Iraq Conference an Awkward Balancing Act for White House

March 9, 2007 — -- The White House is feeling domestic and worldwide pressure to change course in Iraq.

On the home front, Democrats have drawn a line in the sand with two proposals to bring U.S. troops home before the 2008 election.

Meanwhile in Iraq this weekend, U.S. representatives will sit down, at the request of the Iraqi government, for talks that will include Iran and Syria at a conference on Iraqi security.

The White House has refused face-to-face, two-way diplomatic talks with either country, and President Bush seemed to downplay the potential of the larger conference.

"Diplomacy is going to play an important part of security in Iraq, but diplomacy will fail without a robust military strategy," Bush said.

The U.S. presence at the international conference presents an awkward moment for a president who has taken a tough public stand on Iran and its nuclear program. It's the first time in two years that Iranian and U.S. officials have even been in the same room together.

"It's a painful reality for the Bush administration," said Peter Beinart, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "They can say this is no policy shift, but it's clear they've been forced to abandon their favored policy, which was no real negotiations and unrelenting pressure in the belief the other side would fold."

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, who will be leading the conference, said that any agreement to speak face to face would require concessions from Iran.

"For a meeting to occur, for discussions, there has to be an agreement ahead of time," Khalilzad said today on "Good Morning America."

"But the first point to make to them is that they need to stop arms -- uranium arms -- coming across the border, being used against the coalition forces," Khalilzad said. "At the same time, for them not to support militias who are undermining the stability of Iraq and increasing problems."

Khalilzad said that Iraqis were listening carefully to the debate in America about how long U.S. troops would stay in Iraq.

"It does send a message to the Iraqis that the patience of the American people is running out, and that is helpful to my diplomacy," Khalilzad said.

"But on the other hand, we need to be very careful about how far we go with that. We don't want to indicate that we're going to leave imminently, because that in turn could worsen the situation."