Aryavartha
28-02-2007, 20:48
Finally some good sense prevails. Any lasting solution to Iraq cannot come without its neighbors (Arab sunni states and Iran) having stakes in such a peace and talking to them would at least be a beginning.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21304842-601,00.html
US flips on talks with Iran, Syria
* Correspondents in Washington
* March 01, 2007
THE US signalled an abrupt shift in its Middle East policy yesterday, agreeing to join high-level talks with Iran and Syria on the future of Iraq.
The decision was announced by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday.
US officials will attend a conference in Baghdad next month to discuss the "stabilisation" of Iraq with its six neighbours, including Iran, which US President George W. Bush once called part of the "axis of evil".
The move comes despite Mr Bush's claims that Iran and Syria are fuelling the insurgency and civil war in Iraq.
The Bush administration had previously rebuffed calls from Congress, regional allies and the independent Iraq Study Group for a regional forum and discussions with its two arch-foes on stabilising Iraq.
Dr Rice said the landmark conference, expected early next month, would follow lower-level talks with regional powers plus the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to be held in Baghdad this month.
Dr Rice will sit down with the foreign ministers from Damascus and Tehran at next month's meeting elsewhere in the region, possibly in Istanbul.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack insisted yesterday there had been no change in US policy towards Iran, but repeatedly refused to rule out direct talks with the Iranians on the sidelines of the regional talks.
Iraqi officials said the first meeting, to be held this month, would focus on ending sectarian violence and foreign support for Iraqi militias and insurgents.
The talks will involve ambassadors and envoys from Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, as well as Egypt, Bahrain, the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, plus the five UN Security Council powers - the US, Britain, China, France and Russia.
"This initial meeting will be followed, perhaps as early as the first half of April, by a ministerial-level meeting with the same invitees, plus the G8," Dr Rice told the Senate appropriations committee yesterday. The Group of Eight also includes Japan, Canada, Germany and Italy.
"I would note that the Iraqi government has invited Syria and Iran to attend both these regional meetings," she said. "We hope these governments seize this opportunity to improve their relations with Iraq and to work for peace and stability in the region."
One of the administration's leading critics on Iraq, Democratic senator Joseph Biden, who heads the influential Senate foreign relations committee, said the Bush administration was "right to reverse itself and engage Iran and Syria on Iraq".
Analysts said the tone and strategy of the White House's regional diplomacy appeared to be shifting. "We have not been meeting the Iranians to discuss regional issues," said Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "This is clearly an effort to bring the Iranians and the Syrians into a regional security discussion."
Justin Logan, of the Cato Institute, said the regional conference proposal was a clear parallel to the Iraq Study Group recommendation. "It certainly is a move in the right direction."
Mr Bush has in the past stuck to a tough line on the idea of even group talks on Iraq with regional powers including Iran and Syria. "They need to come understanding their responsibilities to not fund terrorists, to help this young democracy survive, to help with the economics of the country," he said in December. "If Syria and Iran are not committed to that concept, then they shouldn't bother to show up."
Washington did authorise US ambassador to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad to talk to Iran on Iraq in 2005, but no discussions have so far materialised.
The Bush administration has also stressed it is committed to using diplomacy to convince Iran to comply with a UN resolution calling on Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment activities that some claim are a precursor to producing atomic weapons. But the White House has refused to take any option off the table.
But even as the administration showed signs of flexibility, top intelligence chiefs laid out US grievances against Tehran in Iraq.
AFP
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21304842-601,00.html
US flips on talks with Iran, Syria
* Correspondents in Washington
* March 01, 2007
THE US signalled an abrupt shift in its Middle East policy yesterday, agreeing to join high-level talks with Iran and Syria on the future of Iraq.
The decision was announced by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday.
US officials will attend a conference in Baghdad next month to discuss the "stabilisation" of Iraq with its six neighbours, including Iran, which US President George W. Bush once called part of the "axis of evil".
The move comes despite Mr Bush's claims that Iran and Syria are fuelling the insurgency and civil war in Iraq.
The Bush administration had previously rebuffed calls from Congress, regional allies and the independent Iraq Study Group for a regional forum and discussions with its two arch-foes on stabilising Iraq.
Dr Rice said the landmark conference, expected early next month, would follow lower-level talks with regional powers plus the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to be held in Baghdad this month.
Dr Rice will sit down with the foreign ministers from Damascus and Tehran at next month's meeting elsewhere in the region, possibly in Istanbul.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack insisted yesterday there had been no change in US policy towards Iran, but repeatedly refused to rule out direct talks with the Iranians on the sidelines of the regional talks.
Iraqi officials said the first meeting, to be held this month, would focus on ending sectarian violence and foreign support for Iraqi militias and insurgents.
The talks will involve ambassadors and envoys from Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, as well as Egypt, Bahrain, the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, plus the five UN Security Council powers - the US, Britain, China, France and Russia.
"This initial meeting will be followed, perhaps as early as the first half of April, by a ministerial-level meeting with the same invitees, plus the G8," Dr Rice told the Senate appropriations committee yesterday. The Group of Eight also includes Japan, Canada, Germany and Italy.
"I would note that the Iraqi government has invited Syria and Iran to attend both these regional meetings," she said. "We hope these governments seize this opportunity to improve their relations with Iraq and to work for peace and stability in the region."
One of the administration's leading critics on Iraq, Democratic senator Joseph Biden, who heads the influential Senate foreign relations committee, said the Bush administration was "right to reverse itself and engage Iran and Syria on Iraq".
Analysts said the tone and strategy of the White House's regional diplomacy appeared to be shifting. "We have not been meeting the Iranians to discuss regional issues," said Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "This is clearly an effort to bring the Iranians and the Syrians into a regional security discussion."
Justin Logan, of the Cato Institute, said the regional conference proposal was a clear parallel to the Iraq Study Group recommendation. "It certainly is a move in the right direction."
Mr Bush has in the past stuck to a tough line on the idea of even group talks on Iraq with regional powers including Iran and Syria. "They need to come understanding their responsibilities to not fund terrorists, to help this young democracy survive, to help with the economics of the country," he said in December. "If Syria and Iran are not committed to that concept, then they shouldn't bother to show up."
Washington did authorise US ambassador to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad to talk to Iran on Iraq in 2005, but no discussions have so far materialised.
The Bush administration has also stressed it is committed to using diplomacy to convince Iran to comply with a UN resolution calling on Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment activities that some claim are a precursor to producing atomic weapons. But the White House has refused to take any option off the table.
But even as the administration showed signs of flexibility, top intelligence chiefs laid out US grievances against Tehran in Iraq.
AFP