Iran high on Cheney's Mideast agenda

[babylonsister]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHENEY?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Iran high on Cheney's Mideast agenda

By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert


WASHINGTON (AP) -- High gasoline prices and prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal headline Vice President Dick Cheney's trip to the Mideast, but fears about Iran's rising influence will be a key topic of his private talks at each stop.

Cheney left Sunday on a 10-day trip that includes visits to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Turkey. His trip coincides with the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which has tainted the U.S. image in the Mideast and changed the balance of power in the region.

snip//

On Iraq, Cheney will highlight progress made since the president dispatched 30,000 additional U.S. troops there last summer to help secure the nation and give political leaders a chance to reconcile their differences.

The United States wants Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations to establish a diplomatic presence in Baghdad to help anchor the Iraqi government in the Arab world. In the meantime, the Bush administration feels there is no reason why trade, culture, economic and foreign ministers from the Arab world shouldn't go to Iraq and engage the new Iraqi government as they would others in the region.

It's unclear what Cheney will seek from Saudi Arabia about easing pressure on oil prices. When Bush visited Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in January, he urged the 13-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to boost their output to take pressure off soaring fuel prices at American pumps. But OPEC has since said it will maintain current production levels because crude supplies are plentiful and demand is expected to weaken in the second quarter.

[whistle]

1. Cheney and Bush say "Give us our Iran War or we will break the U.S.

...economy!"

[angstlessk]

2. yes, except for the fear of being drilled in the brain and mutilated, killed and buried

in some mass grave, there is absolutely NO reason not to go to Iraq as you would any other Middle Eastern country!! what idiots!