8 stati arabi hanno dato carta bianca agli USA per la nuova strategia militare in Iraq:

Arab nations gave the U.S. carte blanche in Iraq
14:20|18/ 01/ 2007



MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Marianna Belenkaya) - While the
American elite is discussing in Washington whether to support or not
President Bush's strategy in Iraq, the Arab leaders have already accepted
it.
Attending a foreign minister conference of the Gulf nations, Jordan and
Egypt on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heard voices of
approval.
The Saudi representatives expressed a common position - the U.S.
president's new strategy deserves support if it guarantees Iraq's unity
and equality of all sections of society.
The leaders of the eight Arab countries are by no means naive. They
understand that the situation in Iraq is very complicated and that it will
remain a scene of violence for a long time to come. But they also realize
that the new U.S. strategy is the best offer for the moment. At any rate
in includes many measures which they have insisted on for years.
It is enough to mention the proposals to change the constitution to expand
participation of all ethnic and religious groups in the Iraqi political
process, or a course towards broader powers of the Iraqis and
non-interference in their domestic policy, or acknowledgement of the
country's unity.
Importantly, in order to restore security, the new strategy stipulates
efforts against all sources of violence regardless of their ethnic or
religious origins. This is an obvious hint at Shiites and Iran. Up to now,
the Iraqi and American security forces mostly fought the Sunni armed
formations, shutting their eyes to the operations of Shiite groups, which
are also responsible for the chaos in the country. Given their attitude to
Iran, the Arab leaders were glad to learn that Washington had decided not
to involve Iran in the drive for stability in Iraq, although this was not
on the record at the conference in Kuwait.
The Arab nations approved the U.S. strategy for one more reason - its
endorsement does not commit them to anything. Before the foreign minister
conference, Rice went to Riyadh to discuss how the Saudis could support
Iraq's stabilization and unification. The response of the Saudi
authorities was not made public, although they had declared more than once
before that the Iraqis themselves are primarily responsible for their
destiny.
Saudi Prince Sultan Ben Abdel Aziz said in an interview with Ash Sharq
al-Awsat several days before President Bush announced his new strategy
that his Kingdom was concerned about foreign interference in Iraq's
affairs, that the Saudi leaders considered it impermissible to intervene
in Iraq and reserved for the Iraqis the right to find a way out of the
crisis themselves. He observed that his country played host to meetings
between different Iraqi political groups so that they could find a
compromise. The Saudis also held talks with Iraqi politicians in order to
encourage dialogue.
The gist of these statements is that the Saudi leaders and their
counterparts from the other seven countries which took part in the
conference with Rice, are ready to give political support to the Iraqis
and act as go-betweens for different Iraqi groups, if they are asked to do
so. However, for the time being they are not going to help Iraq either
financially or militarily and are not prepared to assume responsibility
for what is happening there. They emphasized that this was the problem of
the Iraqis. It was implied that this is also Washington's headache. They
will be glad if the Americans and Iraqis find a way out of the crisis, but
will do nothing if they fail.
However, even such support means much for the U.S. It is also important
that eight Arab countries abstain, at least verbally, from intervening in
Iraq and from openly siding with one of the local political groups. In
fact, they talk about the need for consolidation in Iraq, and this is
significant.
But the U.S. should not delude itself. It has received carte blanche from
eight Arab countries to its new strategy in Iraq but on condition that it
will not aggravate the situation in the region. Kuwaiti Foreign Minister
Mohammed Al-Sabah said recently, "We are American allies, not servants."
Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi repeated the same idea when
asked what Kuwait would do if the U.S. insisted on attacking Iran.
These words should not be limited to the possibility of Washington's
military action against Tehran. They can apply to any U.S. political
initiative affecting the Greater Middle East. The eight Arab nations will
support Washington as long as this meets their interests, but this support
is not boundless.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070118/59295805.html