Washington commends the will of Damascus meeting

The US yesterday commended the will expressed by the countries neighboring Iraq at their Damascus meeting to strengthening monitoring of their borders with Iraq.

The assistant for the spokesman of the US Department Of State said "we welcome the commitment of the participants in the meeting which was held in Syria to enhance border monitoring and prevent terrorist acts inside Iraq."

He added "this is a positive development," noting that Washington hopes that "urgent measures will be taken to implement this obligation." He expressed also his regret that the delegation of the Iraqi Interim Governing council could not head for Damascus to take part in the meeting. He hoped that this participation will be possible in a next meeting to be held in Kuwait.

While he considered that an Iraqi presence in Damascus "might be good," he denied that Washington had placed pressure on the Iraqi governing council to prevent it from taking part in the meeting.