Out Maneuvered?

While the Bush administration was trying to out maneuver the Baker commission with a quicky plan from it's sycophant generals they may have been out maneuvered by Iran, Syria and Iraq. While the Bush administration has been pushing the Iraqi government to do something about the increasing violence militarily it appears they may be trying to do it diplomatically and politically, some the Bush administration and the neocons are unwilling and unable to do.

Iran Urges Summit With Iraq and Syria

Iran has invited the Iraqi and Syrian presidents to Tehran for a weekend summit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hash out ways to cooperate in curbing the runaway violence that has taken Iraq to the verge of civil war and threatens to spread through the region, four key lawmakers told The Associated Press on Monday.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has accepted the invitation and will fly to the Iranian capital Saturday, a close parliamentary associate said.

The Iranian diplomatic gambit appeared designed to upstage expected moves from Washington to include Syria and Iran in a wider regional effort to clamp off violence in Iraq, where more civilians have been killed in the first 20 days of November than in any other month since the AP began tallying the figures in April 2005.

The Iranian move was also a display of its increasingly muscular role in the Middle East, where it already has established deep influence over Syria and Lebanon.

"All three countries intend to hold a three-way summit among Iraq, Iran and Syria to discuss the security situation and the repercussions for stability of the region," said Ali al-Adeeb, a lawmaker of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party and a close aide to the prime minister.

Now there had been hints that the Bush/Cheney cabal might be willing to talk to Iran and Syria about stabilizing Iraq. Now Iran knew that the Bush administration would put unacceptable conditions on such talks. Beating the Bush administration to the draw diplomatically is a plus for Iran not to mention they can now do it on their terms, bypassing the the Bush administration altogether.