Director "Rice's visit to region was pointless"

CAABU Director tells BBC that Rice's visit to the region was pointless.

In an interview on the BBC, Chris Doyle, the Director of CAABU stressed that the visit of Condoleezza Rice to the region had been a failure. Given the severity of the crisis, it was negligent to arrive in Beirut to exchange "just ideas". The visit was too late, and lacked a sense of urgency.

He also pointed out that it was just as vital to sort out and resolve the continuing crisis in Gaza that many had forgotten about. The failure to get an immediate ceasefire on both fronts was extremely dangerous and jeopardised any realistic chances for a resolution whilst encouraging the forces of extremism.

If the United States was serious about dealing with the fundamentals of the situation then it needed to sort out the entire Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all. This might even mean an international peace conference