Iraqi President Rejects Calls for Conference on War

[DoYouEverWonder]

Dec. 3 — The Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, rejected today calls for an international conference to reach a solution to the widening sectarian war in Iraq, saying the Iraqis were working to stanch the bloodshed through their own political process.

Mr. Talabani’s comments came in response to a call last week by Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations, to hold an international conference on Iraq that would include all of the country’s major political groups and representatives from around the region.

“We have an ongoing political process and a council of representatives that is the best in the region,” Mr. Talabani said in a statement, using the formal name of the Iraqi Parliament. “We became an independent sovereign state and we decide the issues of the country.”

President Talabani’s firm stand on the issue contradicts not only Mr. Annan, but also the recommendation by a growing number of American policy makers that the United States and Iraq should hold a conference that would bring together all the countries in the region that have vested interests in trying to reestablish stability in Iraq. Such a meeting might include Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, all accused by various American and Iraqi leaders of fomenting violence here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1165208400&en=4b6f6f9ccdf3869f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[annabanana]

1. He has been working on his own solutions:

http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8LMT1E01.html

November 29,2006 | TEHRAN, Iran -- Iraq's president said Wednesday he had reached a security agreement with Iran, which the United States accuses of fueling the chaos in the war-torn country. Iran's president called on countries to stop backing "terrorists" in Iraq and for the Americans to withdraw.

Tehran is believed to back some of the Shiite militias blamed in the vicious sectarian killings that have thrown the country into chaos. The United States has said the Iraqi government should press Iran to stop interfering in its affairs in a bid to calm the violence.

Presidents Jalal Talabani of Iraq and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran held talks Wednesday hours before U.S. President George W. Bush was due to meet with the Iraqi prime minister in Jordan in talks aimed at finding a solution to Iraq's spiraling bloodshed.

Talabani gave no details on the security agreement with Iran, and Ahmadinejad made no mention of any deal at a joint press conference in Tehran.