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Iraq summit settles for minimal results
Unity splinters over election date, U.S. withdrawal deadline
Megan K. Stack, Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt -- An international conference meant to throw united support behind Iraq was marred by conflict Tuesday as some delegates complained that the gathering did not call for postponing Iraqi elections or setting a timetable for U.S.-led forces to pull out of the country.
The meeting -- which included representatives of the Group of Eight leading industrial countries, the United Nations, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conferences, Iraq's six immediate neighbors and others -- was called to shore up the perilous nation-building effort at a time Iraq is roiled by violence.
And in the end, the unanimous final communique Tuesday stuck to the most universally acceptable points among delegates. It urged Iraq's diverse political and religious groups to take part in the January elections, called for an end to the swelling violence and pledged to support the emerging government.
The two-day meeting unfolded before an uncomfortable backdrop: Tensions remained strong between Iran and the United States, anger was intense over the recent U.S.-led assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah, and many Arabs dismiss the interim Iraqi government as a puppet of the United States.
"We understand the sacred place in the life of Islam that mosques occupy, " Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday. But he added that "our commanders are extremely sensitive to anything that would violate that concept" and that the insurgents had turned many Iraqi mosques into arms depots and sanctuaries for terrorists.
Defending the U.S. military presence in his country, Iraqi interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told delegates Tuesday that the troops must stay until Iraqi security forces are strong enough to keep the peace. It was a bold stance in a part of the world where conventional wisdom paints the American-led forces not as peacekeepers but as the primary source of Iraq's instability.
"We must guarantee that all sectors of the Iraqi electorate have an equal chance to cast their vote free from intimidation, terror and fear," Zebari said.
Delegates had been arguing in the weeks leading up to the meeting over whether to declare a deadline for troops to pull out of Iraq. In the end -- to the thinly disguised disappointment of Iran, France and Syria -- they decided against imposing a time line.
Instead, the delegates had to be content with a reminder to U.S.-led forces that their mandate "is not open-ended."
"We, and others, would have liked more precise language" on the withdrawal of troops, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said. However, he added, "this was a necessary step to the moment of truth: the January elections."
Speaking with reporters in the lobby of a beachfront hotel Tuesday, Iran's foreign minister was more blunt. "Foreign troops have to be out of Iraq as soon as possible," Kamal Kharrazi said. As long as the Americans stay, he said, "there will be enough excuse and pretext for those resisting."
The gathering was tinged with apprehension about the approaching election, which the Iraqi interim government and the Americans say will take place Jan. 30 despite ongoing bloodshed and threats of boycott.
Some of Iraq's Sunni Muslims, members of a minority who wielded great power in the times of Saddam Hussein and felt disenfranchised by the U.S.-led invasion, have said they will boycott the polls. Some observers fear that a partial election could do more harm than good, feeding the insurgency and creating hard feelings among Sunnis throughout the region.
There is widespread concern among Iraq's neighbors about whether the elections should go forward, and some of the delegates lobbied here for a postponement. Officials in neighboring countries with Sunni majorities -- Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt -- argued in private diplomatic conversations that elections would be unfair if they excluded Iraqis who are Sunni.
But others argued that a delay in the election also could be dangerous if it persuaded Iraqis that the United States was not sincere about restoring their nation to independence.
"If the election is not held, you have a feeling of deprivation," said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who represented the Organization of Islamic Conferences. "If it is held, you have a feeling of injustice."
The meetings were shadowed by anger over recent bloodshed in Fallujah, where according to U.S. officials more than 1,000 Iraqi insurgents were killed in the past few weeks. A much-aired videotape of Marines entering a mosque and shooting to death a wounded Iraqi also had deeply angered the Arab world.
Some delegates pressed here for reconciliation between the Iraqi government and any militants willing to renounce violence. Bahrain offered to host a conference for all Iraqi factions, but Zebari sounded leery at the prospect.
"We believe the best place for national reconciliation to take place is in Baghdad," he said Tuesday.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
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