Rice talks to Syria

That elections have consequences is sadly illustrated by the meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Syrian Foreign Minister Wallid al-Moallem. If the Democrats had not taken Congress, this meeting would never have happened. Instead, the Bush administration would have pursued the only logical course of action: isolating Syria more and more, applying diplomatic pressure to force the Syrians to quit supporting terrorists, convincing the UN and other international powers to support the isolation of Syria, and, finally, provide clear and robust military warnings.

What do Liberals think the US will gain from a meeting with a criminal regime? Did they send Rice merely to pick up the ransom note from Mr al-Moallem? Make no mistake, Syria is holding the US hostage and the demands are very clear: Get out of Iraq or we will send more foreign terrorists into Iraq to harm innocent women and children and the US will get the blame for all the bloodshed. Syria has nothing to offer, only demands to make. Ultimately, there will have to be regime change in Syria and I think it not unlikely that the US will invade Syria in the end, with or without international help.
But such gloomy thoughts should be left off for now. Just because Bush buckled under Congressional pressure and allowed Rice to talk to Syria does not mean that the White House is hanging out the white flag just yet. Shame on you, Mr Bush.