‘With Iraq on fire, rest of world on hold.’

As the “White House struggles to show progress in the 52-month-old war, other important global issues increasingly are getting pushed to the side.” McClatchy reports:

Two months ago, President Bush enthusiastically accepted an invitation to visit Singapore in September. But he abruptly changed plans, and his summit with Southeast Asian leaders is off. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is skipping an Asian meeting, too, and tossed out plans to visit Africa this week. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ mission to Latin America? Postponed.

The reason is Iraq. [...]

Few doubt Iraq’s centrality in U.S. foreign policy. Failure there could damage America’s prestige for years, if not decades, and suck Iraq’s neighbors into the vortex of violence.

But the high-level U.S. attention and energy drawn away from all but a handful of other world problems is yet another cost of the Iraq war.