Iraq sheds US puppet image in its own backyard: FM (From inside the heavily fortified Green Zone)

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2009/February/middleeast_February268.xml§ion=middleeast

16 February 2009

BAGHDAD - Iraq is regaining its place in the region and is no longer seen as a US puppet, especially as it slips down the priority list in Washington, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview on Monday.

A flurry of high-level diplomatic visitors from neighbours Iran, Kuwait and Syria will bolster the country's new-found credibility as a sovereign state, he told AFP at his ministry just inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

"I was asked recently about Iraq not being a top priority for the new administration (of President Barack Obama) ... I said this is good news if we are not a crisis situation, if we are not a top priority," he said, smiling.

Zebari put Iraq's newfound diplomatic confidence down to the security pact it signed with the United States in November, but also to Washington's focus on hot-button issues such as Afghanistan and the global economic crisis.

[underpants]

1. but..but it worked out so well for the Shah!

Oh crap, what's next? They gonna keep all their own oil?

Damn