There are ongoing attempts to lasso and hogtie Iran and Syria in order to make them obedient to the whims of The Decider-in-Chief. Some people have actually dared to suggest that Mr Bu$h engage in some peculiar folk ritual called "diplomacy" and meet with these two countries in regional talks with a view to encouraging them to stop supporting their proxy Shiites in Iraq.
Sadly, it appears Mr Bush may not be interested in cooling down the chaos and bloodshed in Iraq.
Diplomacy implies discussion, compromise, a quid pro quo with another party, which of course means giving them something they want in order to get something you want from them. As Mr Bu$h’s public statements and actions have demonstrated over the last six years, he has the attitude and attention span of an eight-year-old, and just isn’t interested in doing things for other people. So, there will be no US-Iran-Syria discussions of the situation in Iraq, which it is alleged, they are as guilty of creating as Mr Bu$h is.
Senator John McCain, ever the wise old man adult of Washington, had a decidedly adult and diplomatic method of resolving the crisis:
"One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, 'Stop the bullshit,'" said Mr. McCain, according to Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, an invitee, and two other guests.
You just can’t get much more adult and diplomatic than that. That would certainly make the world better.
The person in the USG actually charged with diplomacy is Ms Rice, our alleged Russian expert. (It’s true. It’s in the job description. You could look it up.) She of course is on record as saying that diplomacy is not in the cards.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday rejected a bipartisan panel's recommendation that the United States seek the help of Syria and Iran in Iraq, saying the "compensation" required by any deal might be too high. She argued that neither country should need incentives to foster stability in Iraq.
If they have an interest in a stable Iraq, they will do it anyway," Rice said in a wide-ranging interview with Washington Post reporters and editors.
Perhaps on the Planet Earth nations might see a vested interest in peace and tranquility in states on their borders. But this is Bu$hCo Bizarro World we’re talking about here, where what is laughingly referred to as diplomacy is conducted for the benefit of US oil companies and Israel.
So, we find an interesting circumstance:
Specter defies Bush, plans Syria trip
Sen. Arlen Specter, a 26-year Senate Republican, said he will visit Syria despite loud objections by the Bush administration, contending the situation in Iraq is so dire that it is time Congress step up to the plate and see what it can do.
Specter, R-Pa., said in an interview late Friday that he is planning a trip to the Middle East that will include Israel and Syria. The senator said he and other Republicans are concerned that the administration's policies in the Middle East are not working and that other GOP members may follow in his footsteps.
"I've talked to my Republican colleagues, and there is a disquiet here," Specter said.
For those of you with short-term memory problems, Senator Specter is the Republican more loyal to Party and Leader than to Constitution and country who made great public chatter about Mr Bu$h’s disgraceful unconstitutional wiretapping of American citizens and then produced am ex post facto bill making it all perfectly legal.
Senator Specter was the great legislator who was so troubled by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 because it threw habeas corpus out of the Constitution that he wrote a specific amendment to the act ensuring the Great Writ was not denied. He was troubled, mind you, about this dangerous alteration to our Bill of Rights, and when his amendment was defeated, he voted for the MCA anyway.
It should be clear that Senator Specter’s only loyalty is to Mr Bu$h and the Republican Party. So this façade of a trip in defiance of the Decider-in-Chief’s and our alleged Russian expert’s disinclination to conduct diplomacy with Iran and Syria is kabuki theater, most likely to explain to President Bashar al-Asad how Syria, whose majority ethnic group is Sunni, must stop supporting Hezbollah in Lebanon because the Israelis don’t like it, and it annoys Mr Bu$h.