U.S., Iran and Syria Resolve Problems at Iraq's Expense …

Official reaction regarding the regional conference held recently in Baghdad has been broadly positive, but that isn’t the whole story. The rest of the story is difficult to tell, and the protagonists at the conference are reluctant and unwilling to admit to it. This concerns the alleged interference of neighboring countries in the spiraling violence now tearing our country apart.

The United States, for purely selfish strategic reasons, has singles out only two of Iraq’s neighbors: Syria and Iran. It’s no secret that Washington is at odds with both.

Washington wants to ratchet up the pressure on the two countries – not because it cares about Iraq or its hard-pressed people – but because the two countries are a threat to its ally Israel, and support Israel’s chief nemesis, the Hezbollah party of Lebanon.

Many people in Iraq would say that other neighboring states [Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait] have a major stake in what’s happening in Iraq, and that meddling by these other nations is at least as egregious as that of Syria and Iran. But as long as these nations are U.S. allies, Washington will never allow this to come up.

Now let’s examine the Iraqi scene itself. The conference brought together all of Iraq’s neighboring states as well as the representatives from the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

The United States sees the Iraqi situation in terms of its own political agenda. When it comes to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan, American politicians and media use only flowery words. But they relentlessly lambaste Syria and Iran.

Iraq’s political factions as well, whether they be part of the government or those fighting U.S. invasion troops and their pro-government allies, look toward neighboring countries from their own political perspective.

When discussing the interference of neighboring states in Iraqi affairs, the Shiite political factions currently in control of the government point only to Syria and Saudi Arabia as the culprits.

But Sunni factions – whether in the government or those taking up arms against it – point only to Iran, accusing it of fueling the violence.

Just like the United States, the political rhetoric of these factions reflect their attitudes.

Iraqi Sunni factions use only complimentary words when discussing Syria. Similarly, the Shiite factions use only the most noble phrases when talking about Iran.

So Iraqis themselves have two conflicting agendas and opposing forms of political rhetoric. So the Iraqis themselves took part in the conference at odds with one another.

In the cases of the United States, Iran and Syria, such was not the case. The U.S. has its own strategic agenda, the roots of which are to undermine the governments in Damascus and Tehran.

Iran and Syria are allies and they share the same view of Iraq and the United States, and so at the conference they maintained a united front. Neither are ready to help the U.S. out of its Iraqi quagmire unless they are paid a handsome price.

Both countries coordinate their approach toward the Iraq crisis with the aim of reaping the best possible benefit. They are not so naive as to help the United States succeed in Iraq, which at the same time the leaders in Washington seek openly to isolate, weaken and probably bomb them.

So Washington didn’t come to the conference to help the Iraqi people. Its ultimate aim is to solve its own problems. As were the Syrians and Iranians. They want to solve their problems with the United States by way of Iraq.

And the losers, as usual, are the hapless Iraqis, who took part in the conference with divided views about who is friend and who is foe.