CNN Breaking: Mideast talks 'fail to reach agreement'

[Cooley Hurd]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/26/mideast.romeconf/index.html

Wednesday, July 26, 2006; Posted: 8:27 a.m. EDT (12:27 GMT)

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Talks in Rome on a plan for ending the 15-day-old conflict in Lebanon have failed to reach agreement barring a last-minute breakthrough, sources said.

With key Middle East players unable to reach consensus on a cease-fire and deployment of an international force, diplomats were trying to come up with a face-saving statement, they said.

A U.S. official described Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as being "under siege" but holding firm any cessation of hostilities must include a permanent disarming of Lebanonese Hezbollah militants.
</snip>

[Roland99]

1. Who in the world would want to lay ... seige to that??

[madrchsod]

5. thanks,will be trying to go to sleep in a minute

and now i`ll have a fucking nightmare....

[Roland99]

20. You're quite welcome!

:patriot:

[Botany]

2. Way to go Condi

Stop the killing first then keep talking ....... She is like sending a pyro out to
help stop a forest fire.

A U.S. official described Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as being "under siege" .... Please!

Being bombed, shot at, having rockets fired at you and so on is under siege not having to
do your job and talking to different sides as Sec. of State.

[brokensymmetry]

3. I wonder when the Saudis will unlimber the oil weapon?

Not long, I suspect. Maybe I'd better get a fill-up
this morning.

[Virginia Dare]

9. Yep, $10/gallon gas and up coming our way soon...n/t

[plasticsundance]

17. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are client states of the US

The Saudis will come out with a press statement soon to assuage every ones fears by saying that they're willing to pump more oil they haven't got.

[C_U_L8R]

4. And Didn't Bush say to Blair

that he wouldn't send Condi unless it was a sure thing she would succeed ??
(on their little tete a tete taping)

Well the Whiite House sure seems to have screwed up... again
I wonder if the Chimp is gonna put bourbon in his corn flakes this morning.

[Benhurst]

6. Well, at least Condoleezza (sic) got to strut around in her

designer S&M boots.

[C_U_L8R]

16. and those Foster Grants

perched up on her head....
trying for that swingin sec state style

too bad her face says no fun

[bluestateguy]

7. It's not our place to broker a cease fire

Rice has no standing to intervene.

[Cooley Hurd]

10. We could've held up the bomb shipments to Israel...

...that would've helped a little bit. :thumbsup:

[The Stranger]

23. Bullshit, it the U.S.'s obligation. Always has been, always will be.

Until the utter disaster that is this Misadministration.

[endarkenment]

24. Odd. We seem to intervene all over the place.

Of course it would be appropriate for the planet's lone standing super power to stop the carnage and bring the belligerants to the table for a brokered and fair settlement of their differences.

[chelsea0011]

8. How could an agreement ever be reached if the US and Condi

came into meetings with no desire to agree on some issues. Doesn't that negate the word agreement? It should be that the US failed to force all countries to see it their way.

[Ganja Ninja]

11. Failure again.

Not that I expected anything else but you'd think just once this administration ..... Oh what's the use?

[Virginia Dare]

12. Gee, it's almost as if....

we don't want peace at all, isn't it?

:think:

[chelsea0011]

13. Now on to Dafur to broker an agreement there?

:sarcasm:

[bemildred]

14. Gee, who could have predicted this?

If the IDF cannot "disarm Hizbullah", and apparently they cannot, how the hell is some ersatz multi-national force going to do it? Hello?

[Spazito]

15. The whole truth is buried in the story....

"King said sources inside the closed-door meeting revealed that there were "significant disagreements" as Rice pushed Washington's case from an increasingly isolated standpoint.

He said the support of the United States on any agreement is seen as key to persuading Israel to halt its offensive in Lebanon.

Also likely to cause problems is the make-up of any multinational force, with potential participants wary of deploying to the region without firm guarantees of cease-fire.

According to The Associated Press, EU foreign and security affairs chief Javier Solana was expected to propose that a rapid reaction force be established, ideally be built around French, German and Spanish troops, supplemented by forces from Turkey, the Netherlands, Canada and Arab states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia."

It was the US against the rest of the leaders, note the term above "increasingly isolated standpoint".

The headline, were it to be factual, without a slant, should read "US, standing alone, stops agreement from being reached." That position seems to be buried in so many articles about international events, trade discussions, UN resolutions, etc.

[klyon]

18. She worked so hard too. She spent almost a day trying for peace

Done, going home, that is all we can do.
Well we tried. That is all there is. Say bye bye. :shrug:
:sarcasm:

[Ganja Ninja]

19. It's hard work!

:sarcasm:

[gratuitous]

25. Well, not going straight home

After all, those Italian shoe stores don't browse themselves.

[plasticsundance]

21. WTF!!

They didn't invite Hezbollah? That makes a lot of fucking sense. And these countries are going to enforce the peace ... uh ... how? Is Israel going to leave Lebanon's Sheebaa farmlands this time, or is Israel still going to ship the Sheebaa's top soil to Israel?

[watercolors]

22. Tell her to go to hell

and let the rest of the so called peace brokers step up and demand a cease fire! What is wrong with the world, why are we the one nation that the rest have to abide by. This is so crazy, where is the sanity of all this?

[Javaman]

26. Knock me over with a feather...

Is it just me or is Condi, I have never ever had an original thought ever, Rice in way over her head? But then again, that's been the case since the beginning.

[Gregorian]

27. Of course! We haven't reached Iran yet.

I hope that isn't too inappropriate to say here. But it IS about Iran. Isn't it?

[spanone]

28. It's mostly, Israel and the US disagree with rest of the world.

[Lasher]

29. I have started to wonder if the Lebanese government wants this to continue

The Lebanese government wants to gain control of the area now occupied by Hezbollah, but they don't have either the military power or the political wherewithal that would be required to accomplish this goal. I wonder if Emile Lahoud and others are content to let the fighting go on until Israel has effectively disarmed the Hezbollah militants for them.

Edit for spelling