American policy is essentially flawed

Condoleezza Rice's visit to the Middle East to shore up support for the deeply flawed Iraq policy of the US, has been met with scathing criticism even before she arrives in the region. Coming close on the heels of a highly questionable move by President George W. Bush to deploy another 20,000 troops in insurgency-ridden Iraq, the Secretary of State has not taken on board the main concerns of her country's allies in the region.

Shifting focus to Palestine and offering lip-service to shore up the fortunes of beleaguered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas does not take away from an essentially unsound strategy in Iraq that further diminishes the Sunni Arabs and does nothing towards ending the sectarian strife that is tearing the country apart.

There are lingering questions over whether even with the military boost, Iraq's President Nouri Al Maliki can impose his writ on the capital Baghdad. Given his ties to the Shiite Mahdi Army, whose clashes with Sunni insurgents are essentially at the heart of the power struggle in the region, the dangers inherent in sending more American troops into the Iraqi killing fields and the potential for escalation are all too obvious.

At Rice's mini summits with Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries and Israel, this time she must examine what alternative forces - material, spiritual and political - can be brought to stop Iraq's descent into chaos. Rice must know that attempting to settle the Palestinian question is not a quid pro quo for stabilising Iraq. Ensuring Israel, weakened by the Lebanese conflict, does not impede the formation of a Palestinian state must be a policy objective irrespective of what happens elsewhere in the Middle East.

Equally, Iraq, Palestine and US worries over Iran's growing nuclear power must not drag the region into a larger conflict.