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Cozying Up to the Enemy’s Friend, in Hope of Ending a Frustrating War

THE predicament: A president wants to end an unpopular war. A potential solution: Negotiate with enemies.

The question confronts President Bush today, in the case of Iraq. The question challenged President Richard Nixon in 1972, when he and his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, secretly arranged a summit meeting with Leonid I. Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, in the hope that a grand bargain with Moscow might help the United States negotiate an end to the war in Vietnam.

Newly declassified documents and transcripts, some from White House tapes, published by the State Department in an official diplomatic history on Tuesday, show how hard it can be to talk peace with the friends of your enemies.

Read entire article at NYT