Iraqi freedom

Iraqi leaders are exploiting a new found freedom of manoeuvre to take the diplomatic initiative towards stability in their country: Iraq and Syria have restored diplomatic relations for the first time since 1982, and Iraq and Iran's Presidents Jalal Talabani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are to meet in Tehran for security talks. With British Prime Minister Tony Blair and American President George Bush's credibility weakened over recent months through Leadership strife within Labour and Republican defeats in the Mid-term elections, Baghdad has been able to operate with a much freer hand regarding its neighbours. These Iraqi moves have been aided by shift in emphasis in London and Washington towards increased regional co-operation, but it seems to be Iraq which is now setting the pace of diplomatic manoeuvring, beyond - and at a faster pace - than what the western powers expected. This is surely a positive development. American and British views and priorities in Iraq are inevitably distorted by distance and domestic concerns. Iraqi solutions to Iraqi problems will not only have the benefit of the clarity of proximity, but will reinforce the status of the Iraqi government as more than a front for the occupying powers. If some sort of stability is found for Iraq, it will primarily be the achievement of Iraqis, not their western allies.