NYT:Bush Asking Arab Friends for Iraq Help

[cal04]

As President Bush and his top diplomats try to halt the downward spiral in Iraq and Lebanon, they seem intent on their strategy of talking only to Arab friends, despite increasing calls inside and outside the administration for them to reach out to Iran and Syria as well.

Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are traveling to Jordan this week for talks that are to include Iraq’s prime minister and a number of Sunni Arab leaders but exclude the Iranians and Syrians, despite the influence they wield in Iraq and Lebanon.

Meanwhile, one of Ms. Rice’s most trusted aides, Philip D. Zelikow, announced Monday that he was resigning his post as State Department counselor. Mr. Zelikow, widely viewed as a voice of candor in the administration on the Iraq crisis, said in his resignation letter that he would return to teaching at the University of Virginia. He cited a “truly riveting obligation to college bursars” for his children’s tuition.

An administration official said Mr. Zelikow had been frustrated with administration policy on the Middle East, including Iraq, and North Korea.

There have been signs of strain within the administration, particularly at the State Department, where career Foreign Service officials have argued for increased dialogue with Iran and Syria to try to stem the violence in Iraq and Lebanon. “We’ve got a mess on our hands,” said a senior State Department official, who, like others discussing the subject, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject publicly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/world/middleeast/28diplo.html?hp&ex=1164690000&en=95214c275963990e&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Has Bushco ever engaged in actual diplomacy? Even traditional friends of the U.S. like Germany and

France were essentially told to go piss up a rope when they didn't dance to the shrub's fascist banjo tune leading into Iraq.

Who's smart now?

Rummy's remarks about "Old Europe" and the "chocolate making countries" will be enshrined in historical infamy forever.

[grytpype]

2. Calling Bandar Bush!