Mid-East Shift

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koan
Posts: 16817
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 1:00 pm

Mid-East Shift

Post by koan »

Iraq is seeking help from Iran in putting an end to what UN's Kofi Annan has described as close to civil war. It has been thought that Iran is fueling the sectarian violence in order to drain US resources and prevent the US from attacking Iran over the nuclear program. President Ahmadinejad has expressed deep concern over the growing problem in Iraq and was quoted as saying "Any help the government and nation of Iran can give to strengthen security in Iraq will be given." Previously, the Iranian president has said that his help is dependent on a change in US "bullying" of Iran and questions arise as to how delicate the handling of Iranian involvement might be for US officials.

There is talk of a "Mid-East shift" taking place including not only Iran's change of position but a diplomatic restoration between Iraq and Syria. Condemned as being responsible for the recent assassination of Gemayel, Syria is another country that makes a difficult ally for the Bush administration to accept.

Having said that Iran must end their uranium enrichment program before the US would consider them a partner, Washington can hardly stop the Iraqis from seeking and accepting whatever help they can get. Tom Casey, the State Department spokesperson has said "The issue here again is not the words, it's the actions that are taken, and certainly what we would like to see the Syrians do is take actions, to, among other things, prevent foreign fighters from coming across the border into Iraq."

BBC source 1

BBC source 2
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