State blog solicits views on hot-button issues

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The State Department has crossed a new frontier.

For decades, most of its interaction with the public consisted of speeches and occasional question-and-answer sessions, at which officials explained U.S. policies.

Now the department is soliciting outside views on some of the Bush administration's most controversial policies, such as those on Iran, North Korea and Cuba, in a series of Web discussions on its official blog, called "Dipnote."

It does not, however, intend to consider any of the opinions that it receives in policy-making.

Because of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to the Middle East last week, one of the latest questions is: "Should the U.S. engage Hamas in the peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians?"

"The whole idea behind the blog is to try to build a community of people who are interested in reading about and discussing and providing their inputs on matters of foreign policy," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"There are some instances where you want to understand what's going on out in the public," he said. "It doesn't mean you are doing a poll or taking a survey and you're changing the policy."

Most responses to the Hamas question so far have been negative and in support of the long-standing U.S. policy of not talking with terrorists.

"No, it's clear that Hamas is not interested in peace," wrote one respondent, who identified himself as Art in California.

Several bloggers expressed amazement that the State Department would be asking such a question, saying, "Are you people nuts?" and "What is the matter with you people?"