At last realisation seems to be dawning on the US administration that they cannot, by military means alone, succeed in Iraq. Political and diplomatic efforts must be prioritised every bit as much, if not more, than militaristic efforts.


Gen Abizaid (left) and Mr Satterfield spoke to the committee
The US government has confirmed its willingness, in principle, to discuss the conflict in Iraq with its neighbour, Iran.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6151834.stm


This is encouraging but only if persued with determination and vigour and with a realisation that an agreement with Tehran and Damascus is needed. It is not optional. Not if they want a stable Iraq.

Middle East watchers are also doubtful that this will lead very far. Rosemary Hollis of Chatham House in London said: "It is totally logical to think that you cannot solve Iraq without involving its neighbours. But my fear is that this will fall down in the execution. The US and UK have no idea that the shoe is on the other foot. It is they who are weak. Yet they still expect Iran to make all the concessions."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6146376.stm

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

This was evident in an interview on Al Jazeera last night with Richard Haas; he kept re-stating the US' preconditions for talks with Iran while his Egyptian-academic counterpart tried to explain that no such pre-conditions would be accetable.

Haas then reverted to a position of having no pre-conditions to negotiation, but putting 'everything on the table' - Iranian nuclear program, sponsorship of terrorism. It was pointed out to him that here he wanted to put 'everything on the table' as it related to possible Iranian concessions, with no mention of where the US might make some.

I think this is the crux of the pre-negotiation negotiations; from the Iranian perspective, we frame the discussion on an equitable basis or it aint happening.

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

Republicans seem to be ever more at odds with the Bush administration about M.E. strategy. Some of them are beginning to see the light. I don't think that the same can be said for Bush and company. I am afraid that Bush still hopes to bomb Iran before his presidential tenure expires. We will see what happens when Bush hears more from the grown-ups: the Iraq study group, James Baker and Lee Hamilton.

Yep, the neo-con chapter of American history is over.
Welcome back, realism.

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That information is classified and to be given only on a need-to-know basis...

And I do not need to know.

I'm glad we're going to start talking with these people...

...but I just don't see how "A-Mad-Jihad" saying "Death to America and Death to Israel" to our faces is going to make any difference than when he preaches it to his followers at home.

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"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."

The Solution for Illegal Immigrants (Gray areas discussed throughout the thread)

I'm not siding with the terrorists or anything by saying this, but why dont we just get out of the middle east all together within the next few years??

It's obvious they dont want us there, so why do we stay?? There are alternatives to oil so we dont even need the oil over there. Yeah I know the greedy oil execs would be pissed, but I really dont care about them.

And yeah im sure its due in part to us wanting to protect Israel, however if we state in no uncertain terms that anyone who goes to war with Israel is going to war with us and we will respond HARSHLY, that should be a deterrent. Besides Israel can take care of itself.

What ever happened to the notion of MINDING OUR OWN BUSINESS?? The founding fathers wanted us to stay out of foreign affairs. I think its about time we started listening to them.