Editor's Desk

Syria-Iraq meeting and Obama’s confession

Editor

Jumada' al-Akhirah 12, 14362015-04-01

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Amid all the doom and gloom, Iraq and Syria have taken steps to mend fences. This comes at about the same time as Barack Obama’s admission that the takfiris arose because of George Bush’s foolish decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

Two issues seem to have dominated the news recently: Saudi attack on Yemen and Iran’s talks with the P5+1 group of countries. Both are important issues and deserve close attention because they will have global repercussions.

Other, equally significant developments can easily fall through the cracks if one is not paying attention. One is the meeting in Damascus between the foreign ministers of Iraq and Syria on March 24. The other is the March 18 admission by US President Barack Obama that the rise of takfiri terrorists in Iraq is the direct result of the US invasion of 2003. He described it as an example of “unintended consequences.”

Let us examine both. For the first time in four years, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Ja‘fari met his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallam to discuss ways to tackle the issue of takfiri terrorism afflicting both countries. The meeting was significant because relations between the two countries have not always been cordial.

Obama’s admission is equally significant and is on par with Hillary Clinton’s 2009 admission that the US had supported extremist groups in Afgha-nistan — al Qaeda et al — for decades. Were Obama a little more honest, he should also have said the US and its allies including the Zionist, Saudi, Jordanian, Turkish, Qatari and Kuwaiti regimes are still supporting the takfiri terrorists. Senator John McCain met Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the “khalifah,” in May 2013 when he illegally sneaked into Syria from Turkey.

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