Iraq talks could pave road
home for America
By Robert Fisk, Middle East Correspondent
03/12/07 "The
Independent" -- -The Iranian-Syrian-US-Iraqi
talks in Baghdad at the weekend might - and it's a very flimsy
"might" - be the beginning of America's road home from its
disastrous invasion and occupation of Mesopotamia.
The shouting match between Washington's envoy, David
Satterfield, and his Iranian opposite number, Abbas Araghchi,
should have been warning enough for the Americans that their
negotiations will not be easy - and there will, of course, be a
price to be paid. An end to the nuclear "crisis" with Iran?
Abandonment of the tribunal into the murder of Lebanese former
prime minister Rafik Hariri for whom many blame Syria? But what
price would America not pay to scramble out of Iraq?
As if to emphasise the anarchy the delegates were discussing in
Baghdad, a suicide car bomber yesterday crashed into a lorry
carrying Shia pilgrims back from Kerbala, killing 32 of them.
Having passed unscathed through the large Sunni districts around
Hilla to the south of the capital, they thought they were safe
when they reached the centre of Baghdad. But that was where the
car bomber was waiting for them, ramming his vehicle into the
tailgate of the truck which was loaded with up to 70 men and
boys. Many of them were burned to death.
Interestingly, it was the Iranian Foreign Ministry - rather than
the US State Department - which went out of its way to praise
the Baghdad talks as a first step to restore security in Iraq.
"Leaving security affairs to the Iraqi government, arranging a
timetable for the departure of foreign forces, and taking an
impartial approach to all terrorist groups can bring peace and
security," the ministry's spokesman, Mohamed Ali Hosseini, said
yesterday. A proposed second round of talks - in Baghdad or
Istanbul - may involve Iran's Foreign Minister.
But old habits die hard. During Saturday's talks, Mr Satterfield
pointed to his briefcase, claiming it contained documents that
proved Iran was arming Shia militias in Iraq, a remark that
earned him a stinging rebuke from the Iranian envoy. "Your
accusations are merely a cover for your failures in Iraq," Mr
Aragchi replied.
The Americans have been asserting for some weeks that Iranian
technology has been used in bombs that have killed up to 170
American and other foreign troops in Iraq. Yet their "evidence"
does not appear to prove any such thing; Iraq is awash with
weapons and explosives and other bomb-making materials and it
seems unlikely Shia gunmen need any training from the Iranians.
But the whole anti-Iranian stance of the US administration over
Iraq does not appear to make much sense. It accuses Tehran of
interfering in the work of the Iraqi government - despite the
fact the largest parties in the Iraqi government were born and
nurtured in Iran. In other words, Iran is already "in" Baghdad
and its protégés are running the show from the Green Zone close
to the Foreign Ministry where this weekend's talks were held.
For Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, to say "the
future of Iraq and the Middle East is the defining issue of our
time" was stating the obvious but his appeal to Syria and Iran
to help the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki brought forth
further Iranian demands for an American withdrawal.
All of Iraq's neighbours were represented at the talks - Iran,
Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Kuwait - as well as the
UN and the Arab League, Russia, France, Britain, China, Bahrain
and Egypt.
"Violence in Iraq is good for no country in the region," Mr
Aragchi, the Iranian envoy, remarked. "Security of Iraq is our
security and stability in Iraq is a necessity for peace and
security in the region ... Regarding security, we have channels
that we can put to use." What these "channels" were, Mr Aragchi
did not say.
While Iran would be happy to see the Americans retreat in
humiliation from Iraq, it also has a clear strategic interest in
a US withdrawal. With US forces in Afghanistan - and operating
clandestinely inside Pakistan - as well as in Iraq and the
former Soviet Muslim republics, Iran is virtually surrounded by
American firepower. Add to this the US fleet in the Gulf and
it's not difficult to see how Iran might see itself as
endangered as the Americans feel in Iraq.
© 2007 Independent News and Media Limited
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