Middle East Focus: Libya: Boycott Baghdad, Leave it to Iran……….

Arabia Deserta

Libya: Boycott Baghdad, Leave it to Iran……….

Walking on water

“Libya asks to hold next Arab summit in Cairo, not Baghdad. The source went on to point out that Iraq had already begun preparations for the summit, with a view to ensuring the event was both successful and well organized. Political escalations between Libya and Iraq first began when the latter announced it had managed to thwart a Libyan request for a UN investigation into the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday quoted a Libyan diplomat as saying that it was "inconceivable" to hold the summit in Baghdad, given the perilous security situation. The diplomat went on to say that "no Arab leader could be expected to attend under such circumstances”…….”

Colonel Gaddafi has been running a feud with Iraq this past year or two. He sponsors a website dedicated to the Iraqi Ba’athist goals. Yet Gaddafi was a critic of the Iraqi Ba’ath when it was in power, to the extent that he supported Iran after the Iraqi invasion of 1980.

The problem for Arab leaders with the Baghdad summit is huge. Some of them, especially in the Gulf, would prefer not to attend because it would signal an acceptance of the new Iraqi political system of decentralized majority rule. One particular Arab big banana (plus another smaller banana or two) is well-known to object to Shi’a rule in Baghdad. An Iraqi visit might upset their Salafi political allies. Attending would mean that they are accepting what they have no say in. The Saudi King at the time will not attend, nor will Gaddafi or Mubarak.

The others? It depends how much influence these three, and their own Salafis, have on them, and how smart they are. Boycotting the summit would be a monumentally stupid act: it would reflect a further concession of Iraq to Iranian influence. Boycotting on grounds of “security issues” would be at least as stupid: Iran’s Ahmadinejad visited Iraq openly and publicly about two years ago. I can imagine Ahmadinejad flying into Baghdad a day or two after a summit boycotted by several Arab heads of state. He might as well be giving them all the proverbial middle finger, Iranian-style.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com