Grab the rail Neos, Course change ahead.

After years and years of ABSOLUTES that ?We will not deal with Terrorists? and ?We will not talk with Iran? and ?We will not bend to the Axis of Evil? [April, 2002] it looks like Condi Rice has decided that maybe we need to invite Iran to the table to deal with some of the problems in the Middle East.

Whoever in the Administration loaned Bushie a clue, BRAVO. It?s about time. Will something come of it, who knows but you can?t deal with the problem without ALL the players at the table.

US urges Iran to join Iraq talks
By FT reporters

Published: April 22 2007 22:21 | Last updated: April 22 2007 22:21

Condoleezza Rice is urging Iran to join her at a high-level conference on the future of Iraq next week, signalling that Washington is now ready for a serious exchange of views with Tehran after several months of resisting Iran?s advances in the region.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the US secretary of state said it would be a ?missed opportunity? if Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran?s foreign minister, did not attend the minister-level meeting to be hosted by Egypt.

Ms Rice denied that the Bush administration?s Iran policy had ever been directed at regime change, insisting that the aim was to ?have a change in regime behaviour?.

Washington?s need to secure the right regional environment for its eventual withdrawal from Iraq is growing ever more acute as its ?surge? of extra troops is failing to contain the violence.

Last Wednesday alone nearly 200 people died in bombings, and on Sunday 17 Iraqis were killed.

That ?hostile forces? would respond to the US security plan was to be expected, Ms Rice said, blaming al Qaeda, not Iran, for the suicide bombings. She said two more US brigades were still to be deployed, adding the US needed ?a little time? to judge the ?trend lines?.

Ms Rice?s attempts to draw Iran into the conference ? which will include Iraq?s neighbours as well as the permanent members of the UN security council and the G8 industrialised nations ? contrasted with her previous resistance to such talks.

Since then there had been a ?rebalancing?, she said, particularly after President George W. Bush?s speech on January 10 announcing the extra troops and a more aggressive response to Iran?s perceived role in arming and training Iraqi Shia militia.

Analysts said it remained to be seen whether the US had achieved what Robert Gates, the defence secretary, said in January was the ?leverage? it needed before engaging Iran.

Iran says it will decide on its attendance at the May 3-4 conference after meeting Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq?s foreign minister, this week. Iran?s foreign ministry spokesman on Sunday noted a ?softening? in Ms Rice?s rhetoric. But he added that any ?shift? should be put into practice.