Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: USA Today
Byline: Rick Jervis
Date: 16 October 2006
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in an interview with USA TODAY
that his government will not force militias to disarm until later this year
or early next year, despite escalating violence in Baghdad fueled by death
squads and religious warfare.
Al-Maliki's remarks point to a growing gap between the U.S. and Iraqi
governments over how to handle growing sectarian violence.
U.S. officials have urged the Iraqi government to take immediate action to
reduce the violence. On a visit to Baghdad earlier this month, Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice said the "security situation is not one that can be
tolerated and it's not one helped by political inaction."
Al-Maliki also predicted a significant U.S. troop withdrawal starting early
next year, despite the growing violence. If Iraq's security forces continue
to build in strength, U.S. troops could start withdrawing in "a matter of
months," he said. There are currently 141,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
The prime minister criticized the U.S.-led military coalition for an
overreliance on force, which he called the "wrong approach."
"Terrorism and militias - especially militias - cannot be dealt with only by
using tanks, guns and aircraft," he said.
Al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government depends on some militia leaders for
political support.
Al-Maliki said he has rejected U.S. plans to launch large-scale operations
into Sadr City, a Baghdad slum and a stronghold of the Mahdi Army, a
powerful militia loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr's
political organization controls several Cabinet positions and 30 seats in
the parliament.
"We have told the Americans that we don't mind targeting a Mahdi Army cell
inside Sadr City," al-Maliki said. "But the way the multinational forces are
thinking of confronting this issue will destroy an entire neighborhood. Of
course it was rejected."
There "seems like a disconnect" between U.S. and Iraqi strategies, said
Steven Cook, a Middle East analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The prime minister, speaking softly through an interpreter, shared his views
during a rare 50-minute interview Friday in his expansive,
marble-and-gold-trimmed residence, a former palace of deposed leader Saddam
Hussein located inside the tightly guarded Green Zone.
The U.S.-led military command in Iraq declined to address al-Maliki's
remarks directly but said the coalition is working with the Iraqi government
to disarm militias. "The U.S. and Iraq are working together to find
solutions that will demobilize and reintegrate their members into Iraqi
society," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.
"The next six months will be critical in terms of reining in the danger of
civil war," Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said in a June
interview with a German magazine.
Al-Maliki said he needs time. "The problem that we face in disbanding
militias - and the militias have to be disbanded - is that there are
procedures, steps that need to taken, which take time," he said.
Byline: Rick Jervis
Date: 16 October 2006
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in an interview with USA TODAY
that his government will not force militias to disarm until later this year
or early next year, despite escalating violence in Baghdad fueled by death
squads and religious warfare.
Al-Maliki's remarks point to a growing gap between the U.S. and Iraqi
governments over how to handle growing sectarian violence.
U.S. officials have urged the Iraqi government to take immediate action to
reduce the violence. On a visit to Baghdad earlier this month, Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice said the "security situation is not one that can be
tolerated and it's not one helped by political inaction."
Al-Maliki also predicted a significant U.S. troop withdrawal starting early
next year, despite the growing violence. If Iraq's security forces continue
to build in strength, U.S. troops could start withdrawing in "a matter of
months," he said. There are currently 141,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
The prime minister criticized the U.S.-led military coalition for an
overreliance on force, which he called the "wrong approach."
"Terrorism and militias - especially militias - cannot be dealt with only by
using tanks, guns and aircraft," he said.
Al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government depends on some militia leaders for
political support.
Al-Maliki said he has rejected U.S. plans to launch large-scale operations
into Sadr City, a Baghdad slum and a stronghold of the Mahdi Army, a
powerful militia loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr's
political organization controls several Cabinet positions and 30 seats in
the parliament.
"We have told the Americans that we don't mind targeting a Mahdi Army cell
inside Sadr City," al-Maliki said. "But the way the multinational forces are
thinking of confronting this issue will destroy an entire neighborhood. Of
course it was rejected."
There "seems like a disconnect" between U.S. and Iraqi strategies, said
Steven Cook, a Middle East analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The prime minister, speaking softly through an interpreter, shared his views
during a rare 50-minute interview Friday in his expansive,
marble-and-gold-trimmed residence, a former palace of deposed leader Saddam
Hussein located inside the tightly guarded Green Zone.
The U.S.-led military command in Iraq declined to address al-Maliki's
remarks directly but said the coalition is working with the Iraqi government
to disarm militias. "The U.S. and Iraq are working together to find
solutions that will demobilize and reintegrate their members into Iraqi
society," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.
"The next six months will be critical in terms of reining in the danger of
civil war," Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said in a June
interview with a German magazine.
Al-Maliki said he needs time. "The problem that we face in disbanding
militias - and the militias have to be disbanded - is that there are
procedures, steps that need to taken, which take time," he said.