International Issues Forum: Engaging Iran and Syria (1/18)

There has been much controversy of late about whether the U.S. should engage Iran and Syria, or continue to refuse to negotiate directly with these two problematic countries. That will be the subject of this week's IIF discussion.

And to guide our deliberations, we are fortunate to have once again John H. Kelly, a man intimately familiar with both countries, having served as U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon during the Reagan administration, and as Undersecretary of State for Near East and South Asian Affairs under Bush 41. I have attached a brief bio.

As usual, I am sending along some background information:

Ambassador Kelly sent me this link to the UN Security Council Resolution imposing sanctions on Iran, which he states is "the definitive text and commentary":

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8928.doc.htm

Here are four articles from The Wall Street Journal:

Commentary: A Reagan Strategy for Iran and Syria

How Syria May Hold Key to Iraq

Pentagon Intensifies Pressure on Iran

Commentary: Squeezing Iran

Here is an op/ed piece by David Ignatius from The Washington Post:

The Price of Iran's Help

This article originally appeared last month in the Financial Times:

Talks With Iran And Syria Will Not Be An Easy Ride

From The Economist, here are Backgrounders on both Iran and Syria, with links to articles:

Backgrounder: Iran

Backgrounder: Syria

Here are links to items from the Council on Foreign Relations web site:

Publication List: Iran

Publication List: Syria

And here are links to articles on both countries from the International Crisis Group:

Crisis Watch: Iran

Crisis Watch: Syria

Here is an article from the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs:

The Syrian Solution

Here is an article that originally appeared in Al Hayat:

A Workable Approach to Engaging Syria

This article originally appeared in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs:

How to Keep the Bomb From Iran

This article on Iran, by Seymour Hersh, is from the November 27 issue of The New Yorker:

The Next Act

Finally, here is an article that broadens the discussion, by Richard Haas, President of the Council on Foreign Relations:

The New Middle East

I, for one, am extremely interested in hearing Ambassador Kelly's views about how we should be dealing with Iran and Syria. Come join us at Villa on Thursday evening as we all try to get a better insight into this troubled area of the world.

Our discussion this coming Thursday will be about Iran and Syria, and for starters, I am forwarding the e-mail I sent out when we discussed Iran a couple of months ago and the most recent Congressional Research Service reports I could find on Iran and Syria:

Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses
Iran's Nuclear Program: Recent Developments
Iran's Influence in Iraq
Iranian Nuclear Sites Syria: U.S. Relations and Bilateral Issues

----- Original Message -----
From: Charles R. Hubert
To: International_Issues_Forum
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 7:27 PM
Subject: IIF; Articles on Iran

Our IIF discussion this Thursday will be about Iran, and our moderator will be a relative newcomer to our group, Wayne Gross. Although there have been a number of recent developments, the issues have changed little since early this year; so I am forwarding the e-mail I sent out when we talked about Iran as a part of the Great Decisions 2006 discussion series (see below). I am also sending along some additional background information:

From The Economist, here are a Backgrounder and a link to recent articles on Iran:
Backgrounder: Iran Iran: Recent Articles

Here is a recent report on Iran from the Congressional Research Service:
Iran: U.S. Concerns and Policy Responses 08-25-06

From The NewsHour on PBS, here is an interview in which Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations defends his country's right to a civilian nuclear program:
NEWAMAKER: Javad Zarif

Here is an op/ed piece that appeared last spring in The Wall Street Journal:
Facing Down Iran

Here is a link to articles dealing with Iran from the Council on Foreign Relations:
Recent Publications: Iran

From the Foreign Policy Association web site, here are a link to several useful items and a quiz about Iran:
U.S. & Iran: Online Resources QUIZ: Dealing with Iran

Finally, I am including a link to something I think many of you will find useful or interesting: the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons:
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs/Others/infcirc140.pdf

Relations with Iran remain an important and difficult aspect of U.S. foreign policy. I hope you will join us at Villa this Thursday evening as we discuss a subject that should be of interest to us all.

----- Original Message -----
From: Charles R. Hubert
To: Evening at Emory/Great Decisions
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 7:27 PM
Subject: Great Decisions 2006; Articles on Iran

Our topic for the second discussion in this Great Decisions series will be "Dealing with Iran." Issues will include: Iran's nuclear program; its links to a number of international terrorist groups, most noticeably Hezbollah; its involvement in post-war Iraq; political reform in the country; and the possibility of the resumption of diplomatic relations with the U.S. I am sending along some background material.