Iraqi President Visits Jordan to Repair Ties

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani held talks Saturday with King Abdullah II to mend ties with the kingdom, which were strained by reports that a Jordanian was responsible for the deadliest suicide bombing in postwar Iraq.

Underscoring the need for better relations between the two U.S. allies, Abdullah extended a red-carpet welcome to Talabani, who was on his first foreign trip as Iraq’s head of state.

“Jordan stands by Iraq with all its power to fight terrorism and to wipe out the terrorists and those who stand behind them and finance them,” Abdullah was quoted as telling the Iraqi leader, who took office last month.

Officials said the monarch promised more help to beef up Iraq’s counter-terrorism agency and speed up a U.S.-funded program to train thousands of Iraqi police in Jordan.

Bilateral ties suffered a blow two months ago over reports that a Sunni Muslim Jordanian carried out a suicide bombing that killed 125 people, mostly Shiites, south of Baghdad and that his family regarded him as a martyr.

Many Iraqi Shiites took to the streets in reaction to the reports, with angry protesters at least twice breaking into Jordan’s heavily guarded embassy compound in Baghdad.

Jordanian officials accused Iraq’s mainstream Shiite parties of stirring the protests, which forced Amman’s ambassador to flee Iraq. Baghdad also recalled its top diplomat from Amman.

But in a sign that relations had improved, officials said Iraq’s envoy to Jordan had returned with Talabani to assume his post.