In Rare Turn, U.S. and Iran Schedule High-Level Security Talks in Baghdad
By DAVID S. CLOUD
May 18, 2007
BAGHDAD, May 17 — The United States and Iran on Thursday announced plans to hold rare face-to-face talks this month about Iraqi security, and the police in Mosul made mass arrests after a wave of bombings.
Formal announcement of the talks was made by a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, in Washington and by Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, during his visit to Islamabad, Pakistan. The talks are scheduled to be held in Baghdad on May 27.
In Baghdad, Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker told reporters at an embassy briefing that Iraq would be the sole subject of the talks. He reiterated American assertions that Iran was backing sectarian militias and smuggling in components for bombs that have killed American troops.
“They have an extensive relationship with Iraq, but pretty clearly from our perspective not all aspects of it are helpful and some of it is positively dangerous,” said Mr. Crocker, who added that he would be the highest-ranking American official at the meeting.
The United States and Iran have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1980, and the Bush administration has insisted that Tehran must abandon its plans to enrich uranium before direct, high-level negotiations can take place. But the administration has recently been easing its opposition to diplomatic contact, particularly over Iraq.
Mr. Mottaki also said the discussion would be confined to Iraq, according to The Associated Press, and he reiterated Tehran’s objection to the presence of foreign troops in Iraq. “We do believe that a correct approach to Iraq should look to both points, or both areas of the difficulty,” he said. “Terrorists say that ‘We are doing this because of the foreign forces,’ and the foreign forces saying that ‘We are here because of the terrorist groups,’ ” he said.
In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the police arrested about 300 people in response to large attacks carried out there on Wednesday by Sunni Arab insurgents, according to Brig. Saeed al-Juburi, a spokesman for the Mosul police.
Four police officers died in the fighting on Wednesday, and 14 were wounded, as were 16 civilians.
Maj. Gen. Watheq al-Hamdani, the top police commander in Mosul, blamed the Sunni insurgents for collaborating with Syrians and other foreign fighters, who he said had participated in the attacks, Mr. Juburi said.
In Nasiriya , where police officers clashed with militiamen loyal to the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr on Wednesday, a delegation from Mr. Sadr’s organization opened talks with local officials on halting the violence, according to Sheik Abu Ibrahim, the imam of a local mosque. The fighting there on Wednesday left 14 dead and 70 wounded, according to a hospital official.
Three American soldiers were killed and another was wounded by a roadside bomb attack on Thursday, according to a military statement that gave no other details.
In the largely Shiite city of Diwaniya, at least three civilians were killed, including a woman and a child, and four others were wounded in clashes between militiamen and security forces, according to an Interior Ministry official and employee at the city morgue.
Also in Diwaniya, a government employee was killed by unidentified gunmen, the Interior Ministry official said.
In Hilla, a bomb that exploded near the house of a policeman killed two women and wounded three children, the authorities said.
In Iskandariya, a roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded three others, The Associated Press reported.
In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol, killing two policemen and wounding another, according to an Interior Ministry official. Mortar attacks across the city killed two residents and wounded 11 others. Three civilians were wounded in clashes between the Iraqi Army and gunmen. The police reported finding 30 bodies around the city.
In his remarks to reporters, Mr. Crocker said Thursday that Iraqi officials were showing “a sense of urgency” about addressing Washington’s demands for progress on political measures.
“We’re seeing some high-level effort to thrash out issues around the table,” he said, and “a seriousness of purpose” in drafting legislation on the distribution of oil revenue and on easing restrictions that keep former Baath Party members from holding government jobs.
But he warned against expecting significant gains by September, when the Bush administration has said it plans to evaluate the strategy of sending additional American troops to give Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki time to undertake reconciliation measures.
He said that continuing violence by insurgents would not necessarily be a sign that the new tactics should be abandoned.
“If this were September I think it would be a terrible mistake to conclude that, because they’ve been able to mount these attacks, that therefore it isn’t working, it isn’t going to work and we just all need to pull stakes,” Ambassador Crocker said.
