Iran And Syria Only Increasing MidEast Influence Over Iraq As The U.S. Stands By Helplessly

Iran stands to be the big winner in gaining influence in the MidEast, as the U.S. seems only to stand by helplessly as both Iran and Syria are approaching Iraq . With no real goals to effectively engage either Iran or Syria and force some concessions, the U.S. is only allowing these nations to pick up the pieces of the badly tattered Iraq policy. This is both dangerous for the MidEast and long range goals for any peace for Israel or any U.S. foreign policy objectives. Vice President Cheney may currently attempting to secure some Saudi Arabian help for Iraq, but Saudi Arabia is hardly aqble to offer much or to gain much compared to the what Iran may gain by solidifying the MidEast under their dominance.

The failure of the Bush administration to effectively engage in any dialogue with potential adversary states strongly contrasts with past administrations that maintained a dialogue with the Soviet Union during the Cold war years and peace agreements that limited arm and the worldwide balance of nuclear weapons. This is yet another major area of Bush administration ineptness, when foreign policy professionalism is really needed to force concessions from Iran and Syria and to at least attempt to achieve something instead of allowing Iran and Syria a free hand to benefit from our loss of money and money in Iraq .