US-Iran meeting

The US Iran meeting went down today, and it sounds like it went reasonably well. Nothing concrete emerged, but both sides came out talking cooperation which is a big step forward.

But, as I'm prone to do, I fixated on this weird little section.

The talks were held at Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Green Zone office.

Al-Maliki did not attend the meeting, but the prime minister greeted the two ambassadors, who shook hands, and led them into a conference room, where the ambassadors sat across from each other.

Before leaving the room, al-Maliki told both sides that Iraqis wanted a stable country free of foreign forces and regional interference. The country should not be turned into a base for terrorist groups, he said. He also said that the U.S.-led forces in Iraq were only here to help build up the army and police and the country would not be used as a launching ground for a U.S. attack on a neighbor, a clear reference to Iran.

Maliki said welcome, laid out the groundwork positions for both sides, then left while the fate of his country was being discussed in the next room.