Iran to meet with Iraq and Syria - isn't this what Kerry was urging for over a year?

[blm]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061120/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

By STEVEN R. HURST and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers 1 hour, 30 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken
Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region, four key lawmakers told The Associated Press on Monday.


Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has accepted the invitation and will fly to the Iranian capital Saturday, a close parliamentary associate said.

The Iranian diplomatic gambit appeared designed to upstage expected moves from Washington to include
Syria and Iran in a wider regional effort to clamp off violence in Iraq, where more civilians have been killed in the first 20 days of November than in any other month since the AP began tallying the figures in April 2005.

The Iranian move was also a display of its increasingly muscular role in the Middle East, where it already has established deep influence over Syria and Lebanon.

"All three countries intend to hold a three-way summit among Iraq, Iran and Syria to discuss the security situation and the repercussions for stability of the region," said Ali al-Adeeb, a lawmaker of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party and a close aide to the prime minister.

Both Iran and Syria are seen as key players in Iraq. Syria is widely believed to have done little to stop foreign fighters and al-Qaida in Iraq recruits from crossing its border to join Sunni insurgents in Iraq. It also has provided refuge for many top members of Saddam Hussein's former leadership and political corps, which is thought to have organized arms and funding for the insurgents. The Sunni insurgency, since it sprang to life in late summer 2003, has been responsible for most of the U.S. deaths in Iraq.

...

[Mass]

1. I do not think so, if you read the article.

Kerry was advocating that the US would initiate this summit, so that their interests would be included in the discussion.

This summit is the perfect example of the failure of the Bush regime. These three countries are going to meet alone, and Iran is the one who is looking like the conciliatory country here. I hope that this will lead somewhere, but this is definitively bad for the US.

[blm]

2. Point is that before the US would have had a role along with the allies, now

because Bush doesn't think like Kerry, the US will face whatever else comes of the meeting held WITHOUT any US input.

[Mass]

3. Yes, but what is happening is NOT what Kerry was asking for.

The point is that what is happening is a failure of the Bush administration. It is not something Kerry has asked for months.

I would like to hear Kerry say that loudly. It is not time to stay silent on these issues. The Baker-Hamilton commission is also clearly a failure (whether they take some elements of Kerry's and other Dems' plan or not). This is also a thing I would like to hear by Kerry.

I would feel sorry to see him not speak out because he is being too much of a team player. We need strong voices.

[blm]

5. Just pathetic that he has to fight to be heard when he had the best solutions

possible in the first place.

[fedupinBushcountry]

6. Exactly

JK has pushed for this since '04. He was right and Bush again shows
another example of complete incompetence, and failure to listen to anyone.

Who knows what will come out of it. This is not good for our troops.

[wisteria]

4. Both POV are valid. Anyway you look at this, it is not good for the US

interests.

[ProSense]

7. Slightly off topic, but this really gets to me:

The public overwhelmingly wants the U.S. to pull out of Iraq, everybody knows it's the only viable solution, so why isn't every Democrat forcefully calling for withdrawal? Even here, you get the sense that some are avoiding it because the candidate they support isn't being forceful about calling for the U.S. to pull out of Iraq. Well, here is more reality:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2980222&mesg_id=2980222

[politicasista]

8. I noticed there haven't been many threads about Iraq withdrawal

Interesting.


Even though they may be silent, hope Kerry will continue (despite the media spin:grr: ) to speak out on Iraq.