Clueless in Washington - Olmert comes to town

In spite of being told plainly that his visit should be rescheduled because it was `untimely' Israeli PM Ehud Olmert nevertheless decided to come to Washington and meet with President Bush and Secretary of State Condi Rice.

What Olmert has in mind is pretty obvious. He's willing to grab his ankles and do just about anything the president wants in exchange for some kind of help on Iran.I honestly think he'd free every terrorist murderer incarcerated in israel and give up all of Samaria, Judea and all of Jerusalem just for a few verbal assurances from President Bush..which, as we've seen, might not be altogether trustworthy or binding, especially with James Baker, Robert Gates and the other State Department Arabists now in the saddle. What's more, relying on the guarantees of a president hamstrung by a congress headed by people who aren't particularly known for their pro Israel sentiments might not be the most astute move.

"Every compromise that will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities which will be acceptable to President Bush will be acceptable to me," Olmert said in an interview with NBC's "Today Show ahead of his White House talks.

"I am not looking for wars. I am not looking for confrontations. I'm looking for the outcome. This campaign will be tested in only one way -- whether it will succeed to stop Iran from possessing nuclear weapons," he said in the interview, recorded in Israel on Friday and broadcast on Monday.

President Bush, for his part, dealt out some more belicose rhetoric today, calling for global isolation Iran if the Mullahs don't give up what Bush called `their nuclear ambitions.'

"Iran's nuclear ambitions are not in the world's interest," Bush said. "If Iran had nuclear weapons it would be terribly destabilizing."

"If they continue to move forward with the program, there has to be a consequence," Bush said. "And a good place to start is working together to isolate the country. And my hope is, is that there are rational people inside the government that recognize isolation is not in their country's interest."

Now, forgive me for being cynical....but isn't that the exact opposite of what Bush's Chief of Staff Josh Bolton was saying just the other day when he said that all ideas on the table, and the US is even 'open to including Iran in talks on Iraq.'?

And didn't this whole idea come from James Baker, Robert Gates and the Iraq study group? The same people the President is meeting with todayto figure out how to get the US out of Iraq?

Doesn't sound like isolation to me.

I smell something in the wind, and it isn't pretty.