By KUNA,
London : The fact that the forthcoming Iraqs neighbours meeting is to be held in Kuwait underlines to the world that the old historic wounds that relate to Saddam Husseins aggression have been healed, a senior British defense expert said on Saturday.
Dr Jonathan Eyal, head of studies at the defence think-tank the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), in central London, told KUNA in an exclusive interview that the conference, due on April 22, is also intended to demonstrate that Iraq is now a member of the family of regional nations.
The gathering, which is sponsored by Kuwaits Prime Minister His Highness Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, equally underscores that the State of Kuwait is an important player in the region, Dr Eyal pointed out.
Furthermore, he said that the conference is designed to send a strong message that the neighbours of Iraq continue to be interested in its stability and that they want Iraq to succeed.
“It is simply not true, as some people in Iraq think that somehow the neighbouring countries have an interest in seeing a weak Iraq,” the head of studies at this renowned institute said.
“A weak Iraq is not in the security interests of the states in the region,” he added.
On the American call to the neighbours of Iraq to send ambassadors and make high level leadership visits to Baghdad, Dr Eyal told KUNA “clearly there is a problem with security in Iraq and the problem is a serious one.” “At the same time it is obvious that we need to move, and we need to move fairly fast to normalise the situation regarding the relations with Iraq,” the senior defence expert went on.
In the meantime, he was also convinced that for psychological reasons Iraqs neighbours engagement is significant.
“Therefore the Americans are right in their repeated calls on Iraqs neighbours to have greater involvement with the Iraqis, although this is going to be a much slower process than people believe,” Dr Eyal cautioned.
He believed that the meeting as far as the Americans are concerned, is to try to suggest that the neighbouring countries of Iraq have to have a responsibility in maintaining its stability, “and hence Washington will repeat its warning to countries such as Iran to stop playing a negative role in Baghdad.”
“Unless Iran, and to a lesser extent Syria, stop interfering in Iraqi affairs, there is little chance that the meeting of Iraqs neighbours is going to achieve the major breakthrough required,” he argued.
“The Americans are not going to attend the meeting to give lessons to other people about what to do, but the reality of the matter is that unless something is being done, particularly about Irans interference, there will not be much movement,” Dr Eyal said in a pessimistic tone.