On 22 August 2006, Iran submitted its long-awaited response to the proposal from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany to their respective Ambassadors in a collective meeting in Tehran. Details of the response remains unknown though highlights suggest that it contains elements that will sure come as disappointment to the EU and the US a well as ideas that will help a negotiated settlement. Significantly, Iran’s response seems to reject the suspension of uranium enrichment as a precondition for opening negotiations on the nuclear dispute; it does, however, accept to negotiate such suspension. This is of course radically different from the position Iran had so far assumed. Specifically, Iran had long maintained that its uranium enrichment programs are not negotiable as that is its unalienable rights as per the NPT.

We, at the American Iranian Council, believe that now that Iran is willing to negotiate suspension, the US must take Tehran to challenge and make moves that will facilitate such negotiations. It is also our believe that on the negotiation table, the US must put, publicly, a huge pile of carrots for Iran to consider and the incentive package must be big enough to invite the unconditional support of the Iranian people. The US must also place on the table, but initially covered, a huge pile of stick so that Iran will be forced to make a choice. It is almost certain that Iran will take the incentive package as otherwise it would have to face the angers of the Iranian people. Let us hope that the US and Iran at last find it imperative to negotiate in good faith and for the benefit of the two great nations and the rest of the world.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006: Iran formally responded to a proposal from the P5+1 (Britain, China, France, Russia, United States, and Germany) seeking to resolve the dispute over the country's nuclear program. Iran describes the contents of its response as “positive and clear signals” to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program. The Islamic Republic could face U.N. sanctions unless it reverses course and agrees to a verifiable halt to enrichment activities that can be a precursor to the manufacture of nuclear weapons. (Source: Associated Press)

Iranian warships opened fire and seized a Romanian oil rig near Kish island in the Persian Gulf. The crew of 27 was held for several hours on the rig's heliport before being freed. Prior to the attack, an Iranian court had ordered the rig to remain in Iranian waters pending resolution of a legal dispute. Iran has not commented on the incident. (Source: Associated Press)

Wednesday, August 23, 2006: Gonzalo Gallegos, a spokesman for the US State Department, said America was consulting its allies on the next steps to take in confronting Iran, but observed that Tehran had not addressed the central UN demand: that it stop enriching uranium, the first stage towards developing atomic weapons. "We acknowledge that Iran considers its response as a serious offer, and we will review it," said Gonzalo Gallegos, the spokesman. “The response, however, falls short of the conditions set by the Security Council, which require the full and verifiable suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities.” (Source: Times Online)

The House intelligence committee released a report declaring that "the United States lacks critical information needed for analysts to make many of their judgments with confidence about Iran and there are many significant information gaps." The report recommends several steps including increasing the number of spies who know relevant languages and improving analysis, intelligence sharing and human spy placement. Such criticism, especially in light of America's intelligence failures in Iraq, may further dissuade US policymakers from taking military action against Iran if the diplomatic track proves unfruitful. (Source: Time Magazine)

Thursday, August 23, 2006: A high-ranking defense official told The Jerusalem Post that there is growing consensus within the Israeli defense establishment that the United States will not attack Iran, and that Israel might be forced to act independently to stop the Islamic republic from obtaining nuclear weapons. The defense official blasted the US for “not doing enough” to stop Teheran's race to the bomb. (Source: The Jerusalem Post)

In an interview with Germany's N24 television, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Iran’s response was not satisfactory. “From everything I hear, we cannot be satisfied with it. What we expected is not stated there, namely ‘we will suspend our uranium enrichment and come to the negotiating table’.” Previously, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had written Merkel a letter stating that their two countries had been subjected to "tyranny" from the World War Two victors and should cooperate to end the "imposed" world order. The Iranian president did not repeat his previous assertion that the Holocaust was a myth. He did, however, say it had been used to weaken Germany, and he railed against Zionism (Source: Reuters)

“So are you going back?”

Asked my aunt with a voice that bristled with worry. We had not spoken since war had curtailed my summer vacation and imprinted my psyche with wholly new definitions of outrage. Without a second thought I said “Yes, I’ll go back to Lebanon as soon as I possibly can.” My aunt, like several other family members, were worried to the point of insomnia as I was curled up in front of a computer in Beirut describing in detail events such as the destruction of the country’s only international airport. They cannot fathom why I would want to go back “there.” After all, good first generation children go to law school; they do not go to Beirut and run around during air raids trying their luck with an amateur war journalist gig. Questions were followed by yet more questions: “but how did you sleep?” and the ubiquitous “weren’t you terrified of ______ ? (fill in the blank with your favorite “terrorist” organization, the dark, kidnappings, etc. The post evacuation debriefing continued for weeks.

