What other inference can one draw from his column, where he also rightly bemoans the humiliation of Britain? Money quote:
The quid pro quos were not terribly subtle. An Iranian "diplomat" who had been held for two months in Iraq is suddenly released. Equally suddenly, Iran is granted access to the five Iranian "consular officials" -- Revolutionary Guards who had been training Shiite militias to kill Americans and others -- whom the United States had arrested in Irbil in January. There may have been other concessions we will never hear about. But the salient point is that American action is what got this unstuck.
Charles is not without his sources in the upper regions of the Bush administration. Tehran and London say no deal was done. Charles says there was. Who made it? Cheney? Bush? If so, the Bush administration just caved to Iran and traded hostages for hostages. Big news. Who will ask the president who authorized it?