We can see the effects of the leadership change in Washington already. There is an article in the New York Times today reporting some undercover diplomacy taking place with the Syrians by members of the Baker Commission. Though I am not a part of the republican party it is good to see them at least reaching out to the nations in that region to work on a plan to bring order in Iraq.

November 18, 2006
Syrian Officials and Iraq Study Group Met, Envoy Says
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 — James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state who is now Republican co-chairman of a bipartisan group examining strategic options in Iraq, has met several times with Syrian officials to discuss how they might cooperate with the United States, the Syrian ambassador here said Friday.
“What would it take Syria to help on Iraq?” the Syrian ambassador, Imad Moustapha, recalled Mr. Baker asking Syria’s foreign minister, Walid Muallem, during a meeting in New York at the Waldorf-Astoria in September. Mr. Moustapha described the session as “very promising.”
During a 45-minute interview at the Syrian Embassy on Friday morning, the ambassador said he arranged the New York meeting, also attended by other members of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, at Mr. Baker’s request. Separately, Ambassador Moustapha met twice with the study group in Washington.
The ambassador would not provide specifics, but said he had told the study group “in detail what actual things we can do, and what are the things that we cannot do. We were very candid with each other. We explained to them why it is in our own national interest to try to help stabilize the situation in Iraq.”
The Bush administration maintains low-level diplomatic relations with Syria, but has withdrawn its ambassador to Damascus and has said it will not authorize higher-level contacts because of Syria’s role in supporting terrorist groups, insurgents in Iraq and forces opposed to Lebanon’s elected government. The White House said Friday that Syria could play a positive role in the region, if it desired.
“The United States and the international community have made very clear the constructive role that Syria can play in the region,” said Dana Perino, a deputy White House press secretary, adding: “Even the Iraqis have said that Syria and Iran have not been constructive in Iraq; they have not supported the Iraqi unity government.”
Neither Mr. Baker nor his Democratic co-chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, the former congressman, would comment on the meetings with Syrian officials. But there is speculation that the study group will advocate greater cooperation among the United States and Syria and Iran.
But Mr. Baker said at a news conference in September that the group intended to meet with officials of both countries. An outside adviser to the group, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in an interview this week that the panel had also interviewed the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Javad Zarif.
Mr. Baker has made little secret of his belief that the United States should negotiate with nations that it regards as enemies. He often likes to recount how, as secretary of state under the first President Bush, he traveled 15 times to Damascus in pursuit of a Middle East peace agreement. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain delivered a widely publicized speech in which he suggested the West should pursue greater engagement with Iran and Syria.
President Bush, though, has not seemed open to dramatic policy shifts. During an appearance in the Oval Office on Monday, Mr. Bush called on Syria to withdraw from Lebanon and stop “harboring terrorists,” and said Iran must suspend uranium enrichment before talks could begin.
“If the Iranians want to have a dialogue with us, we have shown them a way forward,” Mr. Bush said. On Syria, he said, “The Syrian president knows my position.”
In the interview on Friday, Mr. Moustapha said Syria was motivated to play a role in Iraq for several reasons: its historical ties to Iraq, concerns about the loss of life among its Iraqi “brothers and sisters” and fears that Iraq’s sectarian conflict could ignite fighting among corresponding factions in Syria.
“If the situation in Iraq spirals toward civil war, the repercussions would be terrible,” Mr. Moustapha said. “Who would we side with? We are friendly with all the parties.”
Mr. Moustapha said Syria cooperated with the United States before the invasion of Iraq, providing intelligence that, he said, thwarted two Al Qaeda plots. Relations broke off after the invasion, resumed in August 2004 and broke off again in early 2005, after the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
Mr. Moustapha described his sessions with Mr. Baker and the Iraq Study Group as very encouraging, saying they addressed “every single issue in the Middle East,” including Syria’s support for the group that captured two Israeli soldiers this past summer, which helped to spark a war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company