To be quite honest, we had the dubious privilege of experiencing the war from a bubble. My partner Rafael and I spent nearly three weeks in Lebanon shuttling ourselves between apartments at the American University of Beirut and in Hamra. Although we could hear the thud of explosions and the din of the internally displaced people who had sought refuge on our block, virtually nothing was destroyed in our neighborhood. Food was available and we had power and water pressure most of the time. Though we experienced some hardships, they were trivial in comparison to those in the Dahyeh whose houses were being flattened by Israel’s death showers. They were less than twelve miles away. In a nearby café in Raouche, we watched an area near the airport burn. Peering through our cheap binoculars, we were just able to make out Israeli helicopters scurrying away from the anti aircraft fire. One of the few remaining Saudi tourists shouted “planes, planes!” and asked Rafael if he could squint through them to see for himself.

Yes, I want to go back to Lebanon and no, I am not a madwoman. There is simply too much work that needs to be done. Besides, Israel really meant it when they said that “they would turn back the clock in Lebanon by twenty years.” Although perhaps they were being merciful; the UNDP said just turned the clock back by a mere fifteen.

During the war, I was plagued with a unique combination of intense anger and boredom. Fewer and fewer restaurants cracked open their doors. Entire neighborhoods were stripped of their usual commotion, with their respective party scenes taking an unheard of hiatus. Luckily, we had some friends were in the process of putting together a relief effort. The Lebanese government, which is astonishingly efficient at doing absolutely nothing, was characteristically slow to help the internally displaced. Activists as well as community members decided to take matters in their own hands. They came out en masse in order to make life more bearable for those who are in parks or schools. The Samidoun network (www.samidoun.org) was one of several organizations that was assembling teams that could be dispatched to places where help was needed. They also assembled an independent media group, a medical team and a set of translators. Throughout the war, Samidoun worked towards providing direct assistance to those who were displaced and providing the international community with updates about the rapidly evolving conditions in Lebanon. Thankfully, I was spared from the inaccurate ramblings of reporters in the States who were masquerading as honest journalists. As activists ourselves, we immediately decided to stand in solidarity with our comrades. We were inspired by their resilience and just as irate. With their guidance, we helped them disseminate information to the international community. We wanted the world to know that Israel was not, contrary to its press releases, engaged in a surgically precise “war against terror” or Hezbollah. What they were engaged in was a war against civilians, children, infrastructure, truth, economic viability, unity and the poor. Over one hundred bridges were reduced to rubble. Over seventy roads were cut. Nearly a quarter of the population has been displaced. Even with the so- called ceasefire in place, Lebanon is being strangled by the Israeli Army’s air and sea blockade.

Like many of our Lebanese friends who held U.S. documents, we were ambivalent about the evacuation process. Many of us were plagued by an odd sort of survivor’s guilt that made our stomachs turn when we thought that our lives were now considered to be more valuable because of a scrap of paper. As we were melting in the hot sun for over six hours while waiting to be packed into infernal military transport vessels, we felt more like refugees than evacuees. Or perhaps more precisely, like “evacuees.” We were waiting in line with people who had lost everything and endured the perilous journey from the South, only to find themselves passing through yet another dehumanizing level of hell in order to flee.

I will go back to Beirut and Rafael probably will too. There are buildings to be repaired, stories to be shared and friends to be hugged.

Paola Rizzuto is a researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Iran ex-president invited to Washington
http://news.yahoo.com/s /ap/20060822/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iran_visit

Khatami Plans to Visit Washington, DC (Persian)
http://emruz.info/ShowItem.aspx? ID=795&p=1

Anousheh Ansari is co-founder CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI). She will become the first Iranian (persian) in space and first female space tourist in September 2006. Along with her brother-in-law Amir Ansari, she made a multi- million contribution to the X-Prize foundation on May 5, 2004, the 43rd anniversary of Alan Shepard's sub- orbital spaceflight. The X-Prize was officially renamed the Ansari X Prize in honour of their donation.

Born in 1967 in Tehran, Iran(persia), Ansari witnessed the Iranian revolution in 1979. She emigrated to the United States in 1984 at the age of sixteen and received her bachelor's of science in electrical engineering and computer science at George Mason University. She received her master's degree at George Washington University.

Anousheh Ansari
h ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anousheh_Ansari

Shaban Jafari (Persian)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story /2006/08/060820_mv-mb-shaban-jafari.shtml

http://www.sharghnewspaper.ir/850530/ht ml/index.htm

Nuclear
Iran Won’t Give Promise to End Uranium Effort
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/23/world/m iddleeast/23iran.html? ex=1157083200&en=8690f910501889ab&ei=5070&emc =eta1

Iran Sanctions Could Fracture Coalition
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/23/world/m iddleeast/23diplo.html? ex=1157083200&en=d38538a8b9fb1489&ei=5070&emc =eta1

Lebanon
Iran’s Lebanon Card
To attack or to negotiate, the world has a stark choice in confronting Iran
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/article.print? id=8052

Sweating Out the Truth in Iran
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/opinion/ 24bahari.html? ex=1157083200&en=70df0ad8a5acbcdb&ei=5070&emc =eta1

Persian
Nuclear
http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/News Detail.aspx?NewsID=370919

http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/News Detail.aspx?NewsID=370552

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