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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorne who wrote (117870)	10/27/2003 9:42:59 PM
From: GST	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

US skeptical of Iranian tourism contribution to Iraq reconstruction Mon Oct 27, 6:24 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States cast a skeptical eye on Iran's plan to assist in the reconstruction of Iraq (news - web sites) by flooding the country with hundreds of thousands of dinar-spending tourists and religious pilgrims. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher appeared uncomfortable when asked for Washington's reaction to the Iranian offer which was made on Friday at an international donors conference for Iraqi reconstruction in Madrid. He said he did not believe that Iraqi authorities or the US occupation administration would have a problem with an influx of Iranians "as long as they're truly pilgrims." "We've made clear that religious freedom is part of the environment that we'd like to create in Iraq and part of the environment the Iraqis themselves want to create," Boucher told reporters. "So as long as people are really pilgrims and not up to no good or smuggling, then I'm sure they'd be welcomed," he added. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi announced in Madrid that in addition to sharing oil facilities and offering 300 million dollars in credit for Iraq, Tehran would also promote tourism there. Iran envisions sending some 100,000 Iranian tourists and religious pilgrims to Iraq per month which could result in 500 million dollars in annual revenue for Iraq, Kharazi said. US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) has labelled Iran -- along with North Korea (news - web sites) and pre-war Iraq -- one-third of an "axis of evil" and Washington remains deeply suspicious of Iranian motives in Iraq. US officials have repeatedly warned Iran not to interfere in Iraq, with whom Tehran fought a bloody war in the 1980s. "Iran's involvement in Iraq is complicated," Boucher said. "There may be pilgrims who come for legitimate purposes but we've also raised concerned about (people coming) across for not-so legitimate purposes, either smuggling or people coming across to foment violence and to oppose the progress that's being made." Last month, a group of 76 Iranian pilgrims crossed the southwestern border into Iraq on Monday, becoming the first to make the voyage to visit holy Shiite Muslim sites legally since the US-led invasion. Such pilgrimages were halted throughout the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and only resumed in very limited numbers at the end of the 1990s. Six of the 12 imams revered in the Shiite branch of Islam dominant in Iran are buried in Iraq, where Shiites also make up the majority of the population. story.news.yahoo.com