Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: By MIKI TODA
Date: 22 August 2006
TOKYO_Iraqi forces should be able to control the country's internal security
within two years, but will still need foreign help to patrol its borders,
the Iraqi national security adviser said Tuesday.
In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires and Associated Press Television
News in Tokyo, Mowaffak Al Rubaie said Iraqi forces were moving on the path
of being able to secure the country, despite a recent surge in violence.
"I believe in 18 months or a maximum two years, Iraq security forces will be
able and will be competent to control the security situation inside Iraq,"
he said.
"Now, defending the borders from threats coming from neighbors, or coming
from outside, is a different matter," Al Rubaie added.
Al Rubaie met earlier on Tuesday with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso,
and was to later meet with defense chief Fukushiro Nukaga. Al Rubaie is in
Tokyo to discuss security in Iraq and the future of Iraq-Japan relations.
Despite his stated faith in Iraqi security forces, Al Rubaie backed away
from speculating on a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition
forces, saying the recent violence had affected earlier estimates of a
coalition drawdown.
"I don't think it is wise to put a timeline for a total withdrawal of the
foreign troops from Iraq," he said. "I think this will play into the hands
of the terrorists and the insurgents."
An upsurge in violence linked to the Sunni insurgency and the Shiite-Sunni
sectarian conflict killed about 3,500 people in July, the highest monthly
death toll since the U.S. led invasion in March 2003.
Some fear Iraq is on the road to civil war, but Al Rubaie denied that,
saying that violent attacks have been declining in recent weeks after
peaking last month. He said the al-Qaida terrorist network's forces in Iraq
had been "severely wounded."
"We're on the right track for being self-reliant and self-sufficient," he
said.
More than 2,600 members of the U.S. military have also died in Iraq since
the invasion. President George W. Bush on Monday acknowledged that the Iraq
war is "straining the psyche of our country," but warned that leaving now
would be a disaster.
Byline: By MIKI TODA
Date: 22 August 2006
TOKYO_Iraqi forces should be able to control the country's internal security
within two years, but will still need foreign help to patrol its borders,
the Iraqi national security adviser said Tuesday.
In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires and Associated Press Television
News in Tokyo, Mowaffak Al Rubaie said Iraqi forces were moving on the path
of being able to secure the country, despite a recent surge in violence.
"I believe in 18 months or a maximum two years, Iraq security forces will be
able and will be competent to control the security situation inside Iraq,"
he said.
"Now, defending the borders from threats coming from neighbors, or coming
from outside, is a different matter," Al Rubaie added.
Al Rubaie met earlier on Tuesday with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso,
and was to later meet with defense chief Fukushiro Nukaga. Al Rubaie is in
Tokyo to discuss security in Iraq and the future of Iraq-Japan relations.
Despite his stated faith in Iraqi security forces, Al Rubaie backed away
from speculating on a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition
forces, saying the recent violence had affected earlier estimates of a
coalition drawdown.
"I don't think it is wise to put a timeline for a total withdrawal of the
foreign troops from Iraq," he said. "I think this will play into the hands
of the terrorists and the insurgents."
An upsurge in violence linked to the Sunni insurgency and the Shiite-Sunni
sectarian conflict killed about 3,500 people in July, the highest monthly
death toll since the U.S. led invasion in March 2003.
Some fear Iraq is on the road to civil war, but Al Rubaie denied that,
saying that violent attacks have been declining in recent weeks after
peaking last month. He said the al-Qaida terrorist network's forces in Iraq
had been "severely wounded."
"We're on the right track for being self-reliant and self-sufficient," he
said.
More than 2,600 members of the U.S. military have also died in Iraq since
the invasion. President George W. Bush on Monday acknowledged that the Iraq
war is "straining the psyche of our country," but warned that leaving now
would be a disaster.