Seeking peace, Arab diplomat returns defeated

Seeking peace, Arab diplomat returns defeated

CAIRO, Egypt -- The Arab League sent Mokhtar Lamani to Iraq to persuade its bitterly divided Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders to make peace. He failed, and has now resigned, disillusioned and nearly drained of hope.

He says his mission was doomed by feeble support from the Arab governments that hired him, U.S. policies and the refusal of Iraq's leaders to work together.

"I am no longer going to stand and watch Iraqis' bodies being taken to the cemetery," he said in Cairo, where he returned from Baghdad last week to deliver his resignation to the Arab League.

His mission was the Arab world's belated effort to help solve the turmoil -- a response to criticism from Iraq and the United States that Arabs were not doing enough. For much of the time since Saddam Hussein's fall nearly four years ago, Arab governments had shunned involvement, not wanting to imply approval of the U.S.-led invasion.

-- The Associated Press