The Bush administration's lack of practice at diplomacy in the Mideast has hampered its efforts during the current clash between Israel and Hezbollah, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed said yesterday.

The Rhode Island Democrat said the administration is pursuing some worthwhile goals but doing so by means of "policy-on-the-go, made out of whole cloth," in the midst of a violent crisis. He said President Bush's longstanding policy of disengagement from diplomacy in the region has left his team short of such standard peacemaking tools as contacts with the key players.

Therefore, according to Reed, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her associates must start from scratch to establish "channels of communication, both formal and informal" that have not been used "for a long, long time."

Reed said a potential consequence is that American diplomatic efforts will take longer than they should, allowing the bloodshed in Lebanon to escalate, further damaging the longterm prospects for peace in the region.

Reed expressed worry about the "the images of people suffering" during Israel's military campaign in southern Lebanon. "Hezbollah could lose the battle" militarily "but win the war" for support in the wider Muslim world. Nevertheless, Reed endorsed such administration moves as the effort "to reconstitute an international presence in Lebanon and gin up a cease-fire."

Republican Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee of Rhode Island also applauded aspects of the administration's aims for quelling the current crisis, while painting a dark picture of its efforts over the past several years to reshape the Middle East.

"The concept started with regime change in Iraq, but where does it end?" Chafee asked. Mr. Bush's vision of "a viable Palestinian state" living in peace beside Israel "has disintegrated," Chafee said. "Iraq is disintegrating."

"The first order of business" on the diplomatic front "should be to see if we can get the Syrians to peel away from Iran," Chafee said, arguing that he and the administration are in agreement on Syria's "central" role in the region.

Chafee said the administration's statements concerning Syria vindicate his position that the U.S. should find a way to peel away Syria from its alliance of convenience with Iran, which has drawn criticism from his Republican primary challenger, Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey.

Sheldon Whitehouse, the endorsed Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Rhode Island, said that he believes that overall, Mr. Bush has the right policy. "I think so far that he is following the right path, which is to support our ally and friend, Israel," said Whitehouse.

Whitehouse said an immediate cease-fire would work to the gain of Hezbollah and "to the disadvantage of Israel."

But Whitehouse said that the Bush administration's failed policies in Iraq have created some of the problems in the Middle East and made it more difficult for the U.S. to spearhead a peace process in the volatile region. What he called the Bush administration's "disasterous strategy and decision to invade Iraq has cast a pall across the entire Mideast."

Whitehouse also said that the go-it-slow foreign policy legacy of Mr. Bush's tenure in office has made it more difficult for the U.S. to recruit allies willing to commit to sending troops that could eventually make up a peace-keeping force.

Israel should be given time to try to destroy the Hezbollah redoubts in Lebanon, he said. At the same time, the U.S. should step up humanitarian aid to help prop up the fragile democracy in Lebanon and help noncombatants in both Israel and Lebanon who have been put in harm's way by the violence.

One of the tragedies of the situation, Whitehouse said, is that Hezbollah -- which he believes is little more than a proxy for Iranian ambitions in the region -- has so effectively "hidden themselves within" Lebanon.

Laffey, too, said he supports the Bush administration policy of "standing strong with our ally Israel and demanding that the terrorists lay down their arms."

Laffey released a statement that said: "He believes we should continue to support Israel's right to defend itself, just as America would if we were in the same situation, and put pressure on the terrorist countries that sponsor and support Hezbollah by imposing sanctions on both Syria and Iran."

As he has in recent weeks, Laffey acccused Chafee of opposing sanctions on Syria, a charge Chafee's campaign has asserted is not accurate.

Carl Sheeler, the West Greenwich business consultant running against Whitehouse for the Democratic nomination, criticized Mr. Bush.

"Bush was demonstrating his allegiance to a policy that tends to be very Israel-centric and reflects our strong allegiance to Israel, but also fails to look at the Middle East from a bridge-building perspective."

Mr. Bush's failure in Iraq, Sheeler said, and the inability of the U.S. to get allies to help forge a peace agreement ought to be a lesson on the futility of the administration's tack.

Sheeler also called for humanitarian aid to civilians in both Israel and Lebanon. The best thing, Sheeler said, would be for the U.S. to try to "attempt to broker a peace" among the warring parties. He cited President Jimmy Carter's involvement of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin in the 1970s Camp David process.

jmulligan@belo-dc.com / (202) 661-8423

smackay@projo.com / (401) 277-7321