Iraq Announces Syria Security Talks End in Failure

Govt Spokesman Vows No Future Talks Unless Syria Accepts Charges

by | Sep 16, 2009

Today’s talks in Turkey between the Iraqi and Syrian government have ended in failure, and Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh says that they consider the meeting to be “the final one.”

Iraq and Syria withdrew their respective ambassadors in late August, following Iraqi government demands that Syria hand over Ba’athist exiles who fled to the country following the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

The Iraqi government later broadcast a pair of confessions from people allegedly involved in the massive Baghdad bombings, the later of which was an al-Qaeda operative who claimed Syria’s government was running an al-Qaeda training camp.

Later Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused the Syrian government of direct involvement in the bombings, and claims he has considerable evidence to back this up. Dabbagh says Iraq won’t consider any future meetings with Syria unless they accept the evidence.

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.

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