 The Iraqi government has promised Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that it will stop its public criticism of Syria's border control efforts, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in an interview published on Monday. Talabani said Iraqi officials had been wrong to attack Syria. "I did not agree to that or to this open conversation. In fact I was in favour of a closed conversation with Damascus and I never uttered a single word against Syria," he said.
| In other words, if you back 'em against the wall in public they get all belligerent and do stoopid things. Better to beat them up in private. I guess so. See if it works. I doubt if it will, though. |
"The Egyptian President asked for an end to the campaigns against Syria and we promised him that, so I will not speak about accusations or documents (against Syria)," he added. Iraqi officials have openly accused Syria of not doing enough to stop militants crossing the border into Iraq to join the insurgency against U.S. and Iraqi government forces. Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, said last week that nearly all the suicide bombers who had carried out attacks in Iraq were Arabs who crossed from Syria. "We want a political decision by the Syrian security agencies to stop the penetration of suicide bombers from Syria to Iraq ... it is very important that this decision is taken on the highest political level in Syria," he added. |