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Iraq, Syria to Discuss Security Issues
14.1.2007
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January 14, 2007
DAMASCUS, Syria, -- Iraq's president was
expected in Syria on Sunday, in a landmark visit
that could bring his war-ravaged country a small
step closer to ending the raging violence and offer
Syria the chance to ease its isolation.
A veteran Kurdish politician who had lived for years
in exile here, Jalal Talabani is the first Iraqi
president to visit Syria in nearly three decades.
Saddam Hussein's predecessor, Ahmaed Hassan al-Bakr,
visited in 1979, a time when the two countries -
ruled by branches of the Baath Party - even
considered merging into one nation.
Talabani's visit comes only days after President
Bush lashed out at Syria and its ally Iran, accusing
them of supporting Iraqi insurgents. In a Wednesday
address outlining a new strategy for Iraq, Bush also
vowed military action to disrupt supply lines coming
into Iraq from Syria and Iran.
Despite that, Mahmoud Othman, a prominent Iraqi
lawmaker with close ties to Talabani, said the Iraqi
leader's visit to Syria did not amount to an Iraqi
snub to Bush. It has been planned for nearly a year,
but its date was finalized about two weeks ago, he
said from Baghdad. |
Iraqi
President : Jalal Talabani, a Kurd |
"The timing may seem a little tricky after what Bush
said," Othman, a Kurd, said in a telephone
interview. "But our interests differ from those of
the United States. The enmity between the United
States and Syria and Iran doesn't benefit the
situation in Iraq."
U.S. and Iraqi officials have repeatedly charged
that Syria was allowing militants to use its
territory to slip into Iraq to join the Sunni
insurgency there. Syria denies the charge and
counters that the Iraqis and their American backers
are not doing enough to guard their side of the
border.
Talabani was expected to discuss the thorny border
issue in talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad,
hoping for guarantees Damascus would do more to stem
the militant traffic.
Analysts say Syria could be tempted to comply, if
only partially, to maintain the positive momentum in
its improving relations with Iraq.
The two neighbors restored diplomatic relations late
last year, more than two decades after they were cut
over ideological disputes, Syria's support of Iran
in its 1980-88 war with Iraq and charges that
Baghdad supported Syrian militants.
Talabani has been warmer toward Syria than Shiite
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who fears that
giving Iraq's neighbors a role in ending the
violence in his country would allow them to meddle
in Iraqi affairs.
But Iraq needs to independently engage its neighbors
even if it disagrees with some of them, said Vali
Nasr, a U.S.-based expert on Middle Eastern affairs
and a fellow on the Council of Foreign Relations.
"The Iraqis must have their own plan for regional
engagement and show that not everything is managed
in Washington," he said.
Syria is a prime candidate for engagement in any
regional outreach by Iraq. Its close relations with
Iran are a vital asset given Tehran's vast influence
with Iraq's majority Shiites. It also has good
relations with the once-dominant Sunni Arabs and
plays host to 800,000 or more Iraqi refugees,
including stalwarts of Saddam's Baath Party known to
be active in the Iraqi insurgency.
Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-U.S. Shiite cleric whose
Mahdi Army militia is blamed for much of Iraq's
sectarian violence, was given a warm welcome by
Assad when he visited Syria last year. Al-Sadr is
one of al-Maliki's main political backers.
"Syria can play a constructive role in Iraq, but not
necessarily a decisive one," said Rami Khouri, a
Beirut-based Middle East expert. "What Syria can and
can not do will not decide the future of Iraq, but
it can help."
Engaging Syria in the search for peace in Iraq could
offer Assad's government an opportunity to ease its
relative isolation in the region over its role in
Lebanon in support of opposition groups seeking to
topple Beirut's U.S.-backed government.
Relations with longtime U.S. allies Egypt, Saudi
Arabia and Jordan also have been cool, partly over
what they see as Syria's role in promoting Iranian
interests in the Arab world.
AP
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