2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict / United States should negotiate with Syria

Position: United States should negotiate with Syria

This position addresses the topic 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

For this position

"Mr. Bush needs to use the present crisis to justify new and wide-ranging talks with Syria and Iran, and, if necessary, indirectly with Hamas and Hezbollah. These rank at the top of the world's nastiest and most untrustworthy negotiating partners, but they also happen to be the ones causing most of the trouble--and are, therefore, the ones we have to deal with."

From Time to Talk, by Leslie H. Gelb (The Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2006) (view)

"History is littered with well-intentioned efforts to transform Lebanon. If the current effort is to be different, we will need a credible international force shaped by real, not symbolic, missions and a new approach to Syria -- one that gives the Syrians a reason to calculate their interests differently."

From A Cease-Fire Reality: Dealing With Syria, by Dennis Ross (The Washington Post, July 28, 2006) (view)

"American disengagement from active Middle East diplomacy since 2001 has led to greater violence and a decline in U.S. influence. Others have been eager to fill the vacuum. (Note the sudden emergence of France as a key player in the current burst of diplomacy.)"

From The Guns of August, by Richard Holbrooke (The Washington Post, August 10, 2006) (view)

Against this position

"Are Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Moktada al-Sadr, Bashar Assad, the Sunni holy warriors in Iraq, al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers in the United Kingdom, and Kim Jong Il on the run? Have they become more cooperative, and less bent on trouble, since Secretary of State Rice started serving up the carrots last year?"

From The Bugs Bunny Democrats, by William Kristol (The Weekly Standard, August 21, 2006) (view)

"Forget about Israel; consider what such a policy will do to Lebanon, the country the French are supposedly trying to save. The Lebanese just got rid of a 30-year-long Syrian occupation marked by torture, murder and looting of the country. Now most European leaders want to bring Syria, Hezbollah's patron, back into power over Lebanon."

From The Craven French 'Solution', by Barry Rubin (New York Post, August 2, 2006) (view)

"If Iran gets nuclear weapons, there will be no diplomacy capable of protecting Israel. If Iran continues to fund and equip Hezbollah, there will be no stability or security for Israel. Diplomacy cannot substitute for victory against an opponent who openly states that he wants to eliminate you from the face of the earth."

From The Only Option Is to Win, by Newt Gingrich (The Washington Post, August 11, 2006) (view)

Mixed on this position

No results