The Sunni-Shiite Folly

The Bush administration's cockeyed strategy to promote sectarian conflict in the Middle East.

By Fred Kaplan
Posted Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007, at 6:59 PM ET

The Iranians are expanding their presence in Iraq, the Saudis are cutting a separate deal with them to contain the strife in Lebanon, and who can blame either party?

Yes, as the AP reported Tuesday, this surge of Saudi-Iranian cooperation "could complicate Washington's efforts to isolate Tehran." But it is Bush's abandonment of diplomacy that has left the vacuum that the Saudis and Iranians are now trying to fill. And given the alternative of mayhem and anarchy, their new rapprochement might not be a bad thing.