Let us not allow the crisis in the Middle East distract us from the crisis in the Middle East:
Iraqi leaders have all but given up on holding the country together and, just two months after forming a national unity government, talk in private of “black days” of civil war ahead.
Meanwhile, Condoleeza Rice and Bush are heading out to the region to present a diplomatic plan on Sunday, which conflicts with what I heard just yesterday (that the administration was giving Israel a week to do what they had to before we did or said anything), but it conflicts in a good way.
Here’s what’s really warped, though: they’re meeting with Saudi Arabian officials, and Rice has stated that she will not seek an audience with Syria. So the goal isn’t to talk Israel down, and it’s not to talk Hezbollah down (I know, but to neocons Hezbollah is Syria, and talking to one gets the message to the other). If I were paranoid, I’d wonder if this was just trying to ger the Saudis on our side for the upcoming throwdown. It’s becoming more and more obvious that several of the great minds in our government want to use this as a pretext to attack Syria and Iran, and a cynic might view the upcoming talks as laying the groundwork not for peace, but for broader conflict. Good thing I’m not a cynic. Or paranoid.