Bloomberg
March 27 2007
Gates Says U.S. Open to More Talks With Iran on Iraqi Stability
By Edward DeMarco
March 27 (Bloomberg) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S.
is willing to hold expanded talks with Iran about stabilizing Iraq
even as he cautioned that Iranian leaders are pursuing unacceptable
ambitions, such as a suspected quest for a nuclear bomb.
Gates described the March 10 regional meeting on Iraq in Baghdad as a
good start, in a speech to a conference on U.S.- Turkish relations in
Washington today. The U.S. is “open to higher-level exchanges” to
achieve political reconciliation and reduce violence in Iraq, he
said.
Iran is “invested and involved” in Iraqi affairs and should be part
of a regional effort to ensure that Iraq doesn’t become a failed
state, Gates said. He encouraged Turkey to set aside its opposition
to the U.S. invasion of Iraq four years ago and focus on its
neighbor’s future.
Gates’s remarks pointed toward an expanded political engagement with
Iraq’s neighbors even as the U.S. military intensifies its campaign
to drive out insurgents in Baghdad and hold areas for economic
rebuilding. Gates said that operation, led by General David Petraeus,
so far showed encouraging signs of progress, “though it is too early
to call them trends.”
While Iranian help would be worthwhile, Iranian aims in the broader
Middle East are cause for concern, Gates said. The search for Iranian
moderates has been mostly a “fruitless” endeavor since the Islamic
revolution, he said.
Mending Ties
A desire for moderation was at the heart of Gates’s message to
Turkey. His appearance at the annual conference, where military
officers and top policy makers from both countries mingle, carried
the symbolism of a relationship on the mend.
Gates recited a Turkish proverb, “A wise man remembers his friends
at all times, a fool, only when he has need of them.” Former U.S.
National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, a retired general who is
chairman of the American-Turkish Council, said the standing ovation
at the end of the speech was the first he had heard at the gathering
in several years.
Nabi Sensoy, the Turkish ambassador to the U.S., said he believed
Gates had made a “heartfelt” appeal to Turks to rebuild ties.
“Turkish-American relations are good and sound, and there’s a
determination on both sides to push things forward,” he said in an
interview.
Gates said while the relationship with Turkey had “undergone some
turbulence,” he pointed to Turkish help in Afghanistan, the use of a
Turkish air base and Turkish purchases of new American warplanes as
evidence of still vibrant ties. He said both countries should work to
tone down antagonizing actions and rhetoric.
Armenian Dispute
Already Gates has come out against a congressional resolution that
would declare that the massacre of Armenians in Turkey during World
War I was genocide. The Turkish government says while killings took
place, the bloodshed didn’t amount to a campaign of genocide.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Gates sent a joint letter to
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on March 7 expressing their “deep concern
about the harm” that passage of the Armenian genocide resolution
“would cause U.S. efforts to promote reconciliation between Turkey
and Armenia.”
The two cabinet officials said passage would “significantly endanger
U.S. national security interests in the region,” citing the
logistical help Turkey provides for U.S. combat efforts in Iraq.
The letter noted that President George W. Bush already annually
recognizes the “horrendous suffering” of ethnic Armenians endured
during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.