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    Iran FM says US buildup near Iraq lacks 'prudence'

    By LARA JAKES - Associated Press | AP – Mon, Oct 31, 2011

    BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran's top diplomat on Monday bitingly questioned reported U.S. plans to build up American military forces across Mideast countries after withdrawing from Iraq, calling on Washington to be "more prudent and wise" or risk more unrest in the region.

    Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also dismissed American concerns about Iranian meddling in Iraq after U.S. troops pull out at the end of December.

    Those worries were a main motivation of failed U.S. efforts to leave at least several thousand American troops in Iraq beyond the Dec. 31 withdrawal deadline.

    "Iraq does not need anyone to meddle in its internal affairs," Salehi told reporters in Baghdad, where he was meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. "Iraqis know better than anyone else how to run their country."

    Asked about U.S. plans to station more troops in the Mideast, Salehi urged the Americans to think again.

    "The Americans always have a deficit, unfortunately, in rationality and prudence," he said.

    "So what I expect is that it is about time for the Americans to be more provident, to be more prudent and wise in their approach, because the region is really going into troubles, and ... the consequences of these developments are not yet known to anybody. So one has to be cautious. Everybody has to be cautious, including the U.S."

    Senior U.S. military officials say Washington is considering putting more forces in Kuwait to bolster its presence in the region after leaving Iraq, but that decision has not yet been made. Negotiations with Iraq's government over leaving thousands of troops behind after the end of the year broke down over legal conditions.

    U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said an estimated 40,000 U.S. troops will be stationed across the Mideast even after the Iraq withdrawal. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has warned Iran that it should not interpret the troop withdrawal as U.S. backtracking on its commitment to Iraq's fledgling democracy.

    How much influence Iran may wield in Baghdad in coming years is a top topic of debate across Iraq. As the only two Shiite-led governments across the Sunni-dominated Mideast, the two nations have rebuilt diplomatic and economic ties since the U.S. ousted Saddam Hussein — an ardent enemy of Iran.

    Zebari said Iraq is capable and mature enough to run Iraq without any outside help after the U.S. forces leave.

    "No other party can fill the vacuum in Iraq, except the people of Iraq and the government of Iraq," Zebari said.

    Salehi later met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and discussed trade issues, including electricity, which Iran is selling to help counter Iraq's epic power shortages. In a statement, al-Maliki said Salehi also agreed to negotiate a settlement on waterway rights, long a sore spot between the two counties.

     