Khalid al-Ansary and Qais Mizher contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Diwaniya, Hilla and Mosul.
May 18, 2007
BAGHDAD, May 17 — The United States and Iran on Thursday announced plans to hold rare face-to-face talks this month about Iraqi security, and the police in Mosul made mass arrests after a wave of bombings.
Formal announcement of the talks was made by a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, in Washington and by Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, during his visit to Islamabad, Pakistan. The talks are scheduled to be held in Baghdad on May 27.
In Baghdad, Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker told reporters at an embassy briefing that Iraq would be the sole subject of the talks. He reiterated American assertions that Iran was backing sectarian militias and smuggling in components for bombs that have killed American troops.
“They have an extensive relationship with Iraq, but pretty clearly from our perspective not all aspects of it are helpful and some of it is positively dangerous,” said Mr. Crocker, who added that he would be the highest-ranking American official at the meeting.
The United States and Iran have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1980, and the Bush administration has insisted that Tehran must abandon its plans to enrich uranium before direct, high-level negotiations can take place. But the administration has recently been easing its opposition to diplomatic contact, particularly over Iraq.
Mr. Mottaki also said the discussion would be confined to Iraq, according to The Associated Press, and he reiterated Tehran’s objection to the presence of foreign troops in Iraq. “We do believe that a correct approach to Iraq should look to both points, or both areas of the difficulty,” he said. “Terrorists say that ‘We are doing this because of the foreign forces,’ and the foreign forces saying that ‘We are here because of the terrorist groups,’ ” he said.
In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the police arrested about 300 people in response to large attacks carried out there on Wednesday by Sunni Arab insurgents, according to Brig. Saeed al-Juburi, a spokesman for the Mosul police.
Four police officers died in the fighting on Wednesday, and 14 were wounded, as were 16 civilians.
Maj. Gen. Watheq al-Hamdani, the top police commander in Mosul, blamed the Sunni insurgents for collaborating with Syrians and other foreign fighters, who he said had participated in the attacks, Mr. Juburi said.
In Nasiriya , where police officers clashed with militiamen loyal to the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr on Wednesday, a delegation from Mr. Sadr’s organization opened talks with local officials on halting the violence, according to Sheik Abu Ibrahim, the imam of a local mosque. The fighting there on Wednesday left 14 dead and 70 wounded, according to a hospital official.
Three American soldiers were killed and another was wounded by a roadside bomb attack on Thursday, according to a military statement that gave no other details.
In the largely Shiite city of Diwaniya, at least three civilians were killed, including a woman and a child, and four others were wounded in clashes between militiamen and security forces, according to an Interior Ministry official and employee at the city morgue.
Also in Diwaniya, a government employee was killed by unidentified gunmen, the Interior Ministry official said.
In Hilla, a bomb that exploded near the house of a policeman killed two women and wounded three children, the authorities said.
In Iskandariya, a roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded three others, The Associated Press reported.
In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol, killing two policemen and wounding another, according to an Interior Ministry official. Mortar attacks across the city killed two residents and wounded 11 others. Three civilians were wounded in clashes between the Iraqi Army and gunmen. The police reported finding 30 bodies around the city.
In his remarks to reporters, Mr. Crocker said Thursday that Iraqi officials were showing “a sense of urgency” about addressing Washington’s demands for progress on political measures.
“We’re seeing some high-level effort to thrash out issues around the table,” he said, and “a seriousness of purpose” in drafting legislation on the distribution of oil revenue and on easing restrictions that keep former Baath Party members from holding government jobs.
But he warned against expecting significant gains by September, when the Bush administration has said it plans to evaluate the strategy of sending additional American troops to give Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki time to undertake reconciliation measures.
He said that continuing violence by insurgents would not necessarily be a sign that the new tactics should be abandoned.
“If this were September I think it would be a terrible mistake to conclude that, because they’ve been able to mount these attacks, that therefore it isn’t working, it isn’t going to work and we just all need to pull stakes,” Ambassador Crocker said.
Khalid al-Ansary and Qais Mizher contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Diwaniya, Hilla and Mosul.
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