Iranian president arrives in Iraq

A military band plays as Iraq's president greets Ahmadinejad warmly. Security is tight, but U.S. troops are absent.

12:09 AM PST, March 2, 2008BAGHDAD — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad strode up a red carpet and into the Iraqi presidential compound today for the start of a historic visit to Iraq, where the United States accuses Iran of meddling in violence.Ahmadinejad is the first Iranian leader to visit Iraq since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, but there was no sign of lingering animosity during today's lavish arrival. Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, smiled broadly as he guided his guest from a dark sedan into his compound in Baghdad's Karada district.In a striking departure from other high-profile visitors to Iraq, Ahmadinejad did not use a helicopter to come into the center of the city from the airport. Instead, his convoy used the airport road, once notorious for bombs and other attacks and heavily patrolled by U.S. forces. He also did not head into the heavily protected Green Zone, going instead to Talabani's home utside the fortified area.A military band played rousing anthems as Ahmadinejad shook countless hands on his way into the building. Amid the stern-looking security men who surrounded the entourage, there was a notable omission: U.S. troops, who usually form the bulk of protection forces for high-profile guests in Iraq.This time, the U.S. military made clear it would not be involved in protecting the Iranian president, who denies White House claims that his country has provided lethal bombs as well as training and financing to Shiite militias in Iraq.Iraq's government has also accused Iran of fomenting violence here and has indicated that the topic will be up for discussion during Ahmadinejad's two-day visit."This should be presented at the table and discussed and negotiated," the Iraqi government spokesman, Ali Dabbagh, said recently when asked what would be on the agenda. "This is something that worries us in Iraq. We need to find a way to stop all this," he said, referring to alleged arms smuggling over the Iranian border.Talabani, who visited Tehran in June, will host Ahmadinejad. The Iraqi president's ties to Iran stretch back to the 1980s, when he and other Kurds as well as Iraqi Shiite Muslim political parties and militias sought refuge there and fought alongside Iranian forces against Saddam Hussein's army.Since Hussein's ouster five years ago, trade between the two countries has reached about $8 billion a year, and Iran recently announced a $1 billion loan to Iraq.