League plans summit amid grim security situation

Baghdad: Arabs are stepping up their efforts to hold a summit on the Iraqi situation, while European countries are working towards organising an international conference on Iraq.

Behind the scenes, the US is attempting to search for a political exit from the Iraqi quagmire.

Mukhtar Lamani, the Arab League Envoy to Iraq, told Gulf News: "Serious movements are under way by the Arab League to hold a summit on the Iraqi issue."

There are also European efforts to organise an international conference on Iraq.

"Both conferences may be held simultaneously, because of the increasingly deteriorating security situation in Iraq. Everyone in the Iraqi government and outside, are extremely angry at the level of deterioration," he said.

"The international and regional solution is an open option now, not to save the US from its predicament in Iraq, but to save Iraq from very serious repercussions," he said.

The envoy stated that deploying Arab and Islamic forces in Iraq is being seriously considered in the event of a US withdrawal from Iraq.

"Arab and Islamic forces will be accepted by Iraqis, instead of the US and foreign forces present in Iraq today," he added.

The envoy also said that an Iraqi reconciliation conference will not be held anytime soon, because of the current situation. Foreign spectators in Iraq say that a US withdrawal might take place, but the US influence will remain, and the last word concerning the Arab or international solution in Iraq will be that of the US.

Iraqi armed groups connected to Al Qaida organisation warned of any Arab or Islamic presence, saying: "These forces will be under fire, because they will be assisting the occupational forces in one way or another and will be the continuation of the political forces which entered Iraq with the invading forces."

Some leaders in the disintegrated Baath party in Baghdad said that the existence of Arab and Islamic forces in Iraq will be supported by the Baath leadership, inside and outside Iraq.

These leaders told Gulf News that certain Arab countries have in fact asked the Baathists about their stand only to find a positive response. This Islamic-Arabic deployment will be in Sunni cities where the Baath party still has a lot of influence.