Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Post
May 21, 2007
U.N. Man Calls D.C. Squabble A Qaeda Boost
By Sharri Markson
Iraq's U.N. ambassador has a stark message for the American people: Don't abandon us now.
"We have to know we have a partner here, that we have a partner we can rely on," Ambassador Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi told The Post in a rare interview.
"This country is at war. We are at war together. We are allied together at war against a common enemy," al-Istrabadi said. "We have one way forward: together."
Al-Istrabadi's remarks came as he warned that the debate in Washington over the course of the Iraq war is being "poll-driven" because of the 2008 elections.
It's also being closely monitored by a key enemy, he said: al Qaeda.
He also warned, "If there weren't a single American soldier" left in Iraq, al Qaeda members and other terrorists there would be "killing people, massacring them by the hundreds and thousands every month."
"It's a very real threat. It is a clear and present danger," said al-Istrabadi, who is also Iraq's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.
Rather than a public debate that focuses on American withdrawal, al-Istrabadi said that now is the time to press ahead with the surge in U.S. troops to crush insurgent forces in Iraq.
"We've made remarkable progress, and so it seems to me that this is the time to redouble the commitment, to help us to complete that process," he said.
But instead, he noted, the early launch of the U.S. presidential campaign has turned America's war policy into a political football.
"It's been very painful to watch the political process in Washington, because it seems to have very little to do with Iraq," al-Istrabadi said.
"It seems to be poll-driven, based on internal political dynamics," he added. "It's more poll-driven than it might have been at this point in the middle of May 2004 [the last presidential-election year], in terms of the issues and how they play with voters."
"Because of this acceleration of the presidential race, I think we have less of the ability of the elder statesmen of both parties to find a reasonable compromise that is based on international interest, as opposed to what may be popular."
Al-Istrabadi's comments come as the Democratic-controlled Congress, as well as Democratic presidential candidates, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, have stepped up efforts to bring troops home and end the war.
Al-Istrabadi, who drafted Iraq's interim constitution and who was the principle author of its bill of rights, said he was shocked by the recent passage of Democratic-sponsored legislation to fund the war in two-month increments.
"Our mutual enemy [al Qaeda], which has a variety of funding sources available to them, is not thinking about funding only 60 days at a time," al-Istrabadi said. "It seems to me you fight fire with fire. I don't know how you fund a war 60 days at a time."
He sharply criticized proposals for a timeline to withdraw the troops, warning that such moves are "not helpful" because they send a strong message that al Qaeda only needs to wait out the United States.
"Some of the pronouncements about early withdrawal make one scratch one's head as far as trying to square that with the ultimate interests of the U.S. in the region, which have got to be predicated on stability," al-Istrabadi said.
He claimed the debate between Democrats in Congress and President Bush is being closely monitored by al Qaeda in Iraq, which al-Istrabadi described as a cunning and sophisticated enemy that is not to be underestimated.
"There are real enemies who are watching the debate, who understand what's happening here and who think they can affect the outcome of the debate," he said.
"People have a sense of these people sitting in caves, disconnected from the world, but that's a false perception, I think. This is a sophisticated adversary, which has watched the electoral politics of other countries and can, in its own mind at least, claim some success."
He noted that, even as there has been political bickering over the wisdom of staying in Iraq, there have been signs that the tide has turned for the better there.
Al-Istrabadi said that early indications are that the surge has proven effective in Baghdad.
He acknowledged, however, that there has been an increase in violence in surrounding areas.
But, he said, "September is still four months away and we have a long summer to get through. If the initial indicators of success carry through, this will be truly great progress, even if there is a rise in violence in the outlying areas."
May 21, 2007
U.N. Man Calls D.C. Squabble A Qaeda Boost
By Sharri Markson
Iraq's U.N. ambassador has a stark message for the American people: Don't abandon us now.
"We have to know we have a partner here, that we have a partner we can rely on," Ambassador Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi told The Post in a rare interview.
"This country is at war. We are at war together. We are allied together at war against a common enemy," al-Istrabadi said. "We have one way forward: together."
Al-Istrabadi's remarks came as he warned that the debate in Washington over the course of the Iraq war is being "poll-driven" because of the 2008 elections.
It's also being closely monitored by a key enemy, he said: al Qaeda.
He also warned, "If there weren't a single American soldier" left in Iraq, al Qaeda members and other terrorists there would be "killing people, massacring them by the hundreds and thousands every month."
"It's a very real threat. It is a clear and present danger," said al-Istrabadi, who is also Iraq's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.
Rather than a public debate that focuses on American withdrawal, al-Istrabadi said that now is the time to press ahead with the surge in U.S. troops to crush insurgent forces in Iraq.
"We've made remarkable progress, and so it seems to me that this is the time to redouble the commitment, to help us to complete that process," he said.
But instead, he noted, the early launch of the U.S. presidential campaign has turned America's war policy into a political football.
"It's been very painful to watch the political process in Washington, because it seems to have very little to do with Iraq," al-Istrabadi said.
"It seems to be poll-driven, based on internal political dynamics," he added. "It's more poll-driven than it might have been at this point in the middle of May 2004 [the last presidential-election year], in terms of the issues and how they play with voters."
"Because of this acceleration of the presidential race, I think we have less of the ability of the elder statesmen of both parties to find a reasonable compromise that is based on international interest, as opposed to what may be popular."
Al-Istrabadi's comments come as the Democratic-controlled Congress, as well as Democratic presidential candidates, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, have stepped up efforts to bring troops home and end the war.
Al-Istrabadi, who drafted Iraq's interim constitution and who was the principle author of its bill of rights, said he was shocked by the recent passage of Democratic-sponsored legislation to fund the war in two-month increments.
"Our mutual enemy [al Qaeda], which has a variety of funding sources available to them, is not thinking about funding only 60 days at a time," al-Istrabadi said. "It seems to me you fight fire with fire. I don't know how you fund a war 60 days at a time."
He sharply criticized proposals for a timeline to withdraw the troops, warning that such moves are "not helpful" because they send a strong message that al Qaeda only needs to wait out the United States.
"Some of the pronouncements about early withdrawal make one scratch one's head as far as trying to square that with the ultimate interests of the U.S. in the region, which have got to be predicated on stability," al-Istrabadi said.
He claimed the debate between Democrats in Congress and President Bush is being closely monitored by al Qaeda in Iraq, which al-Istrabadi described as a cunning and sophisticated enemy that is not to be underestimated.
"There are real enemies who are watching the debate, who understand what's happening here and who think they can affect the outcome of the debate," he said.
"People have a sense of these people sitting in caves, disconnected from the world, but that's a false perception, I think. This is a sophisticated adversary, which has watched the electoral politics of other countries and can, in its own mind at least, claim some success."
He noted that, even as there has been political bickering over the wisdom of staying in Iraq, there have been signs that the tide has turned for the better there.
Al-Istrabadi said that early indications are that the surge has proven effective in Baghdad.
He acknowledged, however, that there has been an increase in violence in surrounding areas.
But, he said, "September is still four months away and we have a long summer to get through. If the initial indicators of success carry through, this will be truly great progress, even if there is a rise in violence in the outlying areas."