With stability slowly returning to Iraq after near civil war, a more confident Baghdad on Tuesday proposed forming an EU-style trading and security bloc with its neighbors.
Unveiling the plan at a conference in Washington, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq was now ready to play a more assertive regional role.
“It is a time now for Iraq as well as its partners to think of a new era on the role of Iraq in the region after five hard years,” Dabbagh said in an address to the US Institute of Peace, greeted skeptically by the audience.
Its publication signaled that Iraq wants to put itself on a more equal footing with its neighbors, who until recently viewed it as almost a failed state.
Dabbagh said the Iraq neighbors’ group that was set up to help stabilize the country after the US-led invasion in 2003 was no longer useful. Neighboring states had shown “dwindling interest” in the project, which focused on improving security cooperation to help reduce violence in Iraq.
He proposed creating a “Regional Economic Partnership” with Iraq at the heart of a trading, security and energy bloc that would include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and later perhaps Gulf states.
Dabbagh said informal discussions had been held with Kuwait, Syria and Turkey but did not report their reactions.
“The new Iraq could convert the region into the EU model. Iraq is going to play a major stabilizing factor,” he said.
He said barriers to trade and the free movement of goods and people would be lifted; water resources and electricity shared; security integrated; and agreements on shared oil fields and joint infrastructure projects reached.
Audience members repeatedly asked whether the initiative was realistic given that Iraq is still viewed by many as a source of regional instability.
Meanwhile, the British government is preparing to withdraw its troops from Iraq by next June, newspapers reported yesterday.
Citing a senior defense source, the Guardian said the pullout would start in March and that the last troops would leave Basra by June. Other newspapers also reported defense sources as giving a June date.
About 300 to 400 troops could remain to help train Iraqi forces, while equipment such as helicopters would be transferred to Afghanistan.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ruled out a timetable for a withdrawal but has indicated he wanted to reduce the number of troops in Iraq. Ministers have spoken of a “fundamental change of mission” next year and this was reiterated by a Ministry of Defense spokeswoman yesterday.
“Significant progress has been made in Basra ... As such, we are now expecting to see a fundamental change of mission in early 2009,” she said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of