Blair pushes Syria strategy

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was expected to use a power shift in the United States to press home his view that Syria and Iran could be key to reducing bloodshed in Iraq. The prime minister gave testimony for about an hour on Tuesday to a US group taking soundings for President George W. Bush on how to change course in Iraq, an aide said.
Blair's office gave no immediate word on what he had told the Iraq Study Group, but he was expected to promote his view that engaging Iran and Syria is also vital to advancing the Middle East peace process.
"He will stress the need for a broader Middle East strategy that starts with the need to address the Israeli-Palestinian problem and Lebanon," Blair's spokesman said.
Blair believes the timing is crucial given the "recalibration" of the American view which is under way, the spokesman added. Bush's Republicans have been forced into a rethink of their policy in Iraq after suffering a severe setback in last week's mid-term elections. Democrats seized both houses of Congress, largely because of voter anger over the war.
Foreign policy experts say that Blair's initiative is more likely to bear fruit with Syria than with Iran, which is likely to make approval of its nuclear programme a precondition for it taking a role in Iraq. Iran's president said on Tuesday he would talk to the United States if Washington changed its attitude.
"Syria has huge influence in the region - whether it's Iraq or Lebanon or the Palestinian-Israeli situation. We've always spoken to Syria and the message that we've been delivering is that they've got a choice here," one government source said.
"The domestic and international overview of American policy has changed ... and there will be implications." Recent changes in Bush's advisers may make it easier for Blair to get his message heard by the Americans, experts said.
James Baker, head of the Iraq Study Group, and Robert Gates, new defence secretary, were both in the government of Bush's father, which had good relations with Syria, said Chris Brown, international relations professor at the London School of Economics. "The Syrians have been fairly clear over the past few years that they are waiting for the Americans to come and talk to them," he said.
Syria also has a clear agenda which, although some of it may be unpalatable to the West, can at least be discussed - unlike Iran's claim to a nuclear programme, experts say. Syria is keen to reclaim influence in Lebanese politics and avoid blame in a United Nations investigation into the assassination of Lebanon's anti-Syrian ex-prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005. It also wants dialogue with the West about its access to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and the return of the Israel-occupied Golan Heights.