Iraq’s foreign minister says “there is a new world now” because of the global financial crisis and he hopes it won’t lead to an immediate withdrawal of the 146,000 US troops in his country.
In an interview, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said a precipitous withdrawal could have consequences for the country and the region that everyone would regret afterward.
Zebari was scheduled to meet yesterday with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in New York, where he was attending the UN General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting.
He said he didn’t have any indications that the US administration was thinking about pushing for a speedier exit from Iraq, where it has spent more than US$550 billion, because of the financial meltdown.
“But this is the logic of the dance,” Zebari said on Friday. “Nobody anticipated this major crisis, and still there are ongoing efforts to overcome it, to contain its impact, bail out some of these companies with a huge infusion of cash. But the crisis is evident everywhere.”
“This has nothing to do with liking this administration or that administration, or this president or that president, something has landed uninvited,” he said. “I think there is a new world now after this crisis, and one has to be realistic about changes in attitudes and policies due to this huge crisis that has affected the world economy.”
US President George W. Bush’s administration is seeking a US$700 billion bailout — the largest in US history — which has raised widespread concern in Congress and fears that the US is on the verge of a major recession.
Asked whether he was concerned that the financial crisis might lead the US government to push for a speedier exit than Iraq might want, as a cost-saving measure, Zebari said: “I don’t know.”
“We hope it would not have a dramatic impact to cause ... drastic and calculated decisions that everybody would regret afterwards,” he said.
By drastic and calculated, was he referring to an immediate withdrawal?
“Exactly, immediate precipitous withdrawal irrespective of any consequences,” Zebari said. “I think there [are] high stakes for everybody involved in the region, that every administration will take account of.”
Iraq’s top diplomat said the government still hoped to sign a long-term security pact with Washington before the US presidential election on Nov. 4.
“We are talking, the Iraqi and American side, and I think the draft agreement is almost done. What needs to be done is some political decisions by the leadership,” Zebari said.
“The window time is closing because we were hoping to get this agreement by the end of July and now we are in September. We haven’t given up hope at all, but really still there is no final agreement,” he said.
The proposed agreement, which has been under negotiation for most of this year, would replace the UN mandate. Any agreement must be ratified by the Iraqi parliament.
The main sticking points include Iraqi objections to blanket immunity for US troops and private contractors and demands for oversight over US forces during raids and detentions.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS