Former enemies look to future with military pact

By James Hider

IRAQ’S US-backed government has agreed to a military and anti-terrorism pact with its neighbour Iran. The deal is likely to ring alarm bells in Washington, which regards Iran with extreme hostility and as a backer of terrorism.

Sadoun al-Dulaimi, Iraq’s new Defence Minister, also promised during a visit to Tehran that his country would never be used as a springboard to attack its neighbour, with which Iraq — under the rule of Saddam Hussein — fought a bloody war in the 1980s that left an estimated million people dead.

“Iraq will not be a source of insecurity and instability for any of its neighbours. Nobody can use its soil to attack Iraq’s neighbours,” Mr al-Dulaimi insisted, reassuring Iran, which worries that US forces to its east in Afghanistan and its west in Iraq could one day invade. Washington has refused to rule out the option.

Iran is also worried that US forces could resort to military action if it refuses to scrap its nuclear programme. Mr al-Dulaimi, a Sunni member of Iraq’s Shia-dominated government, which enjoys close historical ties to Shia-led Iran, said that the two countries would co-operate in military and anti-terrorist operations. Washington wants to see Iran isolated diplomatically and militarily.

Mr al-Dulaimi said that the pact would include military training of Iraqi forces, a deal also likely to raise concerns among Iraq’s Sunnis, who are increasingly suspicious of Iranian Shia involvement in the country.

Mr al-Dulaimi bridled when asked whether closer security ties with Iran could anger the United States, which provides much of the training and equipment for his troops. “Nobody can dictate to Iraq its relations with other countries,” he said, in a response echoed by his Iranian counterpart.

But the Iraqi minister emphasised that the time had come for the two countries to forget the animosities of the past. “We have come here to turn a painful page and to open another,” he said. “I have come to Iran to ask forgiveness for what Saddam Hussein has done.”

His tone was in marked contrast to that of many senior US officials and members of Iraq’s previous interim government, who frequently accused Iranian agents of helping to foment unrest in Iraq. Mr al-Dulaimi’s predecessor, Hazem al-Shaalan, who was heavily supported by the US, even threatened Tehran with attack if it did not desist from fomenting violence.

Those charges have been dropped since the January elections, which swept a Shia-dominated government to power, many of whose most prominent figures spent years of exile in Iran.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1685402,00.html