WP: Iraq to Restore Long-Severed Relations With Neighbor Syria ("a conduit for insurgents")

[DeepModem Mom]

Iraq to Restore Long-Severed Relations With Neighbor Syria
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 21, 2006; Page A23

BAGHDAD, Nov. 20 -- Iraq said Monday that it would restore diplomatic ties with neighboring Syria after a break of nearly a quarter-century in an effort to solidify links with a neighbor seen as a conduit for insurgents fueling the violence in Iraq.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made the announcement after a historic meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem, who pledged his country's help in quelling the sectarian violence that threatens to propel Iraq into civil war. Maliki, for his part, pressed Syria to step up efforts to keep Sunni Arab fighters from crossing into Iraq to join the insurgency.

"We refuse to let any regional neighbor countries become a passage or a headquarters for the terrorist organizations that hurt Iraq," he said in a statement after the meeting.

Syria and Iran, another neighbor, have offered to help bring stability to Iraq's fractured government, but the Bush administration has long-standing concerns about Iran's support for Shiite Muslim militias and Syria's failure to stop foreign fighters from joining the Iraqi insurgency.

The administration is under intense pressure to put aside those concerns and engage in talks with the two countries, even though it considers them adversaries. The Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former congressman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), is expected to recommend in an upcoming report that the United States start such a dialogue....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/20/AR2006112000231.html

[NOLADEM]

1. Can someone help me understand why Bush thinks Iran and Syria will help?

I understand that neighbors have a stake in what happens, but WHY is Bush thinking of inviting participation of Syria and Iran? Doesn't that just create a new alliance against 'our interests'?

I doubt seriously Syria would EVER do ANYTHING that would assist us. So why the effort or the lip service? Is it simply to placate the public opinion that the US should speak with Iraq's neighbors?

[Kagemusha]

2. Bush doesn't, it's other people pushing this belief

And trying to convince Bush of it.

[Wells]

3. A Catch-22

It seems at least possible that Iranian and Syrian interests could assist with stabilizing the situation in Iraq. But overall, stabilization in Iraq may result in a regional oil embargo. Getting the US out of Iraq means removing US oil interests along with US military. Regional cooperation may lead to evicting US oil interests from other Gulf states. A paradox. A Catch-22. Stabilizing the region may threaten future oil supplies.