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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Iran leader lavishes $1 billion on Iraq

Liz Sly Chicago Tribune

BAGHDAD – Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave Iraq $1 billion on Monday and told America to go home as he wrapped up a two-day visit to Baghdad aimed at cementing Iran’s blossoming relationship with its one-time enemy.

“We believe that the forces that came from overseas and traveled thousands of kilometers to reach here must leave the region and must let the people of this country rule themselves,” he told reporters at a news briefing at a villa in Baghdad controlled by Kurdish peshmerga forces.

“If they claim they want to spend their money developing the people of these countries, they’d be better off spending the money on their own countries,” he said.

As Ahmadinejad was concluding his visit, two car bombs killed at least 23 people in Baghdad, one of them exploding in a busy marketplace, killing 20 and another striking an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing three.

During his landmark visit, the first by an Iranian president since the Islamic revolution of 1979, Ahmadinejad was feted by Iraq’s Shiite and Kurdish leaders. Even the Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, turned up to greet him, though he arrived an hour late.

In addition to the $1 billion donation, the two countries also negotiated seven deals pertaining to economic and cultural cooperation. The U.S. has spent a total of $499 billion on the Iraq war so far, according to the National Priorities Project.

In a statement posted on his Web site, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani also said the two sides had reached an agreement “to secure their borders in order to prevent infiltration of terrorists and smugglers.”

President Bush had said he hoped Iraq would raise with Ahmadinejad U.S. claims that Iranian agents are training and arming Shiite militias. But Iraqi officials said the subject had not come up.

“These allegations are old and they are coming from a long history of hostility between the two sides,” said Iraqi Minister of State for National Security Sherwan al-Waeli, who attended several of the meetings with Ahmadinejad. “We hope Iraq does not get involved. We don’t want to be part of the Iran-America struggle.”

The stalled U.S.-Iranian dialogue that had raised hopes last year of an accommodation over Iraq’s future was discussed, al-Waeli said. “Hopefully the talks will start again very soon,” he said.