Office of Secretary of Defense, policy paper, “Current State of the War on Terrorism,” May 25, 2002.

24.
Ibid.

25.
Feith interview.

26.
Joint Staff J-5, information paper, “Leveraging Regime Change in Iraq to Support Continuation of War on Terror,” June 11, 2002; “Possible Iranian Actions Including Likelihood of Military Responses to U.S. Actions Against Iraq,” March 1, 2002.

27.
Lieutenant Colonel Tom Billick paper, “Describe Possible Iranian Actions to U.S. Action Against Iraq,” March 1, 2002.

28.
Myers interview.

29.
Zinni interview.

30.
Myers interview.

31.
Institute for National Strategic Studies memorandum for the record, “Regional Impact of Regime Change in Iraq,” March 20, 2003.

32.
Crocker interview.

33.
Ibid.

34.
Armitage interview.

35.
Notes on draft National Security Presidential Directive, “Iran Policy,” October 8, 2002.

C
HAPTER 24
D
EFEAT OR
V
ICTORY

1.
Captain William Toti, interview with author, July 19, 2007;
Lucky Bag
, U.S. Naval Academy, 1979.