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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/08/AR2009030801389.html
Modest Hopes for Direct Diplomacy with Iran and Syria
[Washington Post] Editorial - During her first tour of the Middle East as secretary of state, Ms. Clinton got an earful from Arab rulers alarmed both by Iran's continued belligerence across the region and by the notion that a deal between Washington and Tehran might be in the works. "There's a great deal of concern about Iran in the entire region," she said after three days of talks; a senior State Department official said that Ms. Clinton had expressed doubt in one of her private meetings that Iran would respond to a U.S. offer of engagement. There are also big and probably insurmountable obstacles to any breakthrough with Syria. Mr. Assad heads a murderous regime; a UN tribunal was established last week to consider political murders in Lebanon that most likely were authored in Damascus. Mr. Assad continues to seek hegemony over Lebanon, something the U.S. should not countenance.