Ahmadinejad: 'Major powers' should quit Iraq

updated 4:49 p.m. ET March 3, 2008

BAGHDAD - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finished his landmark visit Monday to Iraq with a swagger, insisting that U.S. power is irrelevant in the region and affecting the role of big brother to Baghdad's Shiite-led government.

The two-day trip offered powerful political theater on Iran's growing ties with its former enemy — with U.S. officials getting a front row seat.

It also coincided with two suicide car bombs Monday in different parts of Baghdad. At least 24 people were killed and dozens were wounded, police said.

Neither of the attacks took place in the areas of the sprawling city where Ahmadinejad was visiting.

While here, Ahmadinejad took every opportunity to show off how much the two countries' ties have changed since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Iran's former arch-nemesis Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi officials laid out red carpets and military bands played for the hardline president — the first Iranian leader to visit Iraq. In front of live TV crews, Ahmadinejad held hands and exchanged kisses on the cheek with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who fondly told him to call him "Uncle Jalal."

Ahmadinejad repeatedly referred to Iraq as a "brotherly" neighbor and predicted that his visit would open a new chapter between Baghdad and Tehran.

The visit was mostly symbolic but Ahmadinejad's message to the U.S., Iraq and its Arab neighbors was bold: Iran has cemented its role as the new power player here.

'They have turned a page'
"Iraq and Iran having been deadly enemies, and this shows they have turned a page," said Rand Corp. analyst and former diplomat James Dobbins.

Though both Iraq and Iran have Shiite majorities, they were hostile to each other throughout Saddam's long reign. About 1 million people died in the eight-year war that ensued after Saddam invaded Iran in 1980.

But when Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime fell after the U.S.-led invasion and Iraq's Shiite majority took power, the Shiite elite in Iran had a chance to extend their reach.

Ahmadinejad didn't shy way from sharply criticizing the United States. He blamed America for spreading terrorism in the region, demanded the U.S. go home and dismissed allegations that Tehran is training Shiite militants who target U.S. troops.

"The presence of foreigners in the region has been to the detriment of the nations of the region," Ahmadinejad said during a news conference Monday. "It is nothing but a humiliation to the regional nations."

Bush 'stealth visits' ridiculed
He even took a swipe at U.S. President Bush for making secret visits to the country he invaded.

Unlike Bush's trips to Iraq, Ahmadinejad announced his journey in advance, drove in a motorcade down Baghdad's airport road — once known as "The Highway of Death" — spent the night and even traveled to a Shiite holy shrine in northern Baghdad, albeit under the cover of night.

"The visits should be declared and open. And all those who come on stealth visits, we should ask them why they visit this country in a stealth manner?" Ahmadinejad said.

Despite the beefed up Iraqi security in some parts of Baghdad for Ahmadinejad's visit, at least 24 people were reportedly killed in two suicide car bomb explosions in different parts of the city, police said, though the U.S. military reported 11 people had died in the attacks.

The U.S. presence in Baghdad is massive, with military helicopters and drones frequently zipping through the skies, but the Iranian president had no contact with the Americans during his stay. The U.S. military did not provide security for him.

The closest he got was whisking through the U.S.-controlled Green Zone — the heart of America's presence in Iraq — to visit Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at his Cabinet offices.

But the entire visit appeared to be a bold message to the U.S. and its Arab allies in the Mideast that Iran was the new heavyweight here.

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