http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/...air/index.html

Negotiations? No, bush tells iran and syria to shove it. Not that they were saying much to begin with. Bush thinks we need to give them preconditions before they talk to us about OUR problems.

[sarcasm] Because obviously talking to someone you don't like is the worst thing in the world, i mean who knows what past conflicts could be avoided if people never talked to eachother? [/endsarcasm]

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"The belief that nothing exists outside your own mind--surely there must be some way of demonstrating that it was false" - 1984

This is the most blatant admission of inability to confront the enemy.
Ever heard of a bully who gave up after you did it his way?
NO, this will only encourage him to further abuses and it shows that all those
"distinguished" gentlemen havn't got a clue how to handle a crisis.

Good for President Bush He's exactly right: both Iran and Syria have specific things they need to do to make a step toward peace. Until they do, there's nothing to talk about.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Unfortunately, the reality of the situation in Iraq requires talking with those we don't like. If you don't want to solve the problems in Iraq and prefer to embrace ideology, continue with the "stay the course" mentality. It sure hasn't gotten us very far.

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See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction.

- G.W. Bush, 10/3/2003

Hey why don't we just kill Jews and sell Iran nukes?

Then we can be even better friends with the biggest most blatant terrorist supporting nation on the face of the planet!


Frankly the appeasment/negotiate with the terrorist states was the dumbest part of that report.

Predictably Gee Dubya remains several steps behind the game. Unable to see (or perhaps just unwilling to admit) that his policies have been disastrous and that he now needs the assistance of Tehran and Damascus if he still intends to stabilise Iraq.

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

Even Baker has told him that the ISG strategy is not a "fruit salad" to be picked over.

Hopefully the penny will drop soon for Mr. Bush because as Mr Baker also explained "time is running out".

I would imagine that, with pressure over Lebanon and a dire internal economy, Syria would be more amienable in negotiations than Iran. This alone would give the US a chance to insert a wedge in between, what must be, an uneasy alliance and that alone would help to reduce Iran`s growing dominance of the region.

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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.)

Peace - like before the invasion of Iraq you mean?

Not to nit pick, but Iran and Syria are at peace. We are the ones at war, not them. We are ones who invaded another country on dubious grounds. Not them. They have great influence in the region. We could certainly use some help because it's apparent we are not making much progress.

Frankly, I don't care what W does, but it seems to me if you want to find a diplomatic solution to a problem talking is a good first step. Why should they do anything as a precursor to helping us with a problem we caused?

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

I have come to the conclusion (not hard to do), that Bush will NEVER do anything different in Iraq. Blue ribbon committees make recommendations, and Bush spins them in a way he will continue with this inaction. I wish someone would come up to him and say, "What ever you are doing is wrong...do something different...anything different..but, for God's sake, get off "stay the course" - it ain't working.

As Woodward points out in his book, "State of Denial", the problem in Iraq is not a lack of recommended courses of action, the problem is implementation. Nothing gets implemented! Bureaucracy Kills is a quote from the book that seems appropriate. This war will stand out in history as a war that the US chose NOT to win.

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Hobo
Charter member of 'Republicans Who Hate Bush" Club

You may be right. W is notorious for not listening to anyone who doesn't agree with him (even it's apparent they are totally right). But this time he is getting pressure from all sides, including his own. So he might. I guess we just wait and see. And people probably have told him he's messing things up. But he's not the type to listen. He's like a child.

I think it will also stand out as one that never should have been fought.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.