There was some "irrational exuberance" a short while ago when, after the fall of Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Feith, it was said that "the diplomats are back." Yes, in negotiations over North Korea, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill was quietly efficient in making talks progress, and at the UN, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilizad provided a welcome relief from the anti-UN John Bolton. But elsewhere, whatever diplomatic efforts underway were drowned out by Surge talk, bomb Iran trash talk, and engagement with Africa epitomized by the birth of yet another US military command, AFRICOM.
But today's news shows that quiet diplomacy does pay dividends. Middle East professionals David Welch and James Foley have ironed out an agreement with Syria to allow an increase in American diplomats in Damascus to help process some of the two million Iraqi refugees in Syria and Iraq's other neighbors. This positive news is hedged by warnings against Syrian involvement in Lebanese politics, but is nevertheless welcome news. George Packer of The New Yorker should be gratified: he led the way in shaming the United States for taking in a fraction of the Iraqis endangered by their ties to the US (interpreters, translators, etc.) than those admitted by neutral Sweden. Encouraged too - Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker - who openly protested about Department of Homeland Security processing of a paltry number of Iraqis.
Now, a little bit of special pleading from me for the particular plight of Iraqi Christians. I am not an especially devout person, and my years in the Middle East and North Africa brought me in touch with many more Muslim than Christian Arabs. But the Christians of the Middle East -- and there are millions, dating back to the earliest days -- are under increasing pressure. Just read (link, above) "From the Holy Mountain" by William Dalrymple, and you will see that Syria is a haven for Christians, while in Turkey (and interestingly, Israel), the community is under strain.
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Christians were no worse off than other Iraqis, and even had a protected status. Since spring 2003, this historic community has seen half its members flee Iraq, with hundreds of thousands of others joining the ranks of the internally displaced people, camping out with relatives in "safer" parts of the country. Now, with tension along the Turkish-Iraqi Kurdish border rising, and killings of Christians in Mosul and Kirkuk, some of these same Christians are pleading with European countries for asylum.
"Blowback," a wonderful description of the law of unintended consequences popularized by Chalmers Johnson, works in mysterious ways. A "crusade" (an unfortunate term used by President Bush after 9/11, but not forgotten in the Muslim world) in the Middle East by a born-again Christian president winds up causing untold damage - perhaps even destroying - a community that was able to survive Mongols, Ottomans, and Saddam Hussein.