Kerry advises talking to other countries in Middle East

[Dr Ron]

Conservative bloggers attack Kerry, sticking with Bush's policy of ignoring those he doesn't get along with.

http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=764

[ProSense]

1. Since we're on the topic of communication:

Senator Kerry says willing to go to Iran

57 minutes ago

CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John Kerry said on Friday he was willing to go to Tehran to talk to Iranian leaders but would not have time during his current Middle East tour.

"I don't have time and we were not able to make arrangements in the short timespan we had but I would be willing to go," he told reporters in Cairo, the first stop on his tour.

Asked if he planned to make a trip later, he said: "At the appropriate time, at some point."

Kerry, the Democratic candidate in the U.S. presidential election in 2004, is pressing the U.S. administration to reverse its policy of setting preconditions for dialogue with Syria and Iran.

He will visit Syria during his trip with fellow Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd. Both are members of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kerry said the purpose of the mission to Damascus would be to listen to the Syrians and find out more about the Syrian government's positions on Lebanon, the Lebanese Shi'ite party Hezbollah and the violence in Iraq.

"I'm going to push them (the Syrians) on a number of different issues. I'm curious about what they might or might not be willing to do as we go forward here," he said.

"Do they have any suggestions how the various equations in the region might be changed?" he added.

more...

Wow!

[beachmom]

2. Wow is right, Prosense. Nobody has talked to the Iranians.

Is that right?

[ProSense]

6. Not that I know of!

Cantbeliever Lies weighs in.

[blm]

14. Was this article put up in GD? Did I miss it?

It's a pretty powerful statement by the senator.

[ProSense]

15. I don't think

it's posted. A snip from it is in KG's thread!

[blm]

16. Please post it - it really packs quite an important statement.

.

[karynnj]

3. Although I think we need to be prepared for anonther attack on Kerry

when he does go to Syria. Snow's comment was pretty nasty that going could cost others "their credibility".

[YvonneCa]

10. That's already started...

...I heard it last night. The set-up for the story on *Countdown*, which I love, was that future Presidential hopefuls were visiting Iraq this week... McCain now and Kerry later in the week. Keith did 'improve' on it later when he actually mentioned Kerry, and the other places he is visiting. He also commented about the positives of actually doing diplomacy...which was supportive of JK's views. But the lead-in was to frame it as politcally motivated. I hate to think how FOX is spinning it (can't bear to watch). :)

[whometense]

13. Check out what my morning "John Kerry" Google News Alert contained:

Google News Alert for: "John Kerry"

Gold Star Mother Blasts Kerry's Middle East Trip
AXcess News - Carson City,NV,USA
By Jim Kouri. (AXcess News) New York - A Gold Star Mother is urging American troops to snub Sen. John Kerry during his visit to Iraq. ...

Senator Kerry says willing to go to Iran
Reuters - USA
CAIRO (Reuters) - US Senator John Kerry said on Friday he was willing to go to Tehran to talk to Iranian leaders but would not have time during his current ...
See all stories on this topic

Kerry: I’ll talk to Iran
Hot Air - MD,USA
US Senator John Kerry said on Friday he was willing to go to Tehran to talk to Iranian leaders but would not have time during his current Middle East tour. ...

What Will John Kerry Do While He's In Irak?
Town Hall - Washington,DC,USA
Hey, I just came from a meeting where they were trying to get some commander, any commander, in the Green Zone, to host Jawn Carri. ...

Call for more troops intensifies amid doubts
Houston Chronicle - United States
... John Kerry, in Egypt on Thursday during a tour of the Middle East, accused the Bush administration of neglecting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he ...
See all stories on this topic

Google Blogs Alert for: "John Kerry"

John Kerry wants to cozy up to Iran
By Tom Alday
Continuing the Treason Across the Middle East Tour™ started by Senator Bill Nelson, failed presidential candidate and ardent military hater, John Kerry, says he wants to make a trip to Iran to talk to that sensible, genocidal maniac, ...
Aldaynet - http://www.aldaynet.org

John Kerry Visits America’s Enemies for Christmas
By Jenn of the Jungle
Eagle Bridge, NY — December 14, 2006 — John Kerry, the failed presidential candidate, left yesterday for a pre-Christmas trip to the Middle East. Kerry met today with Egyptian President Muhammad Hosni Said Mubarak, ...
Screw Politically Correct BS - http://takeastandagainstliberals.blogspot.com

