I’m going on the FT account , which is of course a bit risky, but it does seem that we have invited the Iranians to join us and the Iraqis on a ‘security committee’ for the future of Iraq.
Ryan Crocker, US ambassador, said after the talks that he had confronted the Iranian ambassador with US allegations that Iran provides weapons and other support for radical Shia militias in Iraq.
“The fact is, and we made very clear in today’s talks, that over the roughly two months we have actually seen militia-related activities that can be attributed to Iranian support go up and not down,” he said.
He added that “there were several heated exchanges in the course of the day” with the Iranian officials over US allegations of Iranian support for terrorism. Iran denies these allegations.
“We’re not here to prove something in a court of law, we are here to let them know we know what they are doing and it needs to stop,” Mr Crocker said.
The two ambassadors first met on May 28. Mr Crocker also used that opportunity to admonish Iran. However, the discussion of a committee may indicate that the parties have moved beyond the exchange of accusations. The formation of a trilateral security body meets Iran’s basic requirement for success of the talks.
The last sentence says it all. We got nothing–except for those who are addicted to talks, any talks, at whatever cost–while Iran got a success because we have now brought them into some sort of security body for Iraq.
Just what we needed. Just when we are winning the war, arresting Iranians daily, and destroying their Sunni and Shi’ite proxies, the appeasement lobby snatches a new defeat from victory’s jaws. Probably the deep thinkers at the White House are telling each other how this will deflect any criticism from those who accuse them of planning war with Iran. I hope they enjoy it, because Iran is planning a lot more war with us.