A Soldiers Blog

RIYADH ( Reuters ) - Middle Eastern nations were meeting on Friday to debate post-Saddam Iraq as the United States pressed on with its own plans for the war-ravaged nation.
Among eight countries at the first postwar regional forum was Syria, now under U.S. pressure for allegedly sheltering aides of Saddam Hussein and developing chemical weapons. The Riyadh meeting was hosted by Saudi Arabia to discuss the implications of the crushing U.S. victory on the region.
Foreign ministers of Iraq's neighbors Turkey, Iran, Syria, Kuwait and Jordan as well as Egypt and Bahrain were to attend. Barring Syria and Iran, all are key U.S. allies that offered some form of support for Iraq's invasion. None of these nations had any love for Saddam, whose three decades in power were ended this month by the U.S.-led war on Iraq, but now they all want a say in filling the vacuum.
Almost all Middle Eastern nations want the U.S. and British occupation to end immediately. They also want Iraqis to elect their own government -- but with help from neighboring states. In remarks carried by the Iranian news agency on Friday, President Mohammad Khatami said the role of regional countries in setting up a new Iraqi government was "very important."
And speaking to reporters in Cairo on Thursday, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said he expected the meeting to call for maintaining Iraq's "unity, integrity and independence." "No one can guess or predict how long it will take to stabilize Iraq," he said. "But...occupation is not the right response to stability in Iraq."

BAGHDAD ( Reuters ) - Thousands of people carrying Korans and waving banners demonstrated outside a Baghdad mosque on Friday demanding the United States leave Iraq.
In the first Friday prayers since U.S. tanks drove to the heart of the Iraqi capital last week, Imam Ahmed al-Kubaisi said in his sermon the United States invaded Iraq to defend Israel and denied that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
His followers poured out of the mosque after prayers chanting anti-U.S. slogans and waving banners that read "No to America. No to Secular State. Yes to Islamic State."

Ha'aretz : Three American Patriot missile batteries set up for Iraq war in Israel to be dismantled Sunday.

PARIS ( AP ) - Interpol announced Friday it is sending a special team to Iraq to help track down pillaged art treasures, joining a legion of groups worldwide offering assistance in the recovery efforts.
The international law enforcement organization called on everyone involved in the conservation and trade of antiquities "to categorically decline any offers of cultural property originating from Iraq."
The move comes as Washington said FBI agents had been dispatched to Iraq to find plundered treasures and as the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization held an urgent meeting in Paris on restoring Iraq's cultural heritage. Interpol said in a statement that it planned a special gathering May 5-6 to devise strategies for recovering the thousands of objects stolen from Baghdad's Iraq National Museum and other institutions nationwide.
The meeting is to bring together officials from UNESCO, the International Council of Museums and the World Customs Organization, among others. While the pillage at first appeared to be a spontaneous frenzy unleashed by the fall of Baghdad, experts now believe some looters were highly organized professionals aiming to feed clandestine networks.
The Interpol statement said a special team of senior officers would go to Kuwait and other countries in the region later this month seeking information from governments and police on what had been stolen. "The team will travel to Iraq as soon as this can be arranged with military officials," the statement said.
Interpol has already alerted police in its 181 member countries to make sure that everyone from border guards to art dealers and even the public is aware of the situation, the statement added.