As friction with Arab neighbors intensifies, Iraq growing ever closer to Iran

"BAGHDAD, Iraq -The Iraqi government is becoming increasingly estranged from its Arab neighbors even as it grows closer to Iran, a trend that threatens the region's longtime balance of power and may make Iraq less influential in regional affairs.


In the nearly two and a half years since Saddam Hussein was toppled, not a single Arab nation has dispatched an ambassador to Baghdad, and most have closed what embassies were here. The Arab League has yet to make good on promises to open a Baghdad office. Regional media, typically state-funded, still portray Iraq as a land occupied by the U.S. military and governed by American-installed lackeys...

...Zebari said the friction between Iraq and its neighbors would ease only when Arab leaders were ready to deal with a multiethnic, religiously diverse administration in Baghdad.


"Make no mistake. We are here to stay," Zebari said, recalling remarks he made to members of the Arab League. "We are not temporary or interim leaders. After Saddam's topple, you have to live with these faces, whether you like them or you dislike them.""
The Murcury news