Jim Lobe: Bush authorizes talks with Iran to stabilize Iraq

[seafan]

Let's talk about Iraq
By Jim Lobe
11-30-05

WASHINGTON - In a move that marks a major change in policy, Washington's influential ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, has disclosed that President George W Bush has authorized him to open direct talks with Iran about stabilizing Iraq.

The announcement came in an interview with Newsweek magazine. The two countries have not held direct talks since mid-May 2003, shortly after the US ouster of Saddam Hussein.

...

University of Michigan Middle East historian Juan Cole, the message was clear. "It's a sign of desperation and a recognition that needs Iranian goodwill to get out of Iraq," he told Inter Press Service. "To the extent you can have a soft landing in Iraq, the Iranians have to be involved."

...

Washington's growing reliance on and support for regional diplomacy marks a serious setback to neo-conservatives who, long before the Iraq war, had championed the unilateral imposition of a Pax Americana in the Middle East that would put an end to what in their view constituted the chief threats to Israel's security - Arab nationalism and Iranian theocracy.

Now, two-and-a-half years after invading Iraq to put that peace into place, the administration finds itself seeking the support of both forces.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GK30Ak01.html

[elfin]

1. This stinks of Chalabi to me eom

[seafan]

3. Interesting you should mention Chalabi.

I was stumped as to why Chalabi got a hero's welcome in Washington a week or so ago. Dig this:

Nor was it missed in Washington that, two weeks after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice publicly raised the possibility of direct talks with Iran, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a long-time friend of Khalilzad who had fallen out of favor in Washington 18 months ago amid charges that he was working with Iranian intelligence, held high-level talks in Tehran just before arriving in Washington in early November for the first time in two years.

While Chalabi was received rapturously by hardline neo-conservatives at the American Enterprise Institute, which did so much to champion his efforts to bring US troops to Iraq, it now appears that his official reception by senior administration officials, including Rice, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and Vice President Dick Cheney, was linked to his perceived usefulness in extricating those troops from a political quagmire - and, more specifically, gaining Tehran's cooperation in doing so.

"Perhaps that's why he was given such a good reception," noted Cole.

[LastDemocratInSC]

4. Iran says, "Sure, we'll help stabilize Iraq - if Chalabi is in charge"

Chalabi's game plan is going well. He pumped up the neocons early on as a fellow academic, lied to them as needed with phony intelligence which they eagerly devoured, got the US to depose Saddam Hussein by force, and now has a cushy post as deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. So far, so good. Talking about making money using the money of others!

We know he has close ties with Iran. He is of the Shi'a sect and presumably shares cultural goals with the Iranians. The deal is this - Chalabi will get the Iranians to help stabilize Iraq, which they can do, but Chalabi must be the Iraqi head of state. Game over.

Quid pro quo.

[papau]

2. US Troops march with "Iraq police-shia miltia" and Iran shia to kill Sunni

I always wondered what the reason for invading Iraq was.

Seems it was to give it to Iran.

I wonder if US media will say anything any time soon.

Makes our "no nukes in Iran" BS seem even less real!