The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran (126 page)

Vance, Cyrus, 11, 16, 20, 21, 29–30, 39, 578n13, 582n23

Velayati, Ali Akbar, 94, 370

Vessey, John “Jack,” 51

on attack on U.S. embassy annex in Beirut, 152

on commander of CENTCOM, 55

Crist appointed to CENTCOM by, 164

on Iranian blockade of Iraq, 168

on Iraqi army, 95

and Syrian attack on U.S. reconnaissance plane, 148–49

on U.S. marines in Lebanon, 111, 112, 117, 141–47

Vincennes
(ship), 363–70, 377

Voice of America, 69, 70, 497–98

Warner, Volney, 53, 54, 55–56

war on terrorism:

Bush on, 427, 540

Chalabi on Iraq as ally in, 469

covert action, 540

Gingrich on, 433

Iran, Iraq, Taliban, and al-Qaeda lumped together in, 435

Iranians fear they are targets, 434, 475

matrix of global terrorist network, 426

regime change in Iran seen as part, 451–55

Rumsfeld on, 444

Syria seen as next target, 473

Wolfowitz on Iraq and, 425

Webb, James, 250–51, 258, 272, 289, 603n43

Weinberger, Caspar, 52

on attack on U.S. embassy annex in Beirut, 152

on attack on U.S. marines in Lebanon, 139–46, 149–50

on Chinese missiles in Iran, 218

and CIA aircraft, 313

and Crist, 269, 281, 286–87, 290–92

includes Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force in CENTCOM, 53–56

on intelligence gathering for sea-based force, 286

and
Iran Ajr
seizure, 296, 299

and Iran-Contra affair, 180, 185–86, 188, 190, 198–99, 201, 206, 250, 596n8

on Iranian blockade of Iraq, 168

and Iranian mining campaign, 240, 242–43, 245, 249–50

and Iran-Iraq War, 96, 97

and Israeli invasion of Lebanon, 107, 109–12

on Kuwaiti request to reflag its tankers, 213, 214, 599n43

and Lyons, 257–58, 272, 603n43

and McFarlane, 117, 119, 175, 176

Persian Gulf policy, 51

on Poindexter, 185

principal aides, 52–53

and Red Sea mining, 236

and regional response to CENTCOM, 56–57

as reluctant to use military force, 52, 142

and
Stark
incident, 226, 228, 229

on supporting an Iranian insurgency, 71

and tanker war, 162, 163

on U.S. bilateral defense arrangements with Gulf countries, 169, 170, 172, 595n35

Weinberger, Caspar

on U.S. marines in Lebanon, 117, 119, 120

on
Vincennes
to Persian Gulf, 363

Webb appointment, 250–51

Window of Opportunity, Operation, 30, 257–59, 270–72

Wolfowitz, Paul, 420

on Crocker mission, 430

and Free Iraqi Forces, 448

and Ghorbanifar plan, 449, 450

on Iranian nuclear program, 393

Iran policy, 445

Iraq as concern, 420–21

leaves Bush administration, 487

and September 11, 2001, attacks, 425

and U.S. invasion of Iraq, 425–27, 459

on U.S. support for Iraq in Iran-Iraq War, 96

on using People’s Mujahideen of Iran, 459

Zarif, Javad:

on al-Qaeda in Iran, 437–38

on Bush’s “axis of evil,” 441–42

on funding of CIA covert operations, 401

negotiations with U.S., 384, 387, 434, 435, 455–59, 477–80

on reality of U.S.-Iranian power relations, 571

and U.S. aid after earthquake of 2003, 483

al-Zarqawi, Abu Musab, 438

Ziegler, Howell Conway, 245, 264, 265, 276–78, 294, 314

Zinni, Anthony “Tony,” 406–9, 417, 418, 453, 482

N
avy SEALs seize the Iranian oil platform Rostam following shelling by American warships, October 19, 1987. The attack was in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack that damaged a U.S. flagged oil tanker. (
U.S. Special Operations Command)

A
n American helicopter and surface minesweepers search for Iranian mines in the Persian Gulf, December 1987. Iran laid nearly one hundred mines in international waters, threatening to disrupt the entire world’s economy.
(Department of Defense)

N
ational Security Adviser Colin Powell updates President Reagan on the morning of April 18, 1988, about the military retaliation against Iran for the mining that nearly sank the frigate
Samuel B. Roberts. (Reagan Library)

I
ranian oil platform Sassan burns following an attack by the U.S. Navy and Marines. The large complex served as a base for Iranian operations against American convoys.
(Department of Defense)

T
he Iranian warship
Sahand
before and after being hit by nearly twenty bombs and missiles by U.S. naval ships and aircraft, killing almost a third of the crew.
(U.S. Navy)

T
he American air force housing complex, Khobar Towers, following a bombing by Iranian surrogates, June 1996.
(Department of Defense)

T
he commander of U.S. Central Command, General Anthony Zinni, developed new set of military plans against Iran following the bombing of Khobar Towers and increased harassment of American warships in the Persian Gulf by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
(Department of Defense)