U.S. Ambassador Describes Talks With Iranians As Positive
 By Dergham Mohammed Ali
Baghdad, 29 May 2007 (Voices of Iraq)U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker described as positive the outcome of the U.S.-Iranian talks that were held on Monday in Baghdad.
At a press conference, Crocker said the U.S. and Iranian stances towards Iraq are similar to a great extend.
“But the U.S. wants to see some Iranian acts complying with what was declared today,” he said
About the Iranians’ consideration of the Multi-National forces in Iraq as occupation troops, the U.S. diplomat said these forces are present in Iraq upon the request of the Iraqi government, adding that the U.S. side spent millions of dollars to rehabilitate the Iraqi security forces.
Regarding the Iraqi role in the talks, Croker said that Iraq had no role, but was the host and the leading country for the negotiations.
Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki voiced optimism regarding that talks saying that they could lead to positive results on the general situation on Iraq.
Al-Maliki did not attend the meeting, but the prime minister greeted the two ambassadors, who shook hands, and led them into a conference room, where the ambassadors sat across from each other.
Before leaving the room, al-Maliki told both sides that “Iraqis wanted a stable country free of foreign forces and regional interference.”
“The country should not be turned into a base for (terrorist groups),” he also said.
Al-Maliki noted that “the U.S.-led forces in Iraq were only here to help build up the army and police and the country would not be used as a launching ground for a U.S. attack on a neighbor,” in a clear reference to Iran.
“The presence of the Multi-National forces in Iraq is dependent on the capability of the Iraqi forces and their readiness to undertake the security file in the country,” the Iraqi prime minister affirmed.
A source close to the Iraqi government had said earlier that U.S.-Iranian talks on Iraq started on Monday morning in Baghdad.
“U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker led his country’s delegation while the Iranian side was led by ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi,” the source, who declined to be identified, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).
He said a high-level delegation from the Iraqi government and diplomats from Iraq’s foreign ministry will attend the talks.
The source declined to name the place where the meeting will be held, noting that it will be held inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified green zone.
The Baghdad talks were the first of their kind after more than a quarter-century of diplomatic estrangement that began with the 1979 Islamic revolution. IraqUpdates