Syria

The Iraqi government Thursday invited Iran and Syria to Baghdad for talks next month on regional security, amid growing tension and accusations by the Bush administration of foreign meddling in Iraqi affairs. Iraqi officials have not invited the United States to the meeting, which also could include Iraq's other neighbors, the United Nations and the Arab League.

The Iraqi government on Sunday accused Syria of harboring insurgents fomenting violence here after a massive suicide bombing the previous day killed at least 130 people in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital. The allegation strained relations with Iraq's neighbor just weeks after the two resumed diplomatic ties, and it led to squabbling among Iraqi politicians during a parliamentary session.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview aired Monday that U.S.-Syrian cooperation was the "last chance" to stop the violence in Iraq, but he said he wasn't optimistic that President Bush would talk to Damascus. Assad told ABC's "Good Morning America" in an interview in Damascus, Syria's capital, that Bush administration officials were "not willing to achieve peace; they don't have the will and they don't have the vision." In contrast, he praised Bush's father, President George H.W.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that the United States would join high-level talks on Iraq with the country's neighbors, including Iran and Syria, in a move that may signal a new U.S. willingness to expand diplomacy with two adversaries. U.S.

Iranian officials Wednesday signaled their willingness to participate in talks hosted by Iraq on the future of the war-torn nation, discussions that U.S. officials said this week they also would attend. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had already received an invitation from the Iraqi foreign minister to participate next month in the talks.

Officials here Tuesday linked a pair of deadly bombings last month to a group they said was composed of Syria-backed Sunni Arab veterans of the Iraq insurgency. Lebanese government officials said Tuesday that four Syrian nationals belonging to Fatah al-Islam, a self-proclaimed Sunni militant group, had been arrested and confessed to the bombings that killed three people in a mostly Christian district in the mountains overlooking the capital.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria sparked a high-profile clash with the White House on Tuesday, with President Bush criticizing her for potentially undermining U.S. foreign policy. The administration, asserting that Syria has aided terrorists and played a significant role in destabilizing the Middle East, has reined in its dealings with the country's government. Commenting on Pelosi's visit, Bush said, "We have made it clear to high-ranking [U.S.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a widely anticipated meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday, bringing with her a message that Israeli leaders were open to renewing long-dormant peace negotiations, and drawing intensified criticism from the Bush administration and its allies. The meeting was the highest-level contact between the U.S.

Vice President Dick Cheney scolded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday for "bad behavior" in traveling to Syria, a country that he said promoted terrorism. In a conversation with fellow conservative Rush Limbaugh on Limbaugh's radio show, Cheney belittled Pelosi's public statement after she met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Wednesday.

On the streets outside Jadat al Hashimi School, candidates in Syria's parliamentary elections Sunday advertised their campaigns with pictures and banner slogans. But the plethora of posters belied the lack of choice inside the voting booth. Syrian voters who came to cast their ballots had no meaningful alternative to the ruling party, which largely dictates who has a chance to be in the next parliament. "What's the point?"