They will do it anyway

Condi Rice tells the WaPo that there is no need to talk to Iran and Syria about helping stabilize Iraq: “If they have an interest in a stable Iraq, they will do it anyway.” Two things wrong with that which you wouldn’t think would need to be explained to the nation’s top diplomat: 1) they aren’t doing it anyway, 2) the purpose of diplomacy is not, generally speaking, to persuade nations to do what they already want to do anyway.