AUSTRALIA: Optimistic on conciliation plan, Iraqi foreign minister admits mistakes, finger points to Syria and Iran again

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who is on a visit to Australia, met on Tuesday (May 22) with Australian troops who served in Iraq. Zebari met with the troops at a Sydney Army Barracks, thanking the soldiers for their efforts. Later, Zebari gave a speech at a Sydney institute for foreign policy, updating the audience about the ongoing insurgency in Iraq and possible solutions to the issue. Zebari admitted that both the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq and Iraqis had made mistakes during the early days of the invasion. De-baathification and its consequent economic effects sparked the insurgency, Zebari said. "There were also mistakes made in the early days, by the coalition who helped and supported us, and even by us as Iraqis and that geo-politics of the neighbourhood further complicated the political process" said Zebari. Zebari told the audience that as a network, al-Qaeda is able to recruit fighters from all around the world, saying that they moved their battle ground to Iraq from Afghanistan. He also accused some of Iraq's neighbours of assisting the insurgents. "The access, the sanctuary, they come from neighbouring countries, there has been standard route for many of them specially the foreign fighters and suicide bombers, through Syria. Also there are complaints about Iran supporting certain militia and providing assistance here and there and so on" said the Iraqi foreign minister. But Zebari added that a more government-driven initiative to identify and reach out to groups who want to enter the new order would improve the situation in Iraq. "I believe with this plan of national reconciliation that the government has advocated, we must come to the fact that we have, as a government, to identify those groups who are willing to participate, to negotiate, to find their place in the new system or in the new order, and government needs to take the initiative to reach out to them" said Zebari. He also added that his government's efforts to amend the constitution and ensure a fair distribution of oil revenues throughout the country would help to bring about secure Iraq. President George W. Bush said on Monday (May 21) he believes September will be an "important moment" to assess the extent of progress in Iraq under his much-criticized troop build-up plan.

ITN Source | May 24, 2007

Tags:. .situation. .policy. .led. .progress. .process