A bad idea at every level

I’m no fan of the Washington Post’s Robin Wright. But today she has a good report about the pressure on the administration to talk with Syria and Iran, and the arguments for and against such talks.
I’ve argued that Syria and Iran cannot be expected to help the U.S. stabilize the situation in Iraq except perhaps in exchange for our agreement to tolerate Iran’s emergence as a nuclear power and to force Israel to give Syria the Golan Heights. Since these are concessions we ought not make, there’s no point in holding discussions. But in addition, according to Wright, even supporters of talking to Syria and Iran concede that full cooperation by both Iran and Syria might have little impact on the many-sided insurgency since these powers hold little sway over key factions.
Since the Syrian and Iranian price would be high and the expected pay-off low, talking to these enemies has nothing to recommend it, except perhaps Jim Baker.

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