Promises, promises

There are a dozen good reasons why Iraq’s Arab neighbors should send ambassadors to Baghdad. But there are three unfortunate reasons why, despite U.S. pressure, they haven’t and probably won’t this year.

Only about 20 countries have embassies in Iraq, and fewer than a dozen have stationed ambassadors in Baghdad. That’s partly because of legitimate security fears. In 2005, Egypt’s envoy to Iraq was kidnapped and murdered by Al Qaeda, which also attempted to abduct diplomats from Pakistan and Bahrain as part of a campaign to punish Muslim nations that collaborated with the U.S. “crusaders.” At the time, Egypt promised to send another ambassador soon, but the violence grew worse and it never did.

But security isn’t the only reason why Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, among others, haven’t sent ambassadors, while Syria and Iran have done so eagerly. The Sunni Arab regimes remain deeply skeptical about the Shiite-dominated government’s treatment of Iraq’s Sunni minority -- and about Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s personal and political ties to Iran. In January, after the security situation in Iraq had markedly improved, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al Faisal, said that an ambassador had been appointed and that he hoped to open an embassy “in the next few months.” He hasn’t.

In March, President Bush personally thanked the king of Bahrain, a close U.S. ally, for finally dispatching an ambassador. And last week, answering sharp criticism in Congress about the lack of a diplomatic “surge” for Iraq, Bush dispatched Gen. David H. Petraeus to Riyadh and instructed U.S. diplomats elsewhere in the Middle East to encourage the Arab countries to reopen their embassies in Baghdad and step up help for Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will raise a similar plea at a meeting of Iraq’s neighbors Tuesday in Kuwait City.

Rice and Petraeus will no doubt receive a polite reception -- and maybe renewed promises to act as soon as the shelling of the Green Zone abates. But key Arab regimes are still angry at Bush for ignoring their advice not to invade Iraq, offended by his unqualified support for the sectarian Maliki government, dubious about Washington’s overall competence in Mideast affairs and unwilling to lift a finger to help the lame-duck Bush. Even so, they need to get over it. Refusing to help stabilize Iraq in order to punish the United States will ultimately hurt the Arabs most of all -- and especially their Iraqi Sunni brethren.