By Joshua Partlow, Washington Post Foreign Service
March 2, 2007
The Iraqis led an operation, in combination with Sunni tribesmen, in an especially violent movement on a Sunni insurgent stronghold in Western Iraq yesterday according to Iraqi police officials. The clash, which was unusually fierce for Iraqi-led operations, ended with around 50 suspected insurgents dead and another 80 captured. Originally, the insurgents attacked a village near Fallujah, and the battle ended 6 hours later. This all comes as part of the US military’s movement to align itself with dozens of tribal sheiks to drive out the Sunni al-Qaeda in Iraq from the vast desert. In other movements, the US is also working on targeted raids, but not yet an established presence, in Sadr City where a good majority of the Mahdi Army reside. Mahdi is led by Moqtada as-Sadr, an anti-American cleric who at the same time supports al-Maliki. Also, two Marines were killed in an unrelated incident while two other service members were injured when their Army OH-58 Kiowa helicopter had a hard landing due to mechanical difficulty.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
US Will Join Talks With Iran and Syria
By Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Staff Writer
February 28, 2007
In a surprising move for a administration known to opt out of international talks – especially with countries that Bush has labeled “axis of evil” – the US announced yesterday that they would in fact join a roundtable discussion of sorts with Iraq, Syria, Iran and other regional countries. Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State called it an “opportunity to improve the relations with Iraq and to work for peace and stability in the region.” This is the first true realization of the progress of the Iraq Study Group, whose December results went largely ignored by Bush. It noted the importance of these type of meetings to start a face-to-face negotiation of issues. “Better late than never,” said Leon Panetta, who served on the study group. The first meeting will be in April, and is second will likely be held later in Istanbul. I couldn’t agree more with the study group and ther Democrats who have realized that these talks were long overdue. As Sen. Joseph Biden put it, both Iran and Syria are a big part of the problem right now, but they also have an overriding interest in beeoming part of the solution to prevent chaos in Iraq. However, with the Democrats threatening to shut down a $100 billion spending bill for Iraq, this could only be a ploy by the administration to gain positive reaction. The first talks will be at an Ambassador level, however, I really feel that each country should have a solid, yet independent, contingent to join the talks, so as to not stall them out on arrival.
February 28, 2007
In a surprising move for a administration known to opt out of international talks – especially with countries that Bush has labeled “axis of evil” – the US announced yesterday that they would in fact join a roundtable discussion of sorts with Iraq, Syria, Iran and other regional countries. Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State called it an “opportunity to improve the relations with Iraq and to work for peace and stability in the region.” This is the first true realization of the progress of the Iraq Study Group, whose December results went largely ignored by Bush. It noted the importance of these type of meetings to start a face-to-face negotiation of issues. “Better late than never,” said Leon Panetta, who served on the study group. The first meeting will be in April, and is second will likely be held later in Istanbul. I couldn’t agree more with the study group and ther Democrats who have realized that these talks were long overdue. As Sen. Joseph Biden put it, both Iran and Syria are a big part of the problem right now, but they also have an overriding interest in beeoming part of the solution to prevent chaos in Iraq. However, with the Democrats threatening to shut down a $100 billion spending bill for Iraq, this could only be a ploy by the administration to gain positive reaction. The first talks will be at an Ambassador level, however, I really feel that each country should have a solid, yet independent, contingent to join the talks, so as to not stall them out on arrival.
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