Saturday, March 10, 2007

A forum for rattling sabres

March 10, 200t

A forum for rattling sabres


WASHINGTON says it will confront Syria and Iran directly at a regional meeting on Iraq this week with charges that they are actively fomenting the insurgency in the war-torn country. Tehran seems to think that the Baghdad meeting, which will bring together Iraq's neighbours plus Egypt as well as the UN, US and the UK, could be a forum to ease tensions with Washington. At the same time, Tehran remains wary of being targeted for criticism rather than creative contacts in Baghdad.
Indeed, the Baghdad conference offers a rare opportunity for both Washington and Tehran, which have not had diplomatic ties for more than a quarter of a century, to sit down at the same table as the first step towards launching a broad bilateral dialogue over their differences.
However, that prospect does not seem to be in the cards. Washington said it at first it was open for bilateral contacts with Tehran but then corrected itself and asserted that the issues to be discussed in Baghdad would be limited to those concerning the crisis in Iraq.
David Satterfield, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's top adviser on Iraq, went a step further on Thursday and said the US delegation would press Iran and Syria to respond publicly to the accusations at the conference that they are fuelling the insurgency in Iraq.
At the same time, Satterfield also reaffirmed that US officials were ready to hold direct bilateral talks with the Iranians and Syrians only on issues related to Iraq.
Of course, the crisis in Iraq is a central issue for all players, but tackling it on its own is not feasible since there are differences between the Arab and Muslim worlds on the one hand and the US on the other concerning the broader conflict in the Middle East, including the problems in Palestine and Lebanon as well as the long-running fued between Iran and the US.
The US and the UK would be attending a regional meeting of the nature of that of the Baghdad conference for the first time. It could not be said earlier meetings made a serious breakthrough towards addressing the concerns of Iraq's neighbours. However, if there is any prospect for a breakthrough that would be negated if the US seeks to use the forum simply to pull up Iran and Syria over what Washington sees as their role in the Iraq crisis.
Applying public pressure on Iran and Syria and using the regional meeting simply to highlight their alleged meddling in Iraqi affairs could be part of Washington's build-up against them, particularly Tehran, in the wider scheme of things. The Baghdad forum could serve as yet another platform to serve Washington's case, if indeed there is one, against Iran and Syria. Faced with increasing criticism at home against the fiasco in Iran, it would be part of the US effort to blame others for its failures in Iraq.
The Iranian sentiment was summed up Amir Mohebian, the political editor of the conservative Resalat newspaper, who said on Friday: “If the result of this meeting in Baghdad was good, maybe it will be the first step and a good start for negotiations in the future.
“If the result of this cooperation is a bad reaction from the United States, it will be a signal for any radical in Iran to say that cooperation with the United States has no result.”
Judging from Washington's approch, that is seems to be the predetermined outcome of the meeting. The Iranians are also aware of it, and this strengthens the feeling that the Baghdad meeting would be a forum more for sabre-rattling than the real purpose of seeking a way to end the raging violence in Iraq.