Baghdad, Iraq – The first crashing sound came just after lunch, when mortars slammed into the street outside the building where U.S., Iranian and other officials were meeting Saturday to discuss ways of ending Iraq’s violence.
The next one came six hours later, when Iran’s chief delegate stood at a podium and ripped into U.S. policy in Iraq, clobbering hopes that the summit would prove an icebreaker in the two countries’ chilly relations.
Saturday’s meeting, the first such gathering Iraq has hosted since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein four years ago, was intended to shore up support for Iraq, and on that front, it appeared to have been a cordial but far-from-resounding success. Delegates from neighboring countries and elsewhere did not set a date for a second, higher-level gathering of foreign ministers and agreed only to establish working groups to focus on various issues.
But much attention was on the U.S.-Iran sideshow, a critical element because of Washington’s claim that Tehran is helping fuel Iraq’s violence. Would the Iranian and U.S. delegates steal away for some private time? Would they be seated near each other during the talks? Would they commit to future get-togethers? The answer to all was no, a message that sounded through the Foreign Ministry’s cavernous interior clearly as the lunchtime booms.
A total of 17 delegations attended the security meeting, including groups from all of Iraq’s six neighbors – Iran, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – and from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Also represented were the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The guest list reflected the importance with which Iraq viewed the conference, but it also guaranteed tense moments.
The U.S. accuses Iran’s Shiite leaders of sending weapons to fighters in Iraq who are targeting U.S. troops. It accuses Syria of letting terrorists flow across its porous border into Iraq.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in his opening remarks, appeared to be angry at them all for putting his country in the middle of their squabbles.
Al-Maliki’s opening statements seemed aimed at Iran, the U.S. and the Arab League, which last week said it would use the conference to demand that al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government give minority Sunnis more power in government.
“Iraq does not allow itself to intrude on others’ affairs, or its territory to be a launching pad for attacks against others. We … expect to have the same stance from others,” he said.
