Bush Team Snubbed `Grand Bargain' on Iran's Atomic Work in 2003

In May 2003, an Iranian envoy sent the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush a proposal that was either too good to refuse or too good to be true.

Between those two possibilities lies a tale of missed opportunities and mutual distrust told in Barbara Slavin's ``Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies'' and ``Treacherous Alliance'' by Trita Parsi. Taken together, the two books provide damning context to the new U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in the same year.