U.S., Iran reach Iraq policy consensus

Source: Associated Press

U.S., Iran reach Iraq policy consensus
By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - The United States ambassador in Baghdad said he and his Iranian counterpart agreed broadly on policy toward Iraq during four-hour groundbreaking talks on Monday, but insisted that Iran end its support for militants.

The Iranian ambassador later said the two sides would meet again in less than a month.

Hassan Kazemi Qomi, the Iranian envoy, also said that he told the Americans that his government was ready to train and equip the Iraqi army and police to create "a new military and security structure."

Kazemi did not elaborate nor would he say how U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker responded.

The Baghdad talks were the first of their kind and a small sign that Washington thinks rapprochement with Iran is possible after more than a quarter-century of diplomatic estrangement that began with the 1979 Islamic revolution.

<snip>

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070528/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_iran_talks

---

At least there is some talking going on.


(Edited because there was some weird letters at the end of the link that shouldn't have been there.)

also said that he told the Americans that his government was ready to train and equip the Iraqi army


?????

here.

The debacle is complete.

More sabre rattling coming right up.

It doesn't sound like either of these diplomats intends to tell the public what if anything was agreed to, at least not yet. It's just happy talk and propaganda points for the moment.

the U.S. pulls up its war ships, in a show of force.

I onl y believe about 0.0001% of what I read about Iran.

Mr. "Crock"
Ryan Crocker
This is the same man, who just 2 weeks ago said, "OF COURSE WE'LL do what Mr. Al-Maliki wants".

This was regarding the wall that the U.S. was building in Baghdad. It sparked outrage, and became an instant controversy.

The wall was just finished.

Need I say more?

So many of them. Each paid by a different group representing different interests as reflected by different media. What a dynamic market place!
I was recently in Japan. In the supermarkets, in order to save money, they have replaced the equivalent of the market place shouting vegetable vendor in Italy by tapes that shout different good deals in different corners. It kind of looks the same in US foreign policy right now :)

You gotta wonder what disagreement looks like ...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The United States and
Iran traded accusations over the bloodshed in
Iraq on Monday during the first high-level direct official talks between the arch-foes in 27 years.

US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker accused Iran of fomenting unrest in the country by funnelling weapons and training to extremist militias, and called on Tehran to live up to its promises to support stability.

His Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi Qomi, however, accused the US military of not doing enough to arm Iraqi government forces and said the Islamic republic was prepared to step in and do this itself.

The first such encounter since the two countries severed diplomatic ties in 1980 lasted four hours, and afterwards Iran's envoy sounded keener on holding further talks than his US counterpart.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070528/wl_mideast_afp/iraqiranusdiplomacy