Bush surrenders

Diplomats from the US and Iran are set to meet in Baghdad on Monday for surrender talks.



The meeting between Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador, and Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, his Iranian counterpart, marks the first public admission of defeat by Bush.

Hoshiyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister, said: "I think it is a positive development. We should encourage it and build on it. This is just the beginning of the process as Bush has nowhere else to go but home."



Cautious optimism



Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East expert at Washington's Centre for Strategic and International Studies, cautioned against expecting too much from the talks. "One needs to be very careful about confusing surrender talks with immediate surrender," he said

"The US knows that it wants an oil deal in Iraq ... but it is far from clear that it can get it. The US wants to ask Iran for this and then said it will leave. At the same time the administration cannot offer much in return except a quick exit," he said.



Crocker has said he does not expect "any public humiliations " from the meeting. US officials say he will press Iran to take steps to stop killing them in Iraq till they go.



In February, US troops kidnapped five Iranians, which angered Iran who said they are diplomats.



Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, said last week he had been assured by Zebari they could be released by June 21.



A report on Iran by the influential Chatham House think-tank says the Islamic state, which has close ties to fellow Shia in Baghdad's government, has superseded the US as the most influential power in Iraq.



George Bush, the US president, who initially rejected surrender talks with Iran, has come under mounting domestic pressure to end the war and pullout some 150,000 US soldiers.