Bush Rejects Most Dramatic Iraq Options

Iraqis are seen through a hole in a wall of a house that was damaged during an Iraqi and U.S. Army joint forces raid and air strike in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, Iraq, Saturday, Dec.16, 2006. The raid, in which six suspects were detained, was aimed at capturing the leader of an illegally armed group of more than 100 people believed responsible for kidnappings, killings, illegal checkpoints, rocket attacks and bombings against security forces and civilians in northeastern Baghdad, the military said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim) (Karim Kadim - AP)

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Diplomatic options include expanding the U.S. outreach to various centers of power in Iraq and engaging Iraq's neighbors to help in a more vigorous and formal way _ the "go wide" strategy. Bush probably will endorse elements of this approach while ruling out a new overture to U.S. adversaries Iran and Syria.

The State Department has recommended the U.S. keep supporting the shaky government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki but "diversify our portfolio," as one official put it. Seeking common ground with leaders in and out of government would help protect U.S. interests if, for example, al-Maliki were to lose power.

The starkest choice for diplomacy is one Bush is almost certain to reject: stop trying to recruit greater Sunni participation in a unified government and cast U.S. fortunes with the Shiite and Kurdish majority. Sunnis make up about 20 percent of the population but are blamed for fanning insurgent violence that accounts for most U.S. casualties.

A competing plan would woo the Sunni elite by guaranteeing them a share of oil revenue and reversing the previous policy of "de-Baathification," which purged ex-members of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led Baathist rule from the top layers of government institutions.

Bush is weighing plans for a more structured network of Arab nations with a goal of clamping down on the violence in Iraq. This regional forum could become an expanded version of an existing State Department-backed initiative, offering a framework for countries to discuss Iraq and meet with Iraqi leaders.

Such a partnership presumably would have to include Iran and Syria. Those countries, which share borders with Iraq, hold great influence inside Iraq. U.S. diplomats would participate alongside Iranian and Syrian representatives but Bush probably will not endorse direct negotiations with them, as the Iraq Study Group recommended.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said both nations would probably use direct talks to seek unacceptable "compensation" from the United States. If Iran and Syria see it as in their interest to help Iraq they will do so on their own, she suggested to reporters last week.

Bush also is likely to endorse a renewed effort to resolve other Middle East conflicts as a means to an end in Iraq.