Bush admin proves Kerry right, again

[ProSense]

The admin decided to hold talks with Iran.

Kerry: U.S. Should Talk With Iran, Syria

John Kerry Says U.S. Rejection of Dialogue With Syria, Iran to Try to Calm Iraq Is a Mistake

Sen. John Kerry, on a Mideast tour taking him to Damascus for talks with President Bashar Assad, said Friday that the Bush administration's rejection of dialogue with Syria and Iran to try to calm Iraq is a mistake.

Kerry's trip is the latest in a growing tussle between the White House and Congress over the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel that called for talks with Iran and Syria to win their help in stabilizing war-torn Iraq.

The Massachusetts Democrat said his visit to Syria was "a fact-finding mission" to explore "what might or might not affect behavior with respect to Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel and Iraq, where in each of those cases Syria is playing a role."

"Dialogue is an important thing. It's very hard to move the ball if you don't know firsthand what people's needs are, what their own perceptions are," Kerry said in an interview with The Associated Press and several other journalists in Cairo.

Kerry said he was "willing" to go to Iran for talks but had no current plans to do so.

The White House said Thursday that trips to Syria by U.S. lawmakers were "inappropriate," giving a public relations victory for Damascus, which the Bush administration accuses of fueling crises in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

Spokesman Tony Snow said a visit earlier this week by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. to Damascus, Kerry's visit and others planned by Democrat Christopher Dodd and Republican Arlen Specter send a mixed message to Syria.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice soundly rejected any talks with Syria and Iran in an interview with The Washington Post, saying any "compensation" they demand would be too high and that they should act on their own if they want stability in Iraq.

Kerry called the refusal to talk to Syria and Iran "a mistake. I think it's the kind of policy that's got us into trouble in the reason and it needs to change."

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Middle East

U.S., Iran See Need for Stable Iraq

Listen to this story... by Mike Shuster

Morning Edition, May 28, 2007 · Despite three decades of hostility, the U.S. and Iran have at least one thing in common: Both are heavily committed to supporting Iraq's Shiite government.

On Monday, that mutual interest led to a rare meeting of the U.S. and Iranian ambassadors, who gathered at Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office in Baghdad. The talks took place despite a fresh increase in tensions between the two nations.

In recent weeks Iran has detained five Iranian-Americans for questioning, accusing some of spying, even as reports surfaced of new CIA covert operations against Iran. The U.S. is holding five Iranians it seized earlier this year in Iraq.

Iran, the U.S. claims, is smuggling deadly explosives into Iraq that are being used against U.S. convoys. And the U.S. is calling for new sanctions against Iran to counter the progress it is making in the nuclear realm.

The U.S. has two aircraft carriers battle groups in the Persian Gulf. Last week they carried out maneuvers near Iran's coast.

Vali Nasr, an expert on Iran and Iraq at the Naval Post-Graduate School, says the two sides are engaged in a proxy war in Iraq and the wider region.

They are, he says, "supporting enemies of one another and arming enemies of one another with the view to subverting the position of one another."

Beyond the talks, Nasr says, "there is the reality of what's happening to U.S.-Iranian relationships on the other side. And it's very difficult to see how this low-level meeting in Iraq with a very limited agenda is going to change the direction of the broader confrontation that we're seeing between Iran and the U.S."

Expectations on both sides are extremely low. The Bush administration has been quite vocal in recent weeks, criticizing Iran for numerous transgressions, in Iraq and beyond.

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Still, the Bush admin is not to be trusted. This is more trying to distort perception that they're doing the right thing. He is delusional.

[karynnj]

1. This is great news - I just hope they have the skill to do it

Now, if only we can get Bush to agree quicker - like right after Kerry proposes something. Kerry would likely agree not to even claim he was first. Bush did copy one answer in the first debate.

[illinoisprogressive]

2. funny how they keep doing what they made fun of kerry for now

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I wish I could vote for Kerry again...

for president. I'm just not that enamored with our present candidates. :sigh: