Thomas Pickering

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jul2009/pers-j15.shtml

Toward the end of his article, Dreyfuss quotes “Tom” Pickering, whom he indentifies as “a veteran US diplomat who’s been involved in unofficial talks with Iranian counterparts.”

Thomas Pickering is a long-time US State Department operative who served as US ambassador to El Salvador in the 1980s and was implicated in the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra scheme to illegally fund the US proxy war against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. He later served as US ambassador to Israel, US ambassador to the United Nations and, under Clinton, as US ambassador to Russia.

Pickering sits on the board of directors for the American-Iranian Council. This organization was granted permission by the US government to open an office in Iran, making it, according to Wikipedia, “the only US-based peace and conflict resolution non-governmental organization operating in Iran.”

There can be little doubt about the character of Pickering’s “unofficial talks with Iranian counterparts.”