That is something that South Asia specialist Bruce Riedel has been forcefully advocating in recent months.

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Bruce Riedel, who served on President Bush's National Security Council from 2000 to 2002, agrees with this assessment.

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Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, says it's too late for the U.S. to rely on Musharraf alone.

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Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution says the School of Hard Knocks has brought Rice around to this more realistic approach to the Middle East.

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"If this means they're going to cooperate even more, it's almost like a multiplication of the threat posed by each, " said Bruce Riedel, a counterterrorism expert at the Brookings Institution.

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Bruce Riedel of Brookings says part of Rice's legacy will be the role she played as national security adviser when the White House undercut Powell, including on the Middle East.

NPR: Mideast Peace Meeting to Shape Rice Legacy