Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
April 22, 2008
Pg. 12
By Robert F. Worth
KUWAIT — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for greater financial and diplomatic support for Iraq during a meeting with Arab foreign ministers in Bahrain on Monday, but she did not appear to have won any new commitments.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with counterparts from eight Arab countries and Iraq, Ms. Rice said the talks had included the issue of whether other countries in the region would send ambassadors to Baghdad and whether they would forgive Iraq’s billions of dollars in debt, along with other pressing issues like violence in Gaza and the Lebanese political crisis.
“A number of countries around the table talked about their desire to have permanent representatives” in Baghdad, Ms. Rice said. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait have pledged to send ambassadors to Iraq, and Ms. Rice and Iraqi officials have hinted at their frustration with a lack of action on that promise.
On debt relief, Ms. Rice said that the terms under which countries would agree to cancel some of the debt had long been known, and that “it’s just a matter of getting the negotiations done.” Much of Iraq’s debt has been forgiven, but most of the remaining $67 billion is owed to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
There was one modest note of progress: the ministers agreed that Iraq would be included in future gatherings of the states present on Monday — a gesture Ms. Rice called “a very good step forward for the reintegration of Iraq into regional affairs.”
Ms. Rice, who was in Iraq on Sunday, will take part in a broader international meeting here on Tuesday aimed at securing more support for Iraq, and following up on two similar efforts last year, in Egypt and Turkey.
In seeking greater support for Iraq, Ms. Rice has emphasized the need to counter Iran’s influence in the region. She has talked with her counterparts in Sunni Arab states about Iraq’s new resolve to fight Shiite militias — which the United States contends are armed by Iran — in Basra and Baghdad.
But since the ouster of the minority Sunni-dominated government of Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s government has been led by Shiites with their own links to Iran, a fact that has made Iraq’s Sunni Arab neighbors very uneasy.
The Arab states have other reasons for their unease. The Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad was bombed in 2003, and Egypt’s envoy there was kidnapped and killed in 2005. Violence in Iraq has recently risen, despite a long-term decline over the past year.
April 22, 2008
Pg. 12
By Robert F. Worth
KUWAIT — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for greater financial and diplomatic support for Iraq during a meeting with Arab foreign ministers in Bahrain on Monday, but she did not appear to have won any new commitments.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with counterparts from eight Arab countries and Iraq, Ms. Rice said the talks had included the issue of whether other countries in the region would send ambassadors to Baghdad and whether they would forgive Iraq’s billions of dollars in debt, along with other pressing issues like violence in Gaza and the Lebanese political crisis.
“A number of countries around the table talked about their desire to have permanent representatives” in Baghdad, Ms. Rice said. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait have pledged to send ambassadors to Iraq, and Ms. Rice and Iraqi officials have hinted at their frustration with a lack of action on that promise.
On debt relief, Ms. Rice said that the terms under which countries would agree to cancel some of the debt had long been known, and that “it’s just a matter of getting the negotiations done.” Much of Iraq’s debt has been forgiven, but most of the remaining $67 billion is owed to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
There was one modest note of progress: the ministers agreed that Iraq would be included in future gatherings of the states present on Monday — a gesture Ms. Rice called “a very good step forward for the reintegration of Iraq into regional affairs.”
Ms. Rice, who was in Iraq on Sunday, will take part in a broader international meeting here on Tuesday aimed at securing more support for Iraq, and following up on two similar efforts last year, in Egypt and Turkey.
In seeking greater support for Iraq, Ms. Rice has emphasized the need to counter Iran’s influence in the region. She has talked with her counterparts in Sunni Arab states about Iraq’s new resolve to fight Shiite militias — which the United States contends are armed by Iran — in Basra and Baghdad.
But since the ouster of the minority Sunni-dominated government of Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s government has been led by Shiites with their own links to Iran, a fact that has made Iraq’s Sunni Arab neighbors very uneasy.
The Arab states have other reasons for their unease. The Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad was bombed in 2003, and Egypt’s envoy there was kidnapped and killed in 2005. Violence in Iraq has recently risen, despite a long-term decline over the past year.