How Can the U.S. Succeed in Diplomacy When the Bushies Refuse to Talk to So Many Key Players?

Diplomacy requires communication, some give and take. I listened to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on the Sunday morning talking head shows like "Meet the Press" say that it's not necessary to talk to various countries because they "won't do anything we want" once they have talked (in other words, some countries won't tow the complete Bush line - how rude of them!). Bullying is NOT talk. Yet Washington in the Bush years also does NOT listen, which is also a necessary tool in diplomacy. The Washington Post has a decent piece discussing this today:

The Bush administration's policy of refusing to engage with nations and groups linked to terrorism, including Syria, Iran and Palestinian factions, has sharply limited U.S. maneuvering room during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, according to former administration officials and outside experts.

Iran is Hezbollah's prime sponsor, and Syria is the key conduit for the flow of missiles that have rained on Israeli territory -- facts that experts say make those countries essential to achieving a lasting solution. But after nearly six years in office, the administration has had increasingly limited contacts with those countries, if such contacts exist at all. Former officials charge that the administration has missed numerous opportunities to encourage Syria and Iran to cooperate more closely with U.S. interests.

"This has constrained U.S. foreign policy in many damaging ways," said Flynt Leverett, a White House official during President Bush's first term who said he argued unsuccessfully for deeper engagement with Syria. "The United States does not have effective diplomatic channels for managing the situation, much less resolving it."

Leverett's comments are echoed by other former administration officials, including former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage, who made the last senior-level official visit to Damascus in January 2005. Armitage told National Public Radio last month that the administration needs to have dialogue with Syria. "We get a little lazy, I think, when we spend all our time as diplomats talking to our friends and not to our enemies," he said.