A Very Important Meeting Today (Saturday) in Baghdad!
March 10, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
It will be very interesting to see what comes out of today’s multi-nation Baghdad meeting, particularly since American intelligence has had the opportunity to interrogate the Iranian General who defected in Turkey on February 7.
Since both Iran, Syria, and three different terrorist groups operating in Iraq,
all want to see Western forces withdrawn from Iraq as quickly as possible, and the governments of the Western forces want a withdrawal with as few casualties as possible, it is possible that something might be eventually worked out to satisfy both their objectives. If so, a lot of the agreements might be worked out behind the scenes to allow both sides not to appear to be weakening toward their enemies.
Begin Article Extracted from Khaleej Times Online by Reuters
Iran looks to ease US tensions with Baghdad meet
(Reuters)
March 8, 2007
TEHERAN – Iran’s decision to attend a regional meeting in Iraq with US officials reflects a more conciliatory approach in its foreign policy and Teheran’s hope it might ease tensions in nuclear and other issues.
But analysts say Iran remains wary US officials could use the gathering to berate Iran for what Washington calls its meddling in Iraq. If so, they say this would strengthen the hand of radical voices at home opposed to any rapprochement.
The meeting in Baghdad of Iraq’s neighbours starting on Saturday will provide a rare opportunity for officials from Washington and Teheran, which have not had diplomatic ties for more than a quarter of a century, to sit down at the same table.
Washington has left the door open for bilateral talks.
The meeting comes amid a debate among Iran’s political elite over whether Teheran should use what it sees as bargaining chips in Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Iraq to engage with its arch-foe.
If the result of this meeting in Baghdad was good, maybe it will be the first step and a good start for negotiations in the future,” said Amir Mohebian, the political editor of the conservative Resalat newspaper.
“If the result of this cooperation is a bad reaction from the United States, it will be a signal for any radical in Iran to say that cooperation with the United States has no result.”
“The ball is actually in the (court) of the United States.”
Iran has reason to be cautious, analysts say. Teheran joined multilateral talks with Washington in the wake of the 2001 war in Afghanistan when Iran felt it had been supportive in overthrowing the Taliban, who Washington and Teheran destested.
Shortly after, President George W. Bush branded Iran part of the “axis of evil”, a statement pounced on by Iran’s hardliners as justification for opposing rapprochement.
There are those who fear Washington may use similar tactics in Baghdad.
“Now that we have accepted to take part in the meeting, we should end our presence if we see conspiracies,” wrote Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of Iran’s hardline Kayhan daily which regularly launches broadsides against the United States.
Mohebian said he was “not very optimistic”.
Nuclear issue
But analysts and diplomats say Iran, in the lead up to the Baghdad talks, has toned down its rhetoric on regional issues, a move that could help build US confidence and ease Arab suspicions about Iran’s bigger regional role.
“They are shaping their policy to be more constructive,” said a senior Arab diplomat working in the region.
A sworn enemy of Israel and financer of the Islamist Hamas group, Iran has nevertheless welcomed a Saudi-brokered deal for a Palestinian unity government.
It has also talked to Riyadh about ways to ease Lebanon’s political crisis between that country’s US-backed government and an opposition that includes the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
And it has agreed to go to the meeting in Iraq where Teheran has close ties with its co-religionists, Iraq’s majority Shi’ite Muslims. One Iranian analyst said Iran hoped the meeting in Iraq could “expand to other issues, like the nuclear issue”.
The United States is leading a push for tougher sanctions against Iran after it ignored a Feb. 21 UN deadline to suspend sensitive atomic work, which Washington says is being used to build nuclear warheads. Iran says its plans are purely civilian.
Iran has shown no signs of reining in its nuclear work.
The analyst, who asked not to be identified, said Iranian foreign policy rhetoric became more radical after the 2005 election of anti-Western President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but said the president’s comments had toned down amid growing worries among the ruling elite that he was exacerbating Iran’s problems.
But he said any milder tone did not mean Iran would abandon its “proxy forces” in the region that Teheran viewed as “leverage … in terms of getting concessions”.
Ultimately, foreign policy is determined not by the president but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority who analysts say takes decision not in isolation but by drawing on views of several factions among the elite.
Increasingly, as Ahmadinejad has come under pressure over the economy and at the ballot box in December council polls, more moderate voices have called for less confrontation.
Teheran mayor Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, a prominent moderate conservative who lost to Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential race, told a meeting of academics and diplomats this month:
“No longer does the Islamic Republic need to be confrontational because it has all the power ingredients and the necessary confidence to deal with its neighbours and compete with regional and international actors.
Petraeus says U.S. will have to negotiate with Iraqi militants
By Kenneth R. Bazinet
New York Daily News
(MCT)
WASHINGTON – The general leading the troop surge in Iraq admitted Thursday the new offensive won’t defeat the insurgents and said the U.S. will have to negotiate with militants.
The comments by Gen.
David Petraeus came on the eve of a rare security summit in which the U.S. will sit down with Syria and Iran.
The White House, however, made clear Thursday it won’t necessarily be a friendly chat with the Iranians: U.S. negotiators plan to warn Iran to stop funding, supplying and training Iraqi militants.
“It is time for them to knock this off and play a constructive role,” national security adviser Steve Hadley said en route to Latin America with President Bush.
“This is not about engaging Iran and Syria. It is about getting the countries of the region and the broader international community to support Iraq,” he said.
Petraeus, meanwhile, held his first press conference since taking command as delegates prepared for the gathering in Baghdad to try to find a way to halt violence between Sunnis and Shiites.
“Military action is necessary to help improve security . . . but it is not sufficient,” Petraeus said.
The general said political talks must eventually include some militant groups now opposing the U.S.-backed government.
“That is what will determine in the long run the success of this effort,” Petraeus said.
Top diplomats, meanwhile, hope the presence of Iranian and Syrian delegates at the security summit will create a de facto truce in the world’s most dangerous capital. A massive troop presence is routine in Baghdad, but that has been unable to halt the daily suicide bombers, car bombs and snipers that have turned much of Baghdad into a no man’s land.
“It will be the safest place in Baghdad, we have no doubt,” said a European diplomat, who hoped for an unofficial ceasefire while talks are under way.
Syria, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, the five permanent Security Council members – U.S., Britain, China, France and Russia – the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference have been invited.
The envoys are expected to meet in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the Iraqi government and U.S. leaders are headquartered.
But a U.S. counterterrorism official said there’s no way to be 100 percent safe even in that secure area.
“As any New Yorker knows, you’re not safe anywhere, but you still have to go to the meeting,” the official said.
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