ANALYSIS-U.S. eyes Iranian president's visit to Iraq this Saturday

[Ichingcarpenter]

WASHINGTON, Feb 29 (Reuters) - While President George W. Bush's trips to Iraq have been brief and surrounded by secrecy, a visit by Iran's president this weekend is being heralded with much fanfare, raising U.S. concerns it will erode American influence in the region.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit, at the invitation of the Iraqi government, will be the first by an Iranian president to Baghdad since 1979.

Bush used his own trip to the region last month to cajole moderate Arab allies to join a U.S. drive to isolate Iran because of its nuclear program and what Washington sees as stoking violence in Iraq.
"President Ahmadinejad's visit is aimed at stealing America's thunder ... the Iranians are masters of propaganda," said Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank.

"It is his (Ahmadinejad's) moment of triumph. It is his 'Mission Accomplished' moment," Rubin said, referring to a visit by Bush to a U.S. aircraft carrier in May 2003, two months after the invasion of Iraq, in which he addressed troops under a banner saying "Mission Accomplished."
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