Arab countries not doing enough for Iraq, says US ambassador

Washington: The US ambassador to Iraq criticised Arab nations on Friday for not doing more to help the country and suggested greater Arab diplomatic engagement with Iraq would help counterbalance Iran's influence.

"You can't beat something with nothing," US Ambassador Ryan Crocker told reporters, pointing to the absence of Arab ambassadors in Baghdad and the lack of high-level visits by senior Arab officials.

Arab officials fear that the US-led March 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent violence, has strengthened Iranian influence in the region. Their concerns are also fuelled by suspicions, which Iran denies, that Tehran's atomic programme is designed to obtain nuclear weapons.

Crocker said, "I cannot recall a single ministerial-level visit from any Arab state in the year that I have been there. There are no Arab ambassadors in Baghdad. Iraqis are getting a little sensitive to this and by no means just the Shi'ites."

He added, "If the Arabs are concerned about Iranian influence and encroachments in Iraq ... They need to be diplomatically involved there. They need to be economically involved. They need to be working on development issues."

"They need to demonstrate to the Iraqis, the people, not just the government, that the Arabs care what happens there and want what happens there to be positive both for Iraq and for the region," Crocker said.

Crocker and General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, testified before the US Congress for two days this week. Petraeus warned lawmakers that progress in Iraq, where violence has fallen since the surge of 20,000 additional US combat troops last year, was "fragile and reversible."

The two men plan to visit Saudi Arabia, which made promises last year to look into opening an embassy in Baghdad, to make the case that Arab nations should do more.