Rice rejects overture to Iran and Syria

Washington, Dec 15 (UNI) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected a bipartisan panel's recommendation that the United States seek the help of Syria and Iran in Iraq, saying the ''compensation'' required by any deal might be too high.

Neither country should need incentives to foster stability in Iraq, she said in an interview to Washington Post.

''If they have an interest in a stable Iraq, they will do it anyway,'' Ms Rice noted, adding that she did not want to trade away Lebanese sovereignty to Syria or allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon as a price for peace in Iraq.

The recently released report of the panel, the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former Secretary of State James A Baker and former Democratic congressman Lee H Hamilton had recommended that the US should open up a dialogue with Iran and Syria to deal with the situation in Iraq.

Ms Rice also said there would be no retreat from the administration's push to promote democracy in West Asia, a goal that was de-emphasized by the Iraq Study Group in its report last week but that she insisted was a ''matter of strategic interest.'' She reiterated her commitment to pursuing peace between Palestinians and Israelis -- a new effort that President Bush announced in September but that has yielded little so far.''Get ready. We are going to West Asia a lot,'' Ms Rice added.

The daily points out that Ms Rice's remarks indicated that, despite a maelstrom of criticism of Bush's policies by outside experts and Democrats, the administration's extensive review of policy in Iraq and the region will not yield major changes in its approach.

Ms Rice, however, said that Bush could be ''quite expansive'' in terms of a policy review and that the new plan would be a ''departure.'' But the president would not radically change any of his long-term goals or commitment to Iraq, she said.

Ms Rice argued that West Asia is being rearranged in ways that provide the United States with new opportunities, what she repeatedly called a ''new strategic context.'' She said the range of struggles in West Asia, such as the election of Hamas in the Palestinian territories, the conflict between Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, and strife in Iraq, represented a ''clarifying moment'' between extremists and what she called mainstream Arabs.

''This is a time for pushing and consulting and pressing and seeing what we can do to take advantage of this new strategic context,'' she said.

But she said democracy in West Asia is ''not going to be concluded on our watch'' and acknowledged that ''we've not always been able to pursue it in ways that have been effective.'' UNI XC DKA BD1924