while the channeled their inner Nixon . . .Bush aides minimize Kissinger roleBy Sheryl Gay Stolberg
The New York Times
So in the days since Bob Woodward of The Washington Post disclosed the Kissinger visits in his new book, "State of Denial," White House officials have worked furiously to swat down Woodward's assertion that Kissinger has a "powerful, largely invisible influence on the foreign policy of the Bush administration." Kissinger, they insisted, is just another in a cacophony of voices who, from time to time, have won the president's ear.
Precisely who initiated the visits and when they began are a mystery. The White House will not release dates of the meetings, although one senior administration official, granted anonymity to discuss the private presidential calendar, said Kissinger and Bush have been getting together since before the war in Iraq.
But the former secretary of state and the current president have come to the same conclusion on Iraq: the only exit strategy is to beat back the insurgency. It is a lesson, Woodward asserts, that Kissinger draws from Vietnam, which may be one reason the White House has not advertised his Oval Office sessions.
"The president has a lot of people in and he listens to them, and Dr. Kissinger is one of them," Snow said, adding, "The role is not an extraordinary one."
report:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/05/news/kiss.phphttp://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree