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Iraq calls for "new page" in relations with Tehran
MSNBC.com ^ | July 7, 2005 | AP

Posted on 07/08/2005 8:49:17 AM PDT by SteamshipTime

Bold plans for greater military cooperation discussed between old foes

TEHRAN, Iran - Iraq’s defense minister said Thursday that ousted leader Saddam Hussein was the aggressor in the 1980-88 war against Iran, as the two former enemies announced plans for closer cooperation between their militaries.

Iraqi Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi’s visit to Iran marked a new effort to build ties between Iraq and mainly Shiite Muslim Iran after a Shiite-dominated government came to power in Baghdad this year.

“We’ve come here to open a new page in our relations against the painful page of the past,” al-Duleimi told reporters at a press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Shamkhani.

Shamkhani said Iran and Iraq would form joint committees to work out cooperation on cleaning minefields and “modernizing Iraq’s army.”

“No one can prevent this cooperation,” Shamkhani insisted, without elaborating on the extent of the cooperation.

The United States — Iran’s No. 1 enemy — is helping build Iraq’s military and security forces and would likely oppose any Iranian intervention.

But the warm talk reflected the sympathies toward Tehran from the new Baghdad government, where several parties long tied to Iran hold sway.

(continued at source)

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iran; iraq; waronterror

Well, there goes the Iranian campaign.

1 posted on 07/08/2005 8:49:18 AM PDT by SteamshipTime
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To: SteamshipTime

in short, this will cause the Iranians and the Iraqis to pay closer attention to their shared border and might decrease any militant travels through there...

just watch, there will be a similar agreement with Syria and Jordan as well...


2 posted on 07/08/2005 8:50:19 AM PDT by MikefromOhio
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To: MikeinIraq

Dang. Guess we're not invading Syria either.


3 posted on 07/08/2005 8:51:31 AM PDT by SteamshipTime
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To: MikeinIraq
Hope you're right.

I'd hate to see Iran trying to collect on an ill-advised mutual-defense pact with Iraq in a few years, should we decide to invade them...

4 posted on 07/08/2005 8:52:44 AM PDT by Egon (By the way, I took the liberty of fertilizing your caviar.)
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To: SteamshipTime

I wouldnt take one agreement for the other....

but if we dont need to, we won't. Besides I think Assad in Syria and his regime are about to collapse within the next 4-5 years....


5 posted on 07/08/2005 8:52:44 AM PDT by MikefromOhio
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To: SteamshipTime

Ironically, America and Iran are occaisonal if awkward allies in this, at least in the short term, as both have a vested interest in eliminating Sunni fanaticism and consolidating democratic (i.e. Shiite) control -- the Zarqawis are anything but friends of Tehran. Of course the Iranians want the Shiites to look to Tehran, not Washington, but that's a relatively minor dispute compared to the current battle against the decapitating foreign terrorists.


6 posted on 07/08/2005 8:59:33 AM PDT by Alter Kaker (Whatever tears one may shed, in the end one always blows one’s nose.-Heine)
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To: SteamshipTime

As soon as the new Iranian Terrorist President is dead, they should begin their talks.


7 posted on 07/08/2005 9:00:29 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: A CA Guy

Looks like Iraq prefers not to wait.


8 posted on 07/08/2005 9:04:55 AM PDT by SteamshipTime
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To: SteamshipTime

There needs to be something done with the Iranian Hostage President. Plus he was know to back assasinations in Europe and Asia, so he has to be on our caca list I would think.


9 posted on 07/08/2005 9:10:08 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: SteamshipTime; Jeff Head

Beginnings of the Greater Islamic Republic?


10 posted on 07/08/2005 9:30:49 AM PDT by the gillman@blacklagoon.com (Google search North American Community.)
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