Word: baghdad
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Tuesday's talks in Baghdad between the U.S. and Iran are reported to have been something of a shouting match. No surprise there. Nor is it surprising that both sides emerged from the meeting describing the talks as "positive." Despite their strategic differences on a wide range of issues, Washington and Tehran ultimately share an interest in stabilizing the security situation of the Iraqi government. Still, the competing agendas of Iran and the U.S. will make successful cooperation in Iraq unlikely in the short term...
...Crocker, representing the U.S. in the talks called by the Iraqi government, complained that the Iranians continue to support Shi'ite militants engaged in sectarian and anti-U.S. violence in Iraq - and charged that such activity had actually escalated since the previous meeting between the two sides in Baghdad, eight weeks ago. His Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, reportedly dismissed the U.S. complaints and said they were not backed by any proof. He blamed the security crisis in Iraq on the presence of "foreign forces," and also demanded the release of Iranian personnel being held there...
Once the majority of American troops have left, the alliance plans to throw out the constitution, dissolve the parliament, cancel all resolutions issued from the Bremer era on, and disband the existing security forces and U.S.-trained Iraqi army divisions. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad, they said, would have to close - "as in Saigon. With helicopters on the roof" said Samarai - until Washington recognized a new, resistance-led Iraqi governing council, and offered compensation to all individuals and organizations affected by the war. Under the new leadership, all Iraqi citizens who worked for or cooperated with the current, coalition-backed...
...create special "cells" of skilled guerrillas. "What is I think clear is Iran's interest in things like the Lebanon model as a method of preserving strategic influence in areas that are of importance to them," says Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, the acting commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad. "That's the bane of the Middle East, and it's also the fingerprint of Iranian statecraft. And so we see that emerging here, just as we saw it emerge in Lebanon...
...Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker today echoed the concerns after meeting with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad. "The fact is, and we made it very clear in today's talks, that over roughly two months we have actually seen militia- related activities that can be attributed to Iranian support go up and not down," Crocker said after talks with Iranian ambassador Hassan Kazemi-Qomi on security issues in Iraq. Iran has consistently denied accusations of training and arming militants in Iraq...