Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
May 12, 2007
Pg. 8
By Kirk Semple
BAGHDAD, May 11 — A majority of Iraq’s Parliament members have signed a petition for a timetable governing a withdrawal of American troops, several legislators said Friday.
The withdrawal would depend on the growth and maturity of the Iraqi security forces, to ensure that the departure would not create a security vacuum and accelerate the sectarian conflict, the petition’s sponsors said.
“The troop withdrawal would move in parallel with the buildup of Iraqi troops, but their stay should not be for a long time,” said Saleh al-Igili, a member of the parliamentary bloc allied with the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, which sponsored the petition.
Officials with Mr. Sadr’s bloc said 144 of Parliament’s 275 members — including Sunnis, Shiites and at least one Kurd — had signed. The document is being developed into a draft bill by Parliament’s legal and foreign relations committees, said Bahaa al-Araji, a member of the Sadr bloc and head of the legal committee.
The petition formalizes a widely held sentiment among many legislators — and among Iraqis in general — that American troops should withdraw as soon as possible, though not before Iraqi forces are prepared to assume control of the country’s security.
Even Mr. Sadr has cautioned against an immediate withdrawal, although he has been in the vanguard of Iraqi leaders demanding an American departure, and last month withdrew his six ministers from the cabinet in protest over Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s resistance to timetables.
The petition echoes elements of the debate in Washington over troop withdrawals from Iraq. Like the petitioners, many Democratic lawmakers have demanded a timetable for a withdrawal, over the opposition of President Bush and Mr. Maliki, though the president has accepted the idea of nonbinding benchmarks.
But in another respect the petition brings the majority of Iraqi legislators into agreement with the Bush administration: both argue that an American withdrawal should depend on the readiness of Iraqi troops.
Mr. Araji said the legislative committees drafting a bill had asked the interior and defense ministers for an estimated timeline for the development of effective Iraq security forces.
Pressure in the United States and Iraq for deadlines comes during a buildup of American and Iraqi troops to buttress the latest security plan for the capital. Three additional American brigades, a total of about 7,000 troops, have already been deployed in and around Baghdad, and two more are scheduled to arrive in the next two months.
The increase appears to have led to a limited reduction in violence in Baghdad, particularly in the kinds of assassinations for which Shiite militias have most often been blamed. But American and Iraqi forces have not been able to stop the car bombings and suicide attacks attributed to the Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
Bridges were the targets of two suicide bombings on Friday in a neighborhood on the southern fringe of Baghdad, killing at least 22 people and wounding at least 50, an Interior Ministry official said.
Military pressure on Baghdad has driven some Sunni Arab militants to Diyala Province, north of the capital, where they have joined a worsening battle between Sunni and Shiite militias.
The challenge to the American and Iraqi military in Diyala was underscored Friday by the American military commander in northern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, who said he had asked for more troops to join the fight in the province.
The level of violence in Diyala, already high, has increased since the start of the American-led security crackdown in mid-February, making it one of the most lethal regions in Iraq for American troops.
“I do not have enough soldiers right now in Diyala Province to get that security situation moving,” General Mixon said. “We have plans to put additional forces in that region.” He declined to provide details about possible future deployments. But he insisted that a cornerstone of the country’s long-term security would be a sustained American presence.
“We just can’t think about pulling out of here just like that,” he said.
The American military command said two soldiers were killed and 11 wounded in two attacks on Thursday, one in Baghdad and the other in Diyala. The Interior Ministry official said at least 17 bodies had been recovered from streets around Baghdad.
Khalid al-Ansary and Khalid W. Hassan contributed reporting.
May 12, 2007
Pg. 8
By Kirk Semple
BAGHDAD, May 11 — A majority of Iraq’s Parliament members have signed a petition for a timetable governing a withdrawal of American troops, several legislators said Friday.
The withdrawal would depend on the growth and maturity of the Iraqi security forces, to ensure that the departure would not create a security vacuum and accelerate the sectarian conflict, the petition’s sponsors said.
“The troop withdrawal would move in parallel with the buildup of Iraqi troops, but their stay should not be for a long time,” said Saleh al-Igili, a member of the parliamentary bloc allied with the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, which sponsored the petition.
Officials with Mr. Sadr’s bloc said 144 of Parliament’s 275 members — including Sunnis, Shiites and at least one Kurd — had signed. The document is being developed into a draft bill by Parliament’s legal and foreign relations committees, said Bahaa al-Araji, a member of the Sadr bloc and head of the legal committee.
The petition formalizes a widely held sentiment among many legislators — and among Iraqis in general — that American troops should withdraw as soon as possible, though not before Iraqi forces are prepared to assume control of the country’s security.
Even Mr. Sadr has cautioned against an immediate withdrawal, although he has been in the vanguard of Iraqi leaders demanding an American departure, and last month withdrew his six ministers from the cabinet in protest over Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s resistance to timetables.
The petition echoes elements of the debate in Washington over troop withdrawals from Iraq. Like the petitioners, many Democratic lawmakers have demanded a timetable for a withdrawal, over the opposition of President Bush and Mr. Maliki, though the president has accepted the idea of nonbinding benchmarks.
But in another respect the petition brings the majority of Iraqi legislators into agreement with the Bush administration: both argue that an American withdrawal should depend on the readiness of Iraqi troops.
Mr. Araji said the legislative committees drafting a bill had asked the interior and defense ministers for an estimated timeline for the development of effective Iraq security forces.
Pressure in the United States and Iraq for deadlines comes during a buildup of American and Iraqi troops to buttress the latest security plan for the capital. Three additional American brigades, a total of about 7,000 troops, have already been deployed in and around Baghdad, and two more are scheduled to arrive in the next two months.
The increase appears to have led to a limited reduction in violence in Baghdad, particularly in the kinds of assassinations for which Shiite militias have most often been blamed. But American and Iraqi forces have not been able to stop the car bombings and suicide attacks attributed to the Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
Bridges were the targets of two suicide bombings on Friday in a neighborhood on the southern fringe of Baghdad, killing at least 22 people and wounding at least 50, an Interior Ministry official said.
Military pressure on Baghdad has driven some Sunni Arab militants to Diyala Province, north of the capital, where they have joined a worsening battle between Sunni and Shiite militias.
The challenge to the American and Iraqi military in Diyala was underscored Friday by the American military commander in northern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, who said he had asked for more troops to join the fight in the province.
The level of violence in Diyala, already high, has increased since the start of the American-led security crackdown in mid-February, making it one of the most lethal regions in Iraq for American troops.
“I do not have enough soldiers right now in Diyala Province to get that security situation moving,” General Mixon said. “We have plans to put additional forces in that region.” He declined to provide details about possible future deployments. But he insisted that a cornerstone of the country’s long-term security would be a sustained American presence.
“We just can’t think about pulling out of here just like that,” he said.
The American military command said two soldiers were killed and 11 wounded in two attacks on Thursday, one in Baghdad and the other in Diyala. The Interior Ministry official said at least 17 bodies had been recovered from streets around Baghdad.
Khalid al-Ansary and Khalid W. Hassan contributed reporting.