Our editorial on the Warner-Lugar amendment:

the amendment calls for the United States “to establish a predictable and regular multi-lateral diplomatic forum related to Iraq that meets frequently and is open to all parties in the Middle East.” Senator Lugar believes “it would be in the self-interest of every nation in the region to attend such meetings.” But the self-interests of the nations of the region are, unfortunately, not determined by Senator Lugar. If they were, the region would be a much more kindly and gentle place.
Lugar maintains that these meetings would be “a means of applying regional peer pressure against bad behavior.” This verges on the childish. Has Lugar ever witnessed a meeting of, say, the Arab League? In the Middle East, peer pressure rarely discourages bad behavior. If certain nations don’t attend, according to Lugar, “their intransigence will be obvious to the other players in the region.” But Iranian and Syrian intransigence is already obvious. The question is, What are we going to do about it? Lugar and Warner’s answer is to do both of these rogue states an enormous favor, by undermining our position in Iraq just as we are beginning to get a better handle on the security situation.
We too think diplomacy is important. We would love Lugar and Warner to offer a “sense of Congress” resolution citing any instance in history in which a country’s diplomatic leverage has been enhanced by losing a war. If they were to succeed in discarding the progress that has recently been made in Iraq, Lugar and Warner would undermine not just our military position there, but, perversely, our diplomatic position in the entire region.
The Iraq debate is in a sorry state when something like the Lugar-Warner amendment passes for a serious proposal. At least they are providing a kind of constitutional lesson: in why the Founders, in their wisdom, didn’t want Congress to conduct wars.