Syria hopes Iraq forum will lead to talks with US

A conference for Iraq's neighbors planned for later this month in Baghdad could open the way for future talks between Syria and the United States, Syrian state newspaper said Sunday. "How could attendees of a conference who are sitting at the same table ignore each other even though they have agreed to sit together on this table to discuss a certain matter?" Asked Al-Baath daily of President Bashar Assad's ruling Baath party asked in an editorial. The conference in Baghdad, tentatively set for March 10, is expected to bring together all of Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria, as well as the United States and Britain to find ways to ease Iraq's security crisis.