John Kerry travels to a dictatorship and attacks American policy
By TigerHawk
"Kerry Criticizes Bush in Egypt" Bad idea. The last time somebody did that he suffered through a dozen plagues. I have previously erupted over the subject of American politicians junketing to some dictatorship and then publicly ...
TigerHawk - http://tigerhawk.blogspot.com

Kerry Urges Dialogue With Iran, Syria
By Pamela Leavey
On Wednesday, John Kerry left the US for a nine-day trip to the Middle East. Kerry's trip includes a stop in Iraq, and a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. While in Egypt on Thursday, Kerry said that the Bush administration ...
The Unofficial John Kerry Blog - http://kerryblog.blogspot.com

Mary Katharine Ham: What Will John Kerry Do While He's In Irak?
Hee hee. Hey, I just came from a meeting where they were trying to get some commander, any commander, in the Green Zone, to host Jawn Carri. Swear to God, the CG is saying, "You can't tell me you ALL have things...
Townhall.com Blog's TownHall Blog - http://www.townhall.com/blog/

Except for Pamela's article, the blog alerts are a sorry lot.

It's a good thing that JK is completely irrelevant - if he wasn't I'd think they were - oh - threatened by him?

[karynnj]

4. There's a new post on this on Johnkerry.com

which is interesting.

[ProSense]

5. Another BG article:

Kerry calls Bush refusal of dialogue with Iran, Syria "a mistake"

By Lee Keath, Associated Press Writer | December 15, 2006

CAIRO, Egypt --Sen. John Kerry, on a Mideast tour taking him to Damascus for talks with President Bashar Assad, said Friday that the Bush administration's rejection of dialogue with Syria and Iran to try to calm Iraq is a mistake.

Kerry's trip is the latest in a growing tussle between the White House and Congress over the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel that called for talks with Iran and Syria to win their help in stabilizing war-torn Iraq.

The Massachusetts Democrat said his visit to Syria was "a fact-finding mission" to explore "what might or might not affect behavior with respect to Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel and Iraq, where in each of those cases Syria is playing a role."

"Dialogue is an important thing. It's very hard to move the ball if you don't know firsthand what people's needs are, what their own perceptions are," Kerry said in an interview with The Associated Press and several other journalists in Cairo.

more...

[karynnj]

7. I posted:

Dr Rice said that the administration would not talk to Iran and Syria because the cost would be too high, but also said that Iran and Syria have incentives to want a stable Iraq which should make them act on their own. She completely ignores the opportunity cost of NOT speaking to Syria and appears not to see that countries acting together can have a bigger impact than if they work separately . Only by leveraging all the forces that favor stabalization is it likely that Iraq can be contained and stabalized. It is time for Rice to admit that her PNAC dreams were illusions - not reality.

Senator Kerry makes excellent points that we need to understand the needs and views of all the countries in the neighborhood there. The bipartisan committee recommended that these countries have to be involved. I admire Senators Kerry, Dodd and Nelson, who are doing their jobs there - even with the Bush administration smearing them for doing it. If the President and Dr Rice combined had as much ability in foreign policy and diplomacy as Senator Kerry has in one finger, we would never have been in this mess.

[ProSense]

8. Excellent! Thanks! n/t

[wisteria]

9. Absolutely correct! n/t

[beachmom]

11. Excellent work, Karynnj. I have to admit that I'm still trying to digest

this. How could Bush completely reject Baker like this? This isn't even about the withdrawal of troops, which is even more controversial. This was the centerpiece of the ISG report -- the massive diplomacy. This attack on Kerry, Dodd, and Nelson is an attack on Baker, who already went to Syria once. Sometimes I think Bush is playing reverse psychology, but when I do that I am giving him way too much credit. The fact is that he can't do clever diplomacy; he plumb can't do stupid diplomacy. He's incapable of talking to people who he has labeled evil, because he thinks they're Hitler and any talking to them would turn him into Neville Chamberlain. Blows the mind really, his pathetic black and white thinking.

[karynnj]

12. Not to mention that Kerry's wording on this was added to the

defense appropriations bill via a VOICE vote, meaning the Senate Republican leadership accepted it.
http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/cfm/record.cfm?id=264246

This plus the fact that the Baker report favors it should protect Kerry when Bush (likely) blasts him for going. (Like trying to make it sound like when he met Ortega)