Syria is refusing to stop insurgents and foreign fighters from entering Iraq because it is frightened of Iraq's effort to build a democratic nation in the heart of the Middle East and wants to see it fail, Iraq's foreign minister says.
Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview Thursday that Syria isn't alone in trying to thwart Iraq's efforts to establish a democracy but because of its proximity, its refusal to cooperate is having a more devastating impact in lost lives from terrorist attacks.
"It is important that the world should know, really, that Syria is not helping. It's not cooperating, despite the many, many pledges, promises -- none of that has happened," he said.
PHOTO: AFP
With the Iraqi government expecting insurgents to step up efforts to create tensions and disrupt next month's referendum on a new constitution, Zebari in his speech to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday urged Iraq's neighbors, especially Syria, "to root out elements of terror" by tightening border controls.
Syria's UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad insisted Wednesday that his country has been cooperating with Iraq by deploying 10,000 troops on the border, spending millions of dollars to establish barriers to prevent extremists from crossing, and arresting hundreds of potential infiltrators and sending them home.
He complained that requests to the US for sophisticated equipment, including night vision binoculars to spot insurgents crossing the border, have been rejected, and he accused Iraq of not doing enough to stop those who make it into the country.
But Zebari said Thursday that the problem rests squarely with Syria.
"The question is not a technical issue ... of border control equipment, technology. It's a question of political will," he said. "We think if you want you can help, and so that's what we are saying. We're not calling for another invasion against Syria by American or international forces."
Asked why he thought Syria lacked the political will, Zebari replied, "I think it's based on wrong assumptions -- to make life difficult in Iraq, to see this plan of democracy-building fail in Iraq."
"They and others are frightened really of this experiment to succeed. This is the bottom line. They don't want these values, these ideas to take root in a country like Iraq. This may affect them," he said.
"I think this project of democracy building in Iraq has alarmed many authoritarian autocratic regimes in the region," Zebari said. "Many of them are counting on our failure, and they have not been helpful."
The foreign minister said the Iraqi government's response to the Syrians and other opponents is to argue that supporting Baghdad is in their interest.
"Our response to them is that a democratic Iraq will not contradict your national interest, your country. We'll do business with you," Zebari said.
He said many Iraqis are standing up and defending Iraq's new democratic goals, many embedded in the new constitution including pluralism, democratic freedoms, a bill of rights, separation of powers, transparency and federalism.
"These are new ideas," Zebari said. "That's why they are not comfortable."
In contrast to the Syrians, he said, neighboring Iran has a very different agenda and is "behaving in a more shrewd way."
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in