MPs welcome Arab officials’ visits

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi lawmakers from different political blocs considered the visits of various Arab officials to the country as within the process of bringing Iraq back into its Arab environment. Despite welcoming these visits, they described them as being “late.” Taha al-Lihaibi,a member of the Iraqi Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, praised the visits. “This is an indication that Iraq has finally reached a level that encourages these officials to visit the country,” al-Lihaibi told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The visits were supposed to occur earlier,” he said. “We welcome the visits, despite the face that they came late,” he added. He pointed out that the entire region will not find stability without stability in Iraq. Al-Lihaibi hoped that Iraq’s relations with Iran will also be developed. “We hope that Iran will not intervene in Iraq’s local issues,” he stressed. Jabir Habeeb Jabir, a legislator of the Unified Iraqi Alliance (UIA), framed the visits of Arab officials to Iraq in a different way. “Achieving security in Iraq, conducting elections, and the proximity of the U.S. forces withdrawal from the country motivated the visits,” Jabir said. “Arab countries have perceived Iraq as having overcome divisions,” he added. “The Arabs fears have diminished, as the U.S. forces withdrawal from Iraq is close,” he explained. “There is a conflict between some Arab countries and Iran, and those Arabs do not want to leave the Iraqi arena void of their influence for this reason,” he proceeded. For his part, Kurdish parliamentarian Mahmoud Othman said that the visits mirror the improvement in the situation in Iraq. “The secretary general of the Arab League (AL) will mention the improvement in Iraq in his report to the upcoming Arab summit,” Othman said. “Visits of Iranian officials to Iraq, and the strong relations between Iraq and Iran, motivated Arabs to play a bigger role in Iraq,” he noted. MH (S)/SR 1