In a policy about-face, the Bush administration says it will attend a Middle East regional conference in Iraq that includes participation by Iran and Syria. The purpose of the conference is to include Iraq‘s neighbors in an attempt to stabilize the situation there. At the same time, according to Iraqi sources, it will serve as an "ice breaker" by getting the U.S. and Western nations to sit down with the states in the region. The Bush administration has been vehemently opposed to dialogue with Iran and Syria, but has been under heavy pressure from Congress – and as an outcome of the findings of the Iraqi Study Group report – to change course.