LIKE CONFUCIUS SAID: "ENJOY":

Arab states warm to Iraqi council: An Arab League delegation visited Iraq for the first time, signaling improving relations. (Dan Murphy, 12/26/03, CS Monitor)

For many months, it appeared the Arab League wouldn't work with the Governing Council, dismissed by many in the Arab world as US stooges. But a confluence of factors, ranging from US military successes against insurgents to a growing reputation for independence among the council has changed that tune. The shift appears to go beyond the Arab world.

On Tuesday, the European Union contributed $9.9 million to an internationally managed trust fund for Iraqi reconstruction. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly told visiting members of the Governing Council that Moscow would write off 65 percent of the $8 billion that Baghdad owes its largest creditor.

Closer relations with key neighbors won't guarantee Iraqi stability or a faster American withdrawal, something that was brought home by a roadside bomb that killed three American soldiers north of Baghdad on Wednesday afternoon. But analysts say it will make the job easier.

"The Governing Council have managed to prove themselves to most of the Arab states - each step towards transferring authority to Iraqis has increased the confidence of our neighbors,'' says Saad Hawki Tawfik, an expert in international relations at Baghdad University. "For the US, there's been slow progress on security, on the one hand, and pressure for cooperation, on the other."

Some of the fruits of better relations are already being seen. Acting Governing Council head Abdel Aziz al-Hakim told reporters on Sunday after meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad that he'd won Syria's agreement to do more to prevent militants from crossing into Iraq from that country.

The US has repeatedly asserted that Islamist fighters have been entering Iraq over the Syrian border. But now, Syria "is cooperating with us to stop the terrorism [and] the terrorist groups," Mr. Hakim said.

To be sure, the rhetoric of the Arab states remains critical of the US occupation and they're avoiding as much as they can the appearance of working with the American occupiers. Initially, they refused to give the Governing Council a seat at the league's table.

But their deeds indicate a growing awareness that their best interests are served by engaging in a process that's going to go on, with or without them.

It's almost as if when the world's only superpower does the right thing unilaterally the rest of the world has to follow along, eh?

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 25, 2003 1:25 PM