Iraq back in Arab League

BAGHDAD/CAIRO – Iraq’s U.S.-appointed Governing Council took a major step towards international recognition on Tuesday when Arab League foreign ministers allowed its delegate to represent Baghdad at talks in Cairo.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, a Kurd newly appointed by the Governing Council, joined other Arab ministers at a regular meeting at the 22-member League.

The move could set an important precedent in determining whether the council will be allowed to fill Iraq’s seat at future League meetings, and in other bodies such as the United Nations and OPEC.

The decision was welcomed by U.S.-led occupation authorities in Iraq, in need of good news as guerrillas continued to harass American troops.

Guerrillas wounded five U.S. soldiers on Tuesday in two attacks west of the capital in the hostile "Sunni Triangle", the U.S. military said.

Two soldiers were wounded in an attack using an explosive device in Ramadi, a spokeswoman said. Nearly three hours later, three soldiers were wounded when their vehicle was attacked in Falluja, she added.

Locals gathered near the scene in Falluja, chanting anti-American slogans such as "Burn, burn, you infidels," witnesses said.

With the occupation imposing a mounting cost in American lives and money, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has launched a diplomatic drive to bridge differences between Washington and its critics over the future of Iraq.

On Monday, Annan asked foreign ministers of the five permanent Security Council members to meet in Geneva on Saturday to seek a compromise on U.S. calls for international support to help increase security and speed reconstruction in Iraq. They are the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.

Victory for moderates
The consensus agreement in Cairo to allow in Zebari was a victory for more moderate Arab states over hardliners who analysts had predicted would try to deny him access, to avoid legitimizing the occupation of Iraq and the unelected Council.

Speaking to the assembly, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said the Iraqi people needed to receive greater powers and the United Nations had to gain a pivotal role in building Iraq’s political structure.

"This is the meaning which we have confirmed today in our resolution and which we have confirmed in inviting…the representative of the transitional government to sit with us," Maher said.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said it was "an occasion to welcome the Iraqi delegation in the context of moving towards restoring Iraqi sovereignty and ending the occupation."

The U.S.-led administration in Baghdad welcomed the move. "This is confirmation by Arab countries of the important role the Governing Council is playing in the transition going on in Iraq," said spokesman Nabeel Khoury.

But the continuing violence in Iraq is stretching occupying forces thin. Washington is seeking 15,000 more troops from other nations and reconstruction funds to back its own commitment of 130,000 troops and billions of dollars in Iraq.

Britain, the closest U.S. ally in its March invasion of Iraq, said on Monday it was sending an extra 1,200 troops to bring its forces there to over 12,000.

On Tuesday, British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon hinted his troops could be in for a long stay in the bid to "stabilize" Iraq. "We are committed to the long-term support of the Iraqi people," he said in a speech opening an arms fair in London.

In London, Britain’s top soldier said Tuesday that the armed forces were not over stretched, despite this week’s announcement that more troops would be sent to Iraq.

"We are continually reviewing requirements in Iraq," said Gen. Sir Michael Walker, the chief of the defense staff.

Asked if he feared the army was being over stretched, he said: "I don’t think so, not at this stage. We are quite clear what we are doing."

Critics of the United States, including France and Russia, who opposed the war on Iraq, want a greater role for the world body than Washington envisages.

But on Monday France offered Washington a ray of hope by saying a speech by Bush on Sunday, in which he urged the international community to settle its differences over Iraq, offered prospects for an agreement.

Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations said in an interview published Tuesday that Moscow supports a new Security Council resolution on Iraq as a key step toward greater international involvement, but that it must provide a clear timetable for restoring Iraqi sovereignty.

Setting a tone of cooperation with the United States in the interview in the daily Izvestia, Ambassador Sergey Lavrov warned against attempts to stymie passage of a resolution that would strengthen the U.N. role in Iraq, saying that the continuing violence there threatens to undermine both regional and global stability.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, Annan told a news conference he would be willing to consider a U.N. "political facilitating process" to help devise a constitution and plan elections in Iraq.

In other developments
Romania is considering increasing the number of its peacekeepers in Iraq following a request by the U.S.-led occupation force there, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. A ministry spokesman said President Ion Iliescu had asked Parliament to approve 56 more peacekeepers for Iraq, in addition to the 687 already there. "There will be 30 officers, 20 medics and six civil service specialists who would help Iraq’s public administration," the spokesman said.
Denmark said on Tuesday it would send an extra 90 soldiers to Iraq by the end of October, in addition to the 410 Danish troops already in place outside Basra in southern Iraq. "There is broad political support for sending approximately 90 more troops," Uffe Kristensen, press secretary at the Defense Ministry told Reuters. Denmark would extend its military presence in Iraq by half a year until mid-2004, he said.