Dowd, Snow & Gore

Now we are going to meet with Syria and Iran. A Bush administration spokesman said the policy of not negotiating with them hadn't changed - that this meeting was a "conversation", not a negotiation. Whatever. At least we are going to sit down with them, as the Baker Commission recommended. I think that's absolutely necessary to bring peace to Iraq.

Maurene Dowd's column on Wednesday in the New York Times is worth reading. She wonders about "the danger of Osama bin Laden’s staying on the lam, and Afghanistan’s slipping back into the claws of the Taliban and Al Qaeda while we are shackled to Iraq".

A reporter asked Tony Snow yesterday what the attack on the Bagram Air Base that may have targeted the vice president and killed at least 23 people said about the Taliban’s strength. “I’m not sure it says anything,” he replied. Amazing! How do they expect to be taken seriously with drivel like that?

To inform Tony Snow: the strike demonstrated that Al Qaeda and the Taliban appear stronger and more emboldened in the region than at any time since the American invasion of the country five years ago, and since the Bush administration claimed to have decimated much of their middle management. It was not widely reported at the time, but Bush pulled forces out of Afghanistan to pre-position them for the invasion of Iraq.

By the way, Al Gore was prescient on climate change, the Internet, terrorism and Iraq. He was ahead of his time and he was right --and conservatives ridiculed him for it. Wouldn't he be an interesting candidate? After all, he served as Vice President and would have the most relevant experience for the job of President. He has such great name recognition that he can afford to wait to enter the race.