Rice cool to idea of talks with Iran about Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday all but rejected the idea of talks with Iran about quelling the violence in Iraq unless Tehran first acts to rein in its suspected nuclear weapons program.

In her first comment about the Iraq Study Group report, Rice was cool to its recommendation that the United States actively engage with Iran and Syria to try to stabilize Iraq, a key proposal from the bipartisan advisory panel.

The United States accuses Iraq and Syria of fomenting the raging insurgency nearly four years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Rice defended President George W. Bush's push to bring democracy to the Middle East -- an idea conspicuously absent from the panel's recommendations -- saying it would remain a "centerpiece" of U.S. foreign policy.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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