Bush's Middle East policy has empowered a mad man

Iran to hold summit with Iraq and Syria to counter U.S. influence.

Neoconservative intellectuals felt that going into Iraq would put bold lettering on our political and economic influence in the region, and help contain both Iran and Syria in the long-term.  Three years later, just about every person not suffering from denial would agree that the opposite has happened.  In fact, the instability in Iraq has helped Iran create a Shiite Crescent -- geopolitical sphere of influence spanning from Tehran through Baghdad to Beirut.  Syria has also benefited at our expense.

This weekend, Iran plans to hold a summit with Syrian and Iraqi officials in an attempt to signal that U.S. influence in the region is in its last throes:

Inan apparent bid to counter U.S. influence in the region, IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited his Iraqi and Syrian counterpartsto a weekend summit in Tehran to tackle the chaos in Iraq...

Although a spokesman for the Iraqi president saidSyrian President Bashar Assad would not be attending the summit, theIranian move appeared designed to upstage possible American efforts toreach out to Tehran and Damascus in a wider effort to subdue runawayviolence in Iraq.

The invitation was also a display of Iran's increasingly muscular role in the Middle East, where it already hasestablished deep influence over Syria and Lebanon. Tehran is thought tobenefit from a low level of chaos in Iraq to keep the U.S. bogged down- but is wary that too much bloodshed could cause trouble across itsown border, where Kurds could become restive.

A close parliamentary associate of IraqiPresident Jalal Talabani said the summit represents an attempt byTehran to strengthen its position in the region and prevent the U.S.from dividing Syria, a predominantly Sunni Arab country, from its allyof convenience, Shiite Iran.

Now, thanks to our current occupation in Iraq, Iran has turned into a regional superpower that poses a threat to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Iraqi Sunnis, and Iraqi Kurds.  And how is that supposed to make America more safe?

This is not only embarrassing, but it is humiliating.  What Iran is trying to do by holding this summit is pretty obvious.  They will tell the Iraqis that if they want foreign fighters to stop coming over the borders, then they need to ensure that the U.S. will not have a military base in Iraq nor have any influence in Iraqi affairs.  So in order words, we are replacing Saddam Hussein's regime with a government aligned with the hard-liners in Iran.

If you are Iran, you are thankful that Bush has been president.  Now you hold all the cards.  Even if Bill Clinton or just about any other Democrat or Republican leader tried, they couldn't have messed it up as much as the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld team.  The Administration has an utterly pathetic Middle East strategy.  We can only hope that the Bush Sr crowd, including James Baker and Robert Gates, can get us out of this mess.

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[george]

George W Bush: Uniting countries around the world...against him.