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That's really odd given the reports that last wek Condi literally forbade Israel to pursue any kind of exploratory peace talks with Syria beacuse of Assad's continued support for terrorism in Lebanon and Iraq. Maybe the US wants to control all the carrots.
First it's oil, now its vegetables. What next?
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oderint dum metuant (Latin for 'let them hate, so long as they fear').
Well, in truth I'm actually not a total hawk, but I'm not a dove either -- I'm more like an angry pigeon flying over the political arena after a really big meal. -Abba Gav
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States and their adversaries in Iran and Syria may for the first time since the Iraq war began meet face to face at a conference next month to discuss the situation in Iraq.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. supports the forum, which will take place in the first half of March in Iraq.
It could set the stage for a ministerial-level meeting in April that will include the Group of Eight -- the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia -- and Iraq's neighbors -- Syria, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey.
Multilateral organizations and China -- the only permanent member of the U.N. Security Council which is not in the G-8 -- will also be invited, Rice said.
Speaking about Iran and Syria, Rice told the Senate Appropriations Committee, "We hope these governments seize this opportunity to improve their relations with Iraq -- and to work for peace and stability in the region."
Relations between Washington and Tehran are already tense over Iran's nuclear program. The United States is pushing the Security Council to impose trade restrictions on Iran.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, interviewed by CNN, said the March meeting will serve as an ice-breaker to help reduce tensions.
"We hope to be in the same room and to have an open and frank discussion about our mutual concerns and interests," said Zebari, who believes that such a meeting would be a proper platform for important issues.
The U.S. and Iran do not have diplomatic relations.
Asked whether the U.S. ambassador to Iraq has been invited, a U.S. Embassy in Baghdad spokesman said, "Yes, we have been invited. Yes, he will attend."
It isn't clear whether it will be outgoing Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad or the man named to be his successor, Ryan Crocker.
A senior U.S. State Department official said this is an "opportunity for all attending to talk about Iraq."
The official said Iraqis will set the agenda, with topics likely to be national reconciliation and building Iraq's economy
As to whether there will be direct talks with Iran and Syria, the U.S. official said that at this point "we can't predict the direction of the discussion or interaction."
"We'll see."
Rice called the efforts part of an Iraqi-led "diplomatic offensive" to build greater support for peace in Iraq.
She noted that fostering support from Iraqi neighbors is a key element of the Iraq Study Group findings.
"The violence occurring within the country has a decided impact on Iraq's neighbors," she said.
"And Iraq's neighbors, as well as the international community, have a clear role to play in supporting the Iraqi government's efforts to promote peace and national reconciliation within the country."
I guess he was against it before he was for it....
Quote:
U.S. to Attend Iraq Meeting Where Iran, Syria Invited (Update2)
By Judy Mathewson
Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. diplomats will attend a conference on Iraq to which envoys from Iran and Syria are invited, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a Senate budget hearing today.
``We hope all governments will seize this opportunity to improve their relations with Iraq, and to work for peace and stability in the region,'' Rice told the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Iraq invited all neighboring countries to the conference next month, which is aimed at improving security in the country amid daily attacks on civilians. It would mark the first time the U.S. has sat with Iran and Syria to look at Iraq's future, an initiative that lawmakers and a bipartisan panel of American statesmen have sought.
The Bush administration has refused to conduct direct talks with Syria and Iran about Iraq's security, saying those governments are fomenting sectarian violence there and aiding attacks on U.S. troops. Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja'afari, said today his government hasn't decided whether to attend. Rice said she didn't know if Iran had agreed to participate.
The four countries that hold permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council with the U.S. -- Britain, China, France and Russia -- also are invited, according to Rice.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington that roadside bombs, including a deadly type known as explosively formed penetrators, are ``certainly at the top of our list'' in any discussion of security in Iraq.
Disables Tank
The penetrators can disable an Abrams tank, and have been used with deadly effect against U.S. forces in Iraq. President George W. Bush has accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps of supplying the weapon to Iraqi Shiite groups for use against American soldiers. Iran rejects the accusation.
U.S. officials also accuse Iran of using its nuclear program to hide work on an atomic weapon, which has resulted in a standoff between the Iranian government and the United Nations.
The UN Security Council unanimously voted Dec. 23 to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programs, and ordered Iran to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can fuel a reactor or produce a bomb. Iran hasn't suspended that work.
McCormack said Iran still would have to meet the UN's demands for those kinds of talks to take place. With that exception, however, he said later: ``I'm not going to exclude any particular interaction at this point, in that forum, at the regional level, on issues that are important to us, but the focus will be on Iraq.''
The conference is tentatively set for March 10-11, Iraq's ambassador in Washington, Samir Sumaidaie, said last month. Invitations have also gone out to Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Bahrain, and the Arab League.
Second Meeting
This meeting will be followed, perhaps as early as the first half of April, by a gathering of ministers from the invited governments, plus others from the Group of Eight industrialized countries, Rice said.
Attempts to impose order in Iraq face violent obstacles. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, testifying to the Senate panel with Rice, said there are four wars going on in the country. He cited a Shiite versus Shiite conflict in southern Iraq, a sectarian fight pitting Shiites against Sunnis in Baghdad, an insurgency directed by Baathists who ran Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and attacks mounted by the terrorist group al-Qaeda.
Eighteen children were killed today when a car bomb exploded at a soccer field in Ramadi, about 70 miles west of Baghdad, Iraqi state television reported. The Associated Press said there were questions about the report because of a detonation of explosives in the same city by the U.S. military.
`Larger Than Expected'
The ``much larger than expected'' blast from the detonation of a cache of an unidentified explosive shattered glass in surrounding buildings and wounded 30 Ramadi residents and one Iraqi soldier, according to a U.S. military statement.
American military efforts are expanding in Baghdad and areas west of the capital in an attempt to root out violent rebels. The diplomatic initiative Rice described is important to supplement that effort, Senator Arlen Specter said at the hearing on funding for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said the planned talks among Iraq's neighbors would be important in sustaining congressional support for President George W. Bush's policy in Iraq.
At the White House, spokesman Tony Snow told reporters the administration is hopeful ``that Iran and Syria will play constructive roles'' in the multinational talks.
Study Group
The Iraq Study Group, headed by former secretary of state James Baker, recommended in its Dec. 6 report that the U.S. engage in a wider regional diplomatic offensive to curb violence in Iraq.
The group also recommended direct U.S. talks with Iran and Syria without conditions. Rice has been cool to the idea of direct negotiations though never ruled out the possibility of a regional conference. On Dec. 8, she said the U.S. would look at ``how Iraq's neighbors should be more involved in trying to stabilize Iraq.''
John Negroponte, the new deputy secretary of state, said in his Jan. 30 confirmation hearing that he didn't consider such a conference to be of utmost urgency. ``I would not say that, as a matter of priority, one would have to go right to a regional- type conference,'' he told senators.
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