Iraq leaders call for International meeting to help stabalize thier country

1. Iraq invited all neighboring countries to the conference next month, which is aimed at improving security in the country amid daily attacks on civilians The conference is tentatively set for March 10-11, Iraq's ambassador in Washington, Samir Sumaidaie, said last month.

2. The four countries that hold permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council with the U.S. -- Britain, China, France and Russia -- also are invited, Invitations have also gone out to Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Bahrain, and the Arab League

3.Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja'afari, said today his government hasn't decided whether to attend.

4. This will mark the first time the U.S. has sat with Iran and Syria to look at Iraq's future, an initiative that lawmakers and a bipartisan panel of American statesmen have sought. The Iraq Study Group, headed by former secretary of state Republican James Baker, recommended in its Dec. 6 report that the U.S. engage in a wider regional diplomatic offensive to curb violence in Iraq.The group also recommended direct U.S. talks with Iran and Syria without conditions

John Negroponte, the new deputy secretary of state, said in his Jan. 30 confirmation hearing that he didn't consider such a conference to be of utmost urgency. ``I would not say that, as a matter of priority, one would have to go right to a regional- type conference,'' he told senators