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Looking Ahead
"The White House will also have to deal with a Congress controlled by Democrats, a difference highlighted by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) as he outlined the new agenda of the Armed Services Committee, which for the past four years has been largely deferential to Bush's conduct of the war. Levin said he plans to step up the committee's activities, reviewing the state of military readiness and conducting more oversight of such issues as the rendition of terrorism suspects to countries suspected of practicing torture."
No Rift?
Stephen Collinson writes for AFP: "The White House has rushed to deny claims of a diplomatic rift with its closest European ally Britain, after Prime Minister Tony Blair mooted a 'partnership' with U.S. foes Iran and Syria.
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"As the impact of a major foreign policy address by the British leader started to sink in, the White House bristled Tuesday at suggestions Blair had struck out from Washington, issuing a fact sheet to debunk the claim. . . .
"The White House fact sheet unflatteringly compared coverage of Blair's speech by U.S.-based reporters on te New York Times and The Washington Post and their colleagues in London.
"London-based reporters for the two U.S. newspapers wrote that Blair took pains to ensure his remarks were not seen as a dramatic new policy shift.
"But the fact sheet noted colleagues on the same papers in the United States had wrongly seen Blair's speech as a policy shift on Iran and Syria, stating: 'Prime Minister Blair's Policy Is Not New and Is Similar to President Bush's Policy.'"
So does that mean Bush shares Blair's support for engagement with Syria and Iran -- and Blair's position that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "the core" of the broader effort for peace? Well, no.
Sylvie Lanteaume writes for AFP today: "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ruled out talks with Iran or Syria unless they mend their ways, despite mounting global pressure for a new strategy to stabilise Iraq.
"Speaking to reporters Wednesday as she flew to Vietnam for an Asia-Pacific regional conference, Rice also rejected the proposition by British Prime Minister Tony Blair that a lack of progress in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was fuelling violence in Iraq.
"'I think we have to be careful not to say, well, if there is a Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough, that will help in Iraq,' Rice said, shortly before her plane touched down for a stopover at a U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany, en route to Hanoi.
"'Iraq is involved in its own struggle,' she said."
Rhetoric Watch
In the White House briefing room, it's hard to see any sign of a serious consideration of change in Iraq. Either press secretary Tony Snow hasn't gotten the memo. Or there is no memo. Or there never will be a memo.
