Bush Edges Closer to Iran Talks

WASHINGTON — A December 7 summit at Riyadh may be the first venue for the Bush administration to negotiate directly with Iran and Syria in an effort to reduce the bloodshed in Iraq.

The State Department has been reviewing ways to "get Iran to be helpful on Iraq" as part of a government-wide review of Iraq policy, according to one well-placed administration official who requested anonymity.

One likely forum for such negotiations could be on the periphery of a summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that was originally scheduled for December 7, though last-minute hiccups are expected to push the date back.

The meeting, which would involve American diplomats as well as delegations from Syria and Iran, is intended primarily to sign an economic compact between Iraq and its neighbors brokered by the United Nations. Yesterday, a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, mentioned these discussions, known as the "compact process," as a possible forum for talks with Syria and Iran.

"In terms of our ability to meet with Iran and Syria and to communicate with them, there are various fora, as I've pointed out in the past, where we have sat in the same room with them on Iraq," he said. "I would expect that at some point the compact process, in the course of the compact process, there are going to be other meetings in which we will all be sitting in the same room together." Mr. McCormack also mentioned the standing offer from America's ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, to meet with his Iranian counterpart as another channel for discussions with the original axis of evil state.

President Bush will discuss Iraq-Iran relations tomorrow when he meets in Amman with Prime Minister Maliki. Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, arrived in Tehran yesterday for two days of talks with the Iranians. Mr. Talabani told reporters in Tehran that his discussions would address a wide range of issues, but added, "We need Iran's comprehensive help to fight terrorism, restore security and stabilize Iraq."

The National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, yesterday said that he expects Mr. Maliki will raise the issue of Iraq's recent talks with Iran and Syria with President Bush on Wednesday when the two leaders meet in Jordan.

Mr. Maliki, Mr. Hadley said, "has some strong views on that subject."

"As you know the Iraqis have been talking to the Syrians. The Iraqis have been talking to the Iranians. Their view is that the future of Iraq, if it is a subject of conversation with Syria and Iran, ought to be a conversation by Iraqis," Mr. Hadley said.

The whirlwind of diplomatic preparations occurs as the Iraq Study Group — a ten person, bipartisan commission co-chaired by former secretary of state, James Baker — prepares its final recommendations for war policy. The commission met yesterday and is expected to release its results early next month. Whatever the group says, it will be hard for the Bush administration to ignore, particularly with both leading Democrats and Republicans saying in recent weeks that they will look to the Baker commission for its recommendations on Iraq policy.

As the New York Sun reported first in October, the group is very likely to recommend robust new diplomacy with Iran and Syria to entice the two regimes to end their practice of aiding Shiite and Sunni terrorists who have killed both American soldiers and their fellow Iraqis. That said, the commission has yet to reach any consensus on whether American negotiators should trade lenience on, say, Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons for assurances that Iran's Revolutionary Guard end its training and financial support for Shiite death squads marauding in Baghdad. On the expert advisory level, one member yesterday described the discussions on a list-serve for members of the groups as "people talking past each other."

Senior Bush administration officials have also said in the last week that stability in Iraq could not be purchased at the expense of Lebanon's independence from Syria or Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. Syria is widely seen within Washington of having played a role in the murder last week of anti-Syrian Lebanese minister, Pierre Gemayel. The conditions for America to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program remain that Iran must end its enrichment of uranium.

For now the State Department is sticking to the view that Syria and Iran will eventually see the merits of helping stabilize Iraq on their own. "Ultimately though, neither Syria nor Iran should need any sort of incentive to try to play a positive, transparent role in Iraq's development," Mr. McCormack said. "It should be in their interest to have a stable, peaceful, prosperous Iraq on their borders. There certainly are concerns, as stated by the Iraqi Government, about the role of Syria and Iran, both active as well as passive, in actions that have contributed to the violence in Iraq."

Iraq's neighbors are scheduled to meet on December 5 in Cairo as part of an Arab League initiative to discuss stabilizing the country.

[Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting that the American military is no longer able to defeat a bloody insurgency in western Iraq or counter Al Qaeda's rising popularity there, according to newly disclosed details from a classified Marine Corps intelligence report that set off debate in recent months about the military's mission in Anbar province.]