Divergent Agendas Complicate U.S. Courtship Of Iraqi Neighbors

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Wall Street Journal
May 4, 2007
Pg. 4
By Mariam Fam
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt -- U.S. officials, as part of their latest diplomatic drive to pacify Iraq, are telling Iraq's neighbors it is in their best interests to help stabilize the country. The competing agendas and tensions that surfaced in the run-up to a two-day meeting here underscore the challenges in enlisting regional support.
Washington hopes the meetings, which started yesterday, will cultivate international support for a five-year plan in which the Iraqi government promises to enact a list of economic and political reforms, including an oil-revenue law. In response, other countries are expected to offer aid, debt relief and other assistance.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also used the gathering for a rare face-to-face meeting with a senior official of Syria. The Bush administration has blamed Syria for some of Iraq's problems, as well as other problems in the region. It has withdrawn its ambassador to Damascus and largely shunned Syrian diplomats.
Ms. Rice met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and said they discussed the issue of stemming the flow of foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq. "The Syrians clearly say that they believe that stability in Iraq is in their interest, but actions will speak louder than words," she said after the meeting.
While not ruling out a meeting with the Iranian side to talk about supporting Iraq, Ms. Rice said: "We haven't planned and have not asked for a bilateral meeting, nor have they asked us."
The Bush administration hopes that the gathering will spark a better dialogue between Iraq and others in the region and that Arab regimes will send a clear message against violence to Sunni Muslims involved in the insurgency in Iraq.
Humam Hamoudi, the chairman of the foreign-relations committee in Iraq's parliament and a member of the Iraqi delegation here, said its neighbors can help Iraq by exchanging information, securing their borders and helping train Iraqi security forces.
Other tangible steps that Washington would like to see from Iraq's neighbors include shutting down the flow of fighters, weapons and explosives across their borders; interdicting finances that go to support armed groups; and using connections they have to communities in the country to send the message that they need to support the Iraqi state, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker said.
Those measures "could make a difference," he said. "Can they fix it? No, but they can certainly create a much, much better environment for the Iraqis to fix it."
But some neighbors of Iraq -- a group that comprises Turkey, Jordan, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait -- may lack the will or ability to bring about much positive change on the ground, some analysts say. Cooperation is also made difficult by clashing goals and the reservations that some neighboring Sunni regimes have about the Shiite-led Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"In theory, all the neighbors want a unified, stable Iraq. In practice, they all want a different kind of Iraq," said Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington.
Days of wrangling over the wording of a communiqué expected to be released today underscored that point. A proposal to include a call for a cease-fire between Iraqi forces and insurgents was rejected by Iraqi officials as recognition of the fighters. Also rejected was a call for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
Saudi King Abdullah surprised Bush administration officials recently when he called the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq "illegal." But many Arab countries also fear that the U.S. troops' departure could empower Shiite Iran or lead to more chaos that can spill over into their own borders.
The Sunni regimes' fear and resentment of the rising power of Iran in the region and the strong ties Tehran has with Iraqi parties now in power is a particular source of tension. So far, Arab countries have largely been reluctant to give unreserved support to the Baghdad government. They want the Iraqi government to step up reconciliation efforts and give more rights to its Sunni minority.
Iraqi officials say they are already taking steps toward such goals and reject conditions from their neighbors.
 
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