So Pelosi went to Syria to meet with President Bashar al-Assad and deliver a message from Israel signaling that Israel would like to resume peace talks with Syria.

... "Peace in the Middle East is a high priority ... We were very pleased with the reassurances we received from the president that he was ready to resume the peace process. He was ready to engage in negotiations (for) peace with Israel," Pelosi added...^[1]

Wouldn't it be nice if the peace talks resumed?  Needless to say, one person doesn't think so.

...At the White House, President Bush criticized Ms. Pelosi's visit, saying it sent mixed signals to the Middle East and to President Bashar's government.

"Sending delegations hasn't worked," Mr. Bush told reporters. "It's just simply been counterproductive."

The United States, which has accused the Syrian government of providing militants with safe passage into Iraq and of meddling in Lebanon's politics after its army was forced to leave there in 2005, has sought to isolate Syria economically and politically. Damascus denies the charges...^[2]

Once again Mr. Bush demonstrates that diplomacy is a weapon of last resort.  It takes all of two seconds to see that if Israel enters into peace talks with Syria, and gives Syria back the land taken from it during the war, then Syria loses an important excuse for aggression against Israel.  If Israel returns the Chebaa Farms to Lebanon, Syria loses another important excuse.  With each excuse lost the hardliners become more isolated.

Bush wants to isolate Syria as long as it is meddling in Lebanon's affairs and letting militants into Iraq.  In order to do this he needs to provide evidence, like we did during the Cuban Missile Crisis... photos George, not cartoon trucks.  Unfortunately for our foreign policy, the world doesn't assume we know what we are talking about anymore, wonder why that is?

Imagine if Syria entered into a peace agreement which Israel met fully, and then proceeded to engage in some aggressive action?  Wouldn't that isolate Syria?  When someone has decided to do an evil thing, usually it involves making excuses.  One effective way to make it more difficult for them is to take away those excuses.

I'm not naive enough to believe that this one visit by Pelosi is likely to amount to anything substantial, but I'm also not naive enough to believe that you can solve problems with others by not talking to them.  In the meantime, the Syrians are happy to see Pelosi.

..."Ms. Pelosi is going to be very happy in Syria," said Izzat Abdoulkarim, who runs an optical shop in downtown Damascus. "George Bush says we are bad, but she will see this is not true."

He added, emphatically: "She views the world through a different perspective than Bush. She's more open-minded."^[2]

There's your message to the average Syrian civilian, George.  You are bad people.  Way to go.  Counting down seconds before some wingnut compares Pelosi to "Hanoi Jane". 5, 4, 3, ...

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References:

1. Reuters: Pelosi says gave Syria Israeli peace message
2. New York Times: Pelosi, Warmly Greeted in Syria, Is Criticized by White House
3. Wikipedia: Jane Fonda, "Hanoi Jane" subsection

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Yesterday, the highly anticipated report, in the making for the last nine months by a bipartisan team of 5 republicans and 5 democrats, was finally released.  (You can download a copy of the report and read it yourself if you like.)  Over the last few weeks I'd been hearing that there would be "no surprises" in the report, and I'd heard people make the assumption that because it was bipartisan, the report would be watered-down and otherwise impotent.  Well it's out now, and perhaps the biggest surprise of the report is its tone.  It is pretty much a complete repudiation of Bush's failed policy in Iraq, as well it should be.  Gone are the goals of a democratic Iraq, gone even is the assurance that we will definitely succeed.

From Bush rebuked for spread of chaos in Iraq (theglobeandmail.com):
...The long-anticipated report, a sweeping rejection of current U.S. policy, includes 79 specific recommendations with which the Iraq Study Group paints a picture of an invasion gone terribly wrong that has so far cost more than 2,900 U.S. lives (and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives), as well as $400-billion (U.S.).

It also suggests that U.S. officials have been involved in "significant underreporting of the violence" in the country.

"The situation is grave and deteriorating," co-chairman Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman, said yesterday in releasing the report. "Violence is increasing in scope and lethality... the current approach is not working. And the ability of the United States to influence events is diminishing."

The report says: "A slide toward chaos could trigger the collapse of Iraq's government and a humanitarian catastrophe. Neighbouring countries could intervene. Sunni-Shia clashes could spread. Al-Qaeda could win a propaganda victory and expand its base of operations. The global standing of the United States could be diminished. Americans could become more polarized."...

The chairman of the team that authored the report is the Republican James Baker, former Secretary of State for the former President George H. W. Bush.  He has been quoted by many news agencies as saying "We do not recommend a stay the course solution. In our opinion that approach is no longer viable."

The report calls for an increase in the troops training Iraqi soldiers, but for no additional troops on the ground.  It calls for a serious commitment to supply the new Iraqi forces with the equipment they need.  It calls for drawdowns of American forces by 2008, and for a major diplomatic effort to stabilize the region involving direct talks with all of Iraq's neighbors (including Iran and Syria.)  It connects the dots between other US policy in the region and Iraq, and calls for renewed efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict including the return of the Golan Heights by Israel to Syria.

The formal release of the report included a meeting between Bush and the team who produced it wherein they gave the President a copy of the report to review.  Bush, for his part, expressed gratitude and a promise to study the report.  There's no onus (beyond a political one) on the President to follow any of the recommendations in it of course, and his press secretary, former FOX News anchor Tony Snow was quoted as saying the President had ruled out direct talks with Iran unless Iran agrees to halt its nuclear program--demonstrating once again that the Bush administration just doesn't get it.

If we were arguing from a position of strength, and Iran was coming to us for help, we'd be in a position to make demands.  We aren't in that position, and they're not begging us for help.  We'd be begging THEM for help.  You don't frame a request for help with demands, that's just effing stupid.  Iran would be perfectly happy to continue to funnel support to the insurgency and let America continue to stew in its own mess.  This is why we must engage with them.

It's not an ideal situation, but we gave away much of our bargaining power when we got into this ill-thought enterprise in the first place.  Think about it for two seconds.  Who was Iran's most powerful enemy?  Who was most successful in keeping Iran in check?  Why that would be Iraq under Saddam Hussein.  By first containing Hussein, and by later removing him, we removed a major military threat to Iran.  We basically put them in the catbird seat and enabled them to dictate terms to us.  You conservatives can thank your boy in the White House for that.

Anyway, I for one hope that the threat of political isolation will force the Bush administration to pull their heads out of their asses and start working constructively to fix this failed policy. I'm not going to hold my breath, though.

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Today Bush, remarking on the cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah, was quoted as saying: "The first reaction of course of Hezbollah and its supporters is to declare victory. I guess I would have done the same thing if I were them.  Sometimes it takes people awhile to come to the sober realization of what forces create stability and what don't..."

In other news, about 50% of Americans suffered a loss of consciousness this afternoon due to a massive overdose of irony.

The Pope is dead. I know this because I heard something about it on the news. In fact I heard a lot of something about it, and not much about anything else...   more »