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Iraq should use IS war to rebuild foreign relations

The war against the Islamic State provides Iraq with an opportunity to rebuild fractured relations with neighboring countries and others.
Iraq's President Fouad Massoum (L) talks with Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal (C) and  Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari as they arrive for a family photo during the International Conference on Peace and Security in Iraq, at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris September 15, 2014.  French President Hollande called on Monday for a global response to counter Islamic State militants during an International conference bringing together about 30 countries to discuss how to cooperate in the figh
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Everyone in Iraq agrees that over the past few years, Iraq has experienced a growing imbalance in the management of its foreign relations that led to the rupturing of ties with a number of neighboring countries, creating an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. Perhaps the only disagreement is the reason for this imbalance.

Logic dictates that a state rebuilding itself should take the initiative and expand its international relations, but some in Iraq still believe that the country's problem has not been in the management of foreign relations, but in other countries' hostility toward Iraq, including allegedly plotting against it, supporting terrorism and trying to thwart the power structure introduced after 2003.

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