Ahmadinejad makes landmark trip to Iraq

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hailed a new chapter in ties with Iraq yesterday, saying he was "truly happy" to make a landmark trip to Baghdad now that Iran's arch-foe Saddam Hussein had been deposed.

Mr Ahmadinejad is the first Iranian President to go to Iraq since Saddam launched a ruinous eight-year war on Iran in 1980 in which one million people died. He is also the first leader from the region to visit since the US-led invasion in 2003.

His two-day trip to a country where its long-time enemy the US has more than 150,000 troops is therefore as much about symbolism as about cementing economic and cultural ties between the neighbours, both run by Shi'ite majorities.

President Ahmadinejad, who often berates the US in fiery speeches, offered only mild criticism of US policies in the region yesterday, possibly in deference to his Iraqi hosts.

He rejected long-standing US accusations, repeated by President George W. Bush on Saturday, that Iran is arming Shi'ite militias in Iraq who kill American soldiers.

"We tell Mr Bush that accusing others will increase the problems of America in the region and will not solve them," Mr Ahmadinejad said in translated remarks at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

"The Iraqi people do not like America," he added.

Mr Ahmadinejad met Mr Maliki at the Prime Minister's office in the Green Zone - the US-protected central Baghdad compound that houses government ministries, Parliament and the US embassy - under the almost constant drone of US military helicopters.

US officials in Baghdad have said they will play no role in Mr Ahmadinejad's visit and that the US military will not be involved in protecting him unless they are asked for help.

Ironically, President Ahmadinejad's trip was only made possible by the US-led invasion. Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for US forces to leave Iraq, blaming them for sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis since 2003.

Mr Talabani said Iraq would seek to oust the Iranian rebel Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) group, an old Iranian demand that was expected to be raised during Mr Ahmadinejad's visit.

"The presence of those terrorists is forbidden by the Constitution and we are working to get rid of them," Mr Talabani said.

The US military said in a statement, however, that it was not aware of any armed or organised MEK group in Iraq.

It said its fighters had disarmed during the US-led invasion.

Many of Iraq's Shi'ite leaders were in exile in Iran during Saddam's long rule and analysts say Mr Ahmadinejad will use his visit to show Washington that Tehran is an influential player in Iraq that cannot be ignored.

The Iranian President has also sought to counter US efforts to isolate Tehran over its nuclear programme by trying to improve ties with Arab states in the region.

His visit comes a day before an expected UN Security Council vote on a third round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but the US says is for nuclear arms.