Iraq Finds Its Arab Neighbors Are Reluctant to Offer Embrace

The Arabs, unsurprisingly, say that is nonsense. "Iraq is an Arab country and we want the same things the Americans want," an Arab official said. But beyond diplomatic security, he and others said they are not convinced that the Basra offensive proved that Maliki is ready to stand up to Tehran. They also note that Maliki's government has so far failed to incorporate more than a fraction of the largely Sunni Awakening security forces backed by the U.S. military into the Iraqi police and military forces.

Several Arab officials questioned whether Iraq's military offensives against Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia were staged to crack down on "criminals," as Maliki has said, or to benefit Sadr's Shiite rivals, who are allied with the prime minister. Administration officials raised that possibility themselves immediately after the Basra assault, one Arab noted, before they decided to hail it as evidence of Maliki's willingness to go after his co-religionists.

Several Arab officials attributed their hesitation partly to what they describe as Iraqi government incompetence. Egypt has complained that it has yet to receive the body of its assassinated ambassador, and also that political factions in Baghdad have been unable to agree on Iraq's envoy to Cairo. A Saudi official noted that while Iraq complains about Riyadh's failure to forgive billions in debt, Baghdad has not provided the necessary paperwork and has paid no principal or interest for the past 20 years. Still, the Saudi official said, "nobody is taking them to the credit bureau."

The Arab states are signatories to the International Compact With Iraq, a document signed at the first neighbors conference last May that commits them to assisting Iraqi political and economic development. The Bush administration has expressed hopes that the region will make substantive moves in that direction at the next compact meeting, late this month in Stockholm. But Arab officials say Iraq is not yet close to completing its side of the bargain, including progress toward political reconciliation and the passage of laws regulating the oil industry.

If Washington's message that the ball is in the Arab court has not gotten through, it has not been for lack of trying. President Bush and Vice President Cheney have both delivered it on recent trips to the region, and Bush will also try again when he visits Cairo after Riyadh.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed it last month at a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Bahrain -- where her aides cited Faisal's embrace of Zebari as a positive sign -- and at a conference for Iraq's neighbors in Kuwait. Other State Department and U.S. military officials have shuttled around Arab states promoting closer ties with Iraq.

"At some point, the Arab states need to take yes for an answer in terms of . . . Iraq's commitment to its Arab identity," Rice told reporters on her flight to Bahrain. Maliki, visibly irritated with the Arabs at the Kuwait conference, said he was "bewildered" by their attitude.

The administration came away from those meetings encouraged, as the six-nation Gulf council agreed to invite Iraq to future sessions and the neighbors pledged to hold their next gathering in Baghdad. "There is a growing recognition that there are changes taking place in Iraq that are important," a senior U.S. official said.

But "I don't want to exaggerate," the official added. "This is a fragile process of rebuilding ties between Iraq and its neighbors. There is a lot of suspicion and mistrust on both sides."