Iraq Press Roundup

The Association of Muslim Scholars' Al Basaer newspaper said Tuesday in its editorial that after Iraq was destroyed and hard to fix, officials at the White House called upon Arab countries to send their representatives to Iraq using Iran as a threat.

The editorial with the title "After the destruction" said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Arab countries to open offices in Iraq though Iraqi officials themselves are based inside the highly fortified Green Zone.

"These calls try to convince countries of the danger coming from Iran's infiltration in Iraq, yet Arab ministers and representatives would be incapable, while inside the Green Zone, of stopping the deep Iranian penetration. ... Also there is nothing on Earth that can prevent the kidnapping and killing of those diplomats," it said.

The Saudi-based Sunni newspaper said it is unclear what diplomats can do when Iraq's religious and political parties have announced Iraq is not acknowledged as an Arab country. It added Iraqi politicians addressed in the new constitution that Arabs in Iraq are "part of the Arab world," which the paper said was a way of omitting Iraq's Arab identity.

"The reality is that the night President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spent in Iraq under the protection of the U.S. forces, shows the fact there is a hidden agreement between Iran and the United States," it said.

The paper said U.S. and Iranian officials met several times to discuss the "security of Iraq," which reflects the fact both Washington and Tehran "occupy" Iraq.

It also said the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Iran's interference in Iraq and Arab countries can't change this fact.

"The United States didn't hide their project that aims to divide Iraq, and Iran has announced its support to the U.S.-made political process," it said.

It concluded Iran and the United States cooperated in demolishing Iraq and erasing its identity.

"The United States has realized they are defeated by the Iraqi resistance that has been causing increased losses, forcing the U.S. to ask the support of a country like Iran," Al Basaer newspaper said.