The current head of the Central Intelligence Agency wasn’t a fan of President George W. Bush’s policies toward Iran, and wanted the next president to appoint former Secretary of State Colin Powell to negotiate directly with the country, according to private documents published by WikiLeaks on Wednesday,
According to the memo, authored by CIA Director John Brennan in November 2007 and addressed to the president who would take office in January 2009, Brennan thought the next president should “tone down the rhetoric” that had been used by President Bush, who he said had engaged in “gratuitous labeling of Iran as part of a worldwide ‘axis of evil.'”
“An unfortunate hallmark of U.S.-Iranian relations since 2001 has been growing divide between Washington and Tehran, chronicled by bombastic rhetorical broadsides that have been hurled publicly by each side against the other,” Brennan wrote. “Even Iran’s positive engagement in helping repair the post-Taliban political environment in Afghanistan was met with indifference by Washington.”
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2574118/
The solution, he said, was to establish a “direct dialogue with Tehran” through an envoy, preferably Powell.
“The appointment of a U.S. presidential envoy to Iran is long overdue. The argument that such an appointment would be premature as long as Iran is on the Department of State’s list of state sponsors of terrorism is without merit and foundation; the United States has diplomatic relations with Syria, also on the list, and has appointed presidential envoys to North Korea and Sudan,” Brennan said.
“An ideal candidate for presidential envoy to Iran is former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who retains wide notoriety and respect throughout the region. Secretary Powell has an in-depth understanding of the politics and history of the region as well as of the equities of the …” Brennan asserted. The sentence was never completed.
The memo was included in documents stolen from Brennan’s personal email account and given to WikiLeaks. The perpetrator was a hacker alleged to be as young as 13 years old.
