TEHRAN (Agencies)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hailed a new chapter in ties with Iraq on Sunday, saying he was "truly happy" to make a landmark trip to Baghdad now that Iran's arch-foe Saddam Hussein had been deposed.
Ahmadinejad is the first Iranian president to go to Iraq since Saddam launched a ruinous eight-year war on Iran in 1980 in which 1 million people died. He is also the first leader from the region to visit since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
He rejected long-standing U.S. accusations, repeated by President George W. Bush on Saturday, that Iran is arming Shiite militias in Iraq who kill American soldiers.
"We tell Mr. Bush that accusing others will increase the problems of America in the region and will not solve them," Ahmadinejad said in translated remarks at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"The Iraqi people do not like America," he added.
Ahmadinejad met Maliki at the prime minister's office in the Green Zone -- the U.S.-protected central Baghdad compound that houses government ministries, parliament and the U.S. embassy -- under the almost constant drone of U.S. military helicopters.
"This is a message to the neighboring countries and a positive message to reinforce their relations with Iraq," Maliki said.
He said Iraq would take steps to ensure that its territory was not used by "terrorists" from Al-Qaeda, or from the Iranian rebel groups Mujahideen-e Khalq and the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK).
Ahmadinejad said at an earlier news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani that his visit would open a new chapter in relations with Iraq and help regional cooperation.
"A visit to Iraq without the dictator is a truly happy one," he said, referring to Saddam, who was executed by the Iraqi government in December 2006.
The Iranian leader's visit comes a day before an expected U.N. Security Council vote on a third round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but the United States says is for nuclear arms.
Pomp and ceremony greeted Ahmadinejad on his arrival, the fanfare a stark contrast to Bush's rushed and secretive visits.
Ahmadinejad held hands with Talabani as they walked down a red carpet and a military band played their countries' national anthems. It was Iraq's first full state welcome for any leader since the U.S.-led invasion. |