    69 comments

    • DOG DAYS
      DOG DAYS  •  6 mths ago
      seems iran is quite interested in the U.S. these days. must be pi/ss/ed off that they can't run amuck in the area.
    • filipp
      filipp  •  Denver, United States  •  6 mths ago
      us inadvertantly tipped the balance toward the shias. very good, now i hope all of those rotten sunni monarchies of the gulf and saudi arabia will burn to the ground. those guys actually deserve romanov's fate
      • Kevin
        Kevin 6 mths ago
        The shia is no better. They are dominated by the obsessively obnoxious anti-American regime in Tehran. I hope they all kill each other. That would be perfect.
      • filipp
        filipp 6 mths ago
        you say that there is an "obnoxious" regime and you wish that people just kill each other? its pretty obvious who is obnoxious. i don't c iran in mexican gulf. they just mind their own business in their own neighborhood. u r the ones trying to get into everybody else's and kill them
    • Denise
      Denise  •  Philadelphia, United States  •  6 mths ago
      get out of the Mideast.they do not want us there and we are too stupid to know that .plus cut the foreign aid they get. Egypt and Isarel get billions in foreign aid and you know where that money is going.every Mideast country should have to pay that money back.
      • A Yahoo! User 6 mths ago
        That's exactly what Hitler told us too. "Get out of Europe, you're not wanted there". Aren't you glad the sensible people didn't listen?
    • John
      John  •  Fort Myers, United States  •  6 mths ago
      I love a good fight and this ex-Green Beret thinks there is nothing more then we can do in lands where the people have given up...There must come a time that our military leadership, be honest and tell the American people, we have done enough. Keeping our troops in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, only gives the idiot bad guys targets that we cannot stop. Look! If we are that determined to win, we go all out and hit the bad guys with every weapon in our arsenal but we will never do that, why? It's called Political Correctness and that is getting our kids killed every month. Hey! We have nothing to be ashamed of. We got Saddam, we got Bin Laden and a whole bunch more. Now it is time for Afghanistan and Pakistan to take the Taliban and A Quida on alone!
    • BILL
      BILL  •  Los Angeles, United States  •  6 mths ago
      JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF WHERE WE DONT BELONG.
      • Slayer
        Slayer 6 mths ago
        yumad
      • mikeP
        mikeP 6 mths ago
        The Neville Chamberlain syndrome. Isolationism doesn't work. Read a history book. You might learn something.
        Never mind it would only confuse with facts.
    • douglas
      douglas  •  6 mths ago
      These tribes of Persia and Arabia will only drag us into their millennium old conflicts. This includes the tribes of Moses.
      • freeman 44
        freeman 44 6 mths ago
        When are you going to drop your religious books into your septic tank, where they belong, and start using your own heads.
      • douglas
        douglas 6 mths ago
        Thumbs up bro... thumbs up
      • douglas
        douglas 6 mths ago
        There has to be a morality guide to replace the old religions. Otherwise these sheepeople will just fall into chaos.
    • The Dude
      The Dude  •  Richmond, United States  •  6 mths ago
      The US dosn't need to be in this region anymore, our "friends" the Saudis will be more then happy to do the dirty work when we are out of there... (see the 40 billion dollar weapons deal) we had with Saudis just last year, it was the largest weapons deal between our govt and a foreign country ever! Not to mention Iran and Saudi Arabia are dire enemies...
      • Stephie
        Stephie 6 mths ago
        Have you ever been to Saudi Arabia?
        They restrict non muslims terribly, except in the tourist area.
        I say F&*K them
        Get out of there and don't help them at all.
        Let them fight it out.... Scr*w them
      • mikeP
        mikeP 6 mths ago
        Saudis are more than willing to have us do their dirty work. Friends? We have no friends in that part of the world, except Israel. If anybody does anything it will be the Israelis. We give them the I.F.F. codes and they do the rest
      • The Dude
        The Dude 6 mths ago
        Can you read? I said "friends" you know, in parentheses? Implying that they are so-called friends.. Morons.. Can even take things in context. Stupid internet.
    • Ken
      Ken  •  Tampa, United States  •  6 mths ago
      To cal the leaders of Iran merely "blowhards" is to completely miss the point of how evil they are and their threat to humanity. Their obsession with establishing an Islamic world government under their control. Their denials are laughable.
    • Kevin
      Kevin  •  6 mths ago
      Iran has nobody to blame but themselves. Maybe if they stopped meddling in places like Syria,Iraq,Yemen,Lebanon,and Saudi Arabia the arabs wouldn't be begging us for a large presence in the region.
    • Red Herring
      Red Herring  •  6 mths ago
      Kuwaitis are happy to host 27,000 US troops after being invaded, looted, plundered, raped, kidnapped and murdered by a middle east dictator!
    • Mitch
      Mitch  •  Baltimore, United States  •  6 mths ago
      We are there for more reasons then Isreal,oil being a main factor in setting up democracy in nations where it does not exist.I feel that things will never change on that level until oil becomes obsolete and not the #1 source for fuel.Iran is a country that does not belong having neucular power for any reason,they like to push our buttons by gently wrapping there hands around powers in the middle east.They are a threat by far,they have a powerful army and would be a total mess if we had to invade there (Think of Iraq x10).They are cowards in the sense they could not face us 1 on 1 but they would result to cheap tactics as domestic terrisiom,roadside bombs,suicide bombings ect.I don't feel it will ever come to the U.S. ever invadeing Iran unless God forbid another 9/11 type incident occured on US soil or abroad and Iran claimed the damage for the attack.The U.N. sanctions fail everytime and Chinia,Russia and few others veto everytime any sanctions are approved by the U.N. to take effect to cripple there infrastructure are implamented and a war with them would not be approved anytime soon by congress.For now and a long time from now there just going to be alot of talk (Hence N.Korea),and I feel that keeping U.S. troops in the region is smart cause they will and are as we speak wrapping there grimey hands around weaker muslium nations that have a weak Govt or crippled one thats on there way out the door (Iraq,Syria,Egypt,Afgan) hell minds well throw in the Saudis,there just paying the people off to not riot in the streets,matter of time before even the oil rich monarchy begins to crumble-We have interests in the region,serious ones so don't expect America to be ''Leaving'' the middle east in our lifetimes let alone the vote stunt Obama pulled for Dec 2011 bringing the troops home,I glad there coming no doubt bring our BRAVE men and women home yea 110%..But you have to take Bringing them home by Dec 2011 not literal by any means,really it just means we don't need so many Abrams tanks here,we can still patrol in the Hummers just as well.Sorry to sound negative in anyway I am just being realistic and trying to shed a light on something that is not going to change no matter who is in office or gets put in office Ect,the plan is already drawn out what there going to do and how for prob 6-8 years..There just going to baby feed the info to us cause nobody wants to hear the ''True Story''...Thanks for reading my post,and feel free to comment on my list of facts.
    • Mendy
      Mendy  •  6 mths ago
      Who cares what Iran thinks ? Iran in a big mouthed joke !
    • steve
      steve  •  Sacramento, United States  •  6 mths ago
      iraq, iran. once known as persia....gee, how long before that happens again????
    • bb
      bb  •  6 mths ago
      SOMEONE keeps stirring up unnecessary trouble between the U.S. and Iran. I wonder who...
    • Jammin
      Jammin  •  6 mths ago
      Iran, we may be leaving Iraq, but we're not leaving your backyard. You are not to be trusted. You are supporting terrorist and we will never forget 9/11, plain and simple.
    • TED
      TED  •  San Antonio, United States  •  6 mths ago
      I wonder why they want us to leave so bad?? If there is unrest it the middle east it is because assh*(#s like these people run the countries in the area and the people are sick of there dictatorships!!
    • Scott
      Scott  •  6 mths ago
      get all of our freakin troops home...NOW
    • Carmel
      Carmel  •  6 mths ago
      Why don't we just wipe out this Islamic #$%$ passing itself off as a modern country? Oh, right, one of their own is in the White House for another year.
    • Bob
      Bob  •  6 mths ago
      US is willing to spend billions of american tax payers money and jeopardise lives of our young men and women in the middle east for the sake of Israel, my question is what has Israel has done for us?
    • riprap
      riprap  •  New York, United States  •  6 mths ago
      If Iran could gain control of the middle east oil, they could control the west.
     Post a comment
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