Iraq president makes landmark Syria trip

[Kadie]

Iraq president makes landmark Syria trip
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
4 minutes ago


DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's leader promised to help ease tensions in neighboring Iraq during Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's landmark visit to Damascus on Sunday, just days after President Bush accused Syria of backing the Iraqi insurgency.

A veteran Kurdish politician who spent years in exile living in Syria, Talabani is the first Iraqi president to visit Damascus in nearly three decades. His trip was seen as part of an attempt to warm relations between the longtime rivals.

A prominent Iraqi lawmaker with close ties to Talabani said the president's visit to Syria was not meant as a snub to Bush. The six-day trip had been planned for nearly a year and its date was finalized about two weeks ago, Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said from Baghdad.

But he acknowledged that the timing "may seem a little tricky" after Bush's speech and said Iraq needed to follow its own foreign policy goals independent from Washington's agenda.

"Our interests differ from those of the United States," he said. "The enmity between the United States and Syria and Iran doesn't benefit the situation in Iraq."

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/syria_iraq_talabani_5

[heldmyw]

1. "The food was wonderful...

...and I can't say enough about the scenery! I haven't seen that kind of oppression and poverty in decades!"

Sheesh!