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Baghdad: "The whole world may come to Baghdad but the Arabs won't" - a phrase repeated in Baghdad by simple Iraqis and others which underlines the fact that Iran was among the first to open its embassy in Iraq's capital and will be the last to close it.
"This is the most appropriate time for Arab states to enter Baghdad, not only because of the relative security improvement but because Arabs were reluctant to acknowledge a Shiite coalition government until Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki took a courageous step in tackling Shiite militias," Qusay Al Ajeeli, a member of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, told Gulf News.
"This step built trust between the two parties. I believe that these militias would have been a great threat to the Arab diplomats' security if they were located in the Iraqi capital."
Reconciliation
Some Iraqi analysts believe the Arabic diplomatic presence in Baghdad should not be accompanied by curbing Iran's and the militias' influence because that would create an Arab- Iranian conflict fuelled by Americans.
Muhi Al Darraji, a prominent leader in the Dawa party, told Gulf News: "There is no doubt Arab - Iranian talks on Iraq would start because it is more important than the Iranian-American dialogue because the Arabs are capable of convincing Sunni parties, including the armed parties and Iran is able to influence the Shiite parties. This means any Arab-Iranian understanding will support Iraq's reconciliation process unlike previous Iranian-American talks. Besides it may give guarantees and assurances to all Iraq's factions on the departure of US forces and schedule their withdrawal".
Many American and Iraqi officials in the government aver that the growing Iranian influence in Iraq is because of the absence of Arab influence.
Mohammad Al Azzawi, an Iraqi political researcher, told Gulf News: "There is no doubt Iran benefitted from the Arabic diplomatic absence. Yet a very important fact must be noted that Shiite political parties in power preferred this absence in previous years and were hindering the entry of Arab diplomats to Baghdad due to the negative positions of most Arab countries on issues like the Shiites' suffering and Saddam Hussain's internal policies," he said.
Al Azzawi and some other analysts believe "addressing the militias [issue] has brought the prime minister closer to the Sunni Accord Front, Kurds, Fadhila party, Eyad Allawi, the Americans, the Arab states and Europe. This is a solid reason to persuade Al Maliki and Abdul Aziz Al Hakim to change their attitudes in favour of promoting diplomatic rapprochement with Arabs," Al Azzawi added.
Iraqi journalists say the armed confrontation between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army proved that Iran's first interest is its conflict with Americans and would not think of Iraq's stability and interest.
Ashraf Rasool, a political analyst, said to Gulf News: "All possibilities remain open. There is a bloc inside the Iraqi government which seeks Iraqi-Arab relations alongside Iraqi- Iranian relations and has strongly opposed any rapprochement with Arabs in Iran's favour."
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