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Iraq Makes Neighborly Visit

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Los Angeles Times

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 8, 2008

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki traveled Saturday to Iran on a mission to improve relations with the country that U.S. officials have accused of arming Shiite militia groups fighting U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces.

Al-Maliki is expected to meet with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today. His trip comes after fighting this spring that pitted Iraqi security forces against cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army.

U.S. officials have accused Iran of training and arming splinter factions of al-Sadr's movement, pointing to large caches of Iranian-made weapons found since March as proof of Iran's interference. The Iraqi government said last month it was forming an investigative committee to determine whether Iran was training and equipping fighters, based on U.S. assertions. Iraqi officials, however, said the prime minister was not expected to present Iran with the committee's findings.
Government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said the visit was a pragmatic one. "In the end, the Americans are leaving, but we are staying here and the Iranians are here - we have to build our relations as good neighbors," he said.
CAR BOMBS KILL 6

•A suicide car bomb and another car packed with explosives were aimed at Iraqi police patrols Saturday on opposite sides of Baghdad, killing at least six people.

•In Mosul, provincial Gov. Duraid Kashmola escaped assassination Saturday when gunmen attacked his convoy in the western part of the city.

•A soldier from Florida and another from Alabama died of injuries suffered when a helicopter they were in went down in Afghanistan. The soldiers were 20-year-old Pfc. Andre D. McNair Jr. of Fort Pierce and 42-year-old Chief Warrant Officer James Carter of Alabama. They died June 5 at Kandahar Army Airfield, Afghanistan.

Source: The Associated Press

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