Editorial: Rice's influence now trumps that of Cheney

I wrote on Friday about the bitter disagreement within the Administration over how to tackle the Iran issue.  On one side, there is Condoleezza Rice and the State Department, who favor diplomatic pressures.  Then on the other end of the pendulum, Dick Cheney and the American Enterprise Institute, who are dead-set against bilateral talks with the Iranians.  The real question is who will President Bush side with -- Cheney or Rice?  In Friday's column, I noted that Rice had the upper hand.  Within the last few hours, there is more evidence of that.

The Administration has disbanded a council called the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group, which had originally been designed to coordinate aggressive actions against the Iranian government.  This is a major setback for Cheney:

The interagency group, known as the Iran Syria Policy and OperationsGroup, met weekly throughout much of 2006 to coordinate actions such ascurtailing Iran's access to credit and banking institutions, organizingthe sale of military equipment to Iran's neighbors, and supportingdemocratic forces that oppose the two regimes.

State Departmentand White House officials said the dissolution of the group was simplya bureaucratic reorganization, but many analysts saw it as evidence ofa softening in the US strategy toward the two countries.

Just because Condoleezza Rice's side is winning out does not mean the threat of military force has been eliminated.  After all, Rice is pretty hawkish herself.  But unlike Cheney, Rice probably understands that efforts to undermine the Iranian government will only make president Ahmadinejad more motivated to obtain nuclear weapons, mostly out of fear that we would invade.

Comments

[LaPopessa]

I am so used to bad and depressing news coming out of this White House, that I was very happy to see your note that they the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group. I haven't had too much to say well of Rice (or anyone in that administration), but if she is getting them to pull back from the bomb Iran precipice, then kudos to her.

[Chief Editor: Todd]

It definitely is encouraging. Rice is still pretty far out there. But through trial and error, she probably found out that military force alone is a one-dimensional foreign policy.