Rice rejects cost of deal with Syria and Iran
Washington Post:
David Ignatius in an interview with the Syrian foreign minister says the Syrians are prepared to deal. Moallem seem to indicate that the main concern of the Damascus entity was its own stability. That appears to be its main objective in any talks. In other words what the Syrian government wants is an assurance that it will not have to deal with something messy like democracy. That is an assurance that Rice is not ready to give, but apparently many Democrats would be willing to "realistically" sell out the Syrian people.
It is not necessarily a bad bargain at this point if it would stop the Syrian support of the enemy in Iraq as well as their support for Hezballah. Give stability a chance to let these fragile democracies have some breathing room . If you believe in democracy it would be even harder for Syria to resist it once these two are up and running.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday rejected a bipartisan panel's recommendation that the United States seek the help of Syria and Iran in Iraq, saying the "compensation" required by any deal might be too high. She argued that neither country should need incentives to foster stability in Iraq.I think the chances of a middle east peace agreement are so small that the only purpose in pursuing them is to show our "friends" in the region we share their concern.
"If they have an interest in a stable Iraq, they will do it anyway," Rice said in a wide-ranging interview with Washington Post reporters and editors. She said she did not want to trade away Lebanese sovereignty to Syria or allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon as a price for peace in Iraq.
Rice also said there would be no retreat from the administration's push to promote democracy in the Middle East, a goal that was de-emphasized by the Iraq Study Group in its report last week but that Rice insisted was a "matter of strategic interest." She reiterated her commitment to pursuing peace between Palestinians and Israelis -- a new effort that President Bush announced in September but that has yielded little so far.
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David Ignatius in an interview with the Syrian foreign minister says the Syrians are prepared to deal. Moallem seem to indicate that the main concern of the Damascus entity was its own stability. That appears to be its main objective in any talks. In other words what the Syrian government wants is an assurance that it will not have to deal with something messy like democracy. That is an assurance that Rice is not ready to give, but apparently many Democrats would be willing to "realistically" sell out the Syrian people.
It is not necessarily a bad bargain at this point if it would stop the Syrian support of the enemy in Iraq as well as their support for Hezballah. Give stability a chance to let these fragile democracies have some breathing room . If you believe in democracy it would be even harder for Syria to resist it once these two are up and running.
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