Condi Rice has a headache, and this is the reason why:
ROME, July 26 — As the fighting and bombing intensified in Lebanon and Israel, an urgently convened, high-level international conference in Rome concluded in open disagreement, failing to reach accord on a plan to bring a halt to the strife.
A formal statement from the 18 nations agreed on the need for humanitarian assistance and for an eventual international force to be deployed in Lebanon.
But the participating foreign ministers could not agree on the timing of a cease-fire, with the United States standing by its position that a settlement be in place for an “enduring” peace prior to a cessation of hostilities.
And it appears that the primary cause of Condi’s headache may be idiotarian of the week Kofi Annan:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan publicly disagreed at a grim-faced news conference on whether Iran and Syria should be involved in talks, with Annan saying they should, and Rice denouncing the two nations for their role in the region.
(…)
Annan called for working “with the countries of the region to find a solution,” saying pointedly “that should also involve Iran and Syria.” He made a similar statement before the conference opened Wednesday.
As he spoke, reporters shifted their focus to Rice, standing on the podium with Annan and the others. She smiled briefly, but said later that she was “glad that the secretary general is going to use his good offices in whatever way that he can to try and gain an understanding from other states that they have responsibilities, too. Syria has responsibilities [under United Nations resolutions] which it in fact has not exercised, and we ask that they do. And we are also deeply concerned, as we have said, about the role of Iran.”
That’s diplomatic-speak for — ignore the idiot from the U.N, we don’t negotiate with terrorist states.
