[Kzin]

Wow ... a conference with the Security Council members and middle eastern states discussing what to do about Iraq .... too bad nobody had that idea before.

April 29, 2007
Iranians Will Attend Regional Conference, May Meet With Rice
By KIRK SEMPLE and CHRISTINE HAUSER

BAGHDAD, April 29 — The government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran agreed today to attend a regional conference about Iraq later this week, ending weeks of uncertainty about whether it would participate.

Mr. Ahmadinejad confirmed his nation’s plans during a telephone call to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq, according to a statement issued by Mr. Maliki’s office. Mr. Ahmadinejad’s announcement followed a series of negotiations between their two countries, including a visit by Iraq’s foreign minister to Tehran last week.

The regional meeting, set for Thursday and Friday in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheik, is expected to draw the foreign ministers from Iraq’s neighbors,as well as from Egypt, Bahrain and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The conference is intended to explore ways to quell the relentless violence in Iraq.

Looming over preparations for the conference is the question of whether there will be face-to-face talks between the United States representative, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki.

Ms. Rice said today that she could hold talks with Iranian government officials on the sidelines of the meeting, but she emphasized that the main thrust of the talks there would be discussion of how to stabilizing Iraq.

“I would not rule it out,” Ms. Rice said on the CBS program “Face the Nation” today, referring to a possible meeting with Iranian representatives. “We will be there, not to talk about U.S.-Iranian issues, but to talk about Iraq, and how Iraq’s neighbors can help to stabilize Iraq. And I won’t rule it out.”Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security official, arrived in Baghdad today to discuss the conference with Iraqi officials, Iraqi and Iranian officials said. According to a spokesman for the Iranian government, the Ahmadinejad administration has “some questions and ambiguities about the agenda,” The Associated Press reported.

The spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said Tehran’s decision to attend the conference was not linked to any deal having to do with five Iranians who were detained in January by American troops in Irbil, the main city in the Kurdish-administered region of northern Iraq. The Americans have accused the five Iranian men of being intelligence officers, but the Iranian government has contended that the men are diplomats and has demanded that they be released.

“It is not intended to tie the fate of these five with that of the conference,” Mr. Hosseini said, according to the A.P.

Ms. Rice, on CNN’s “Late Edition,” also said that the issue of the five detainees had no link to Iran’s decision to attend the meeting, and that the status of the five men was being dealt with according to a “normal process” of review.

Asked what she would say to the Iranian foreign minister if they met, Ms. Rice answered: “Well, I think we all know that if in fact everybody believes a secure Iraq is important, then we need to stop the flow of foreign fighters.”

“We need to stop the help to militias that then go out and kill innocent Iraqis. We need to stop the flow of advanced I.E.D. technology, explosive device technology, that’s killing American soldiers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/wo...9cnd-iraq.html

So ... no mention of dealing with the actual political causes of the insurgency, let's just make sure they have weaker weapons. Way to learn from past mistakes, Condi.

[Blitz]

Originally Posted by KzinKiller

Wow ... a conference with the Security Council members and middle eastern states discussing what to do about Iraq .... too bad nobody had that idea before.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/wo...9cnd-iraq.html

So ... no mention of dealing with the actual political causes of the insurgency, let's just make sure they have weaker weapons. Way to learn from past mistakes, Condi.

The way I interpreted that, it was a jab at Iran's financial and military backing of the insurgency which is political.

[Kzin]

Originally Posted by Blitz Park

The way I interpreted that, it was a jab at Iran's financial and military backing of the insurgency which is political.

It's looking for a new scapegoat for the administration's failures, and Iran is the convenient pinata to take whacks at here. 'omg we turned Iraq into a Shia-Sunni civil war battleground and never figured the Shias next door in Iran and the Sunnis in Saudi Arabia would actually give guns and money to their sides!'

What'd we think they were going to do when the Shia mullahs who had been in exile for years from Saddam in Qom and Tehran headed back to Iraq with their security guys: blow them off and blow kisses to foreign troops on their border? Ya rite.