MALIKI FRIES RICE
LASHES OUT AT CONDI COMMENTS
By ANDY SOLTIS
SCHISM:Condoleezza Rice has been accused of misstating...
January 18, 2007 -- Iraq's prime minister charged yesterday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is undergoing a "crisis" and misstating Washington's attitude toward his regime.
Nouri al-Maliki told The Times of London that Rice was wrong when she told a congressional hearing last week that his government is, "in a sense, on borrowed time."
"Certain officials are going through a crisis," Maliki retorted.
"Secretary Rice is expressing her own point of view if she thinks that the government is on borrowed time, whether it is borrowed time for the Iraqi government or the American administration.
"I don't think we are on borrowed time." Maliki also said the United States can "dramatically" reduce its troop size in Iraq if it provides his army with the necessary weapons.
The failure to supply sufficient guns and equipment has cost a large numbers of lives, he said.
"If we succeed in implementing the agreement between us to speed up the equipping and providing weapons to our military forces, I think that within three to six months, our need for American troops will drastically go down," he said.
White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe acknowledged that some of Maliki's points were "valid" and that the equipping of his security forces would be sped up.
Also yesterday Maliki met with foreign diplomats, including the U.S. ambassador, to strengthen support for another planned security operation. He pledged to act equally against all gunmen, regardless of sect.
Maliki told the paper that 400 members of the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr had been arrested in recent days. This showed that the PM wasn't being "lenient" with Shiite militias, he said.
Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have suggested Maliki could lose his job if he doesn't reduce the bloodshed between Sunnis and Shiites. But Maliki implied such criticism only helps fuel terrorism.
"I wish that we could receive strong messages of support from the U.S. so we don't give some boost to the terrorists and make them feel that they might have achieved success," he said.
"I believe that such statements give moral boosts to the terrorists and push them toward making an extra effort and making them believe that they have defeated the American administration.
"But I can tell you that they haven't defeated the Iraqi government."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01182007/news/worldnews/maliki_fries_rice_worldnews_andy_soltis.htm
White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe acknowledged that some of Maliki's points were "valid" and that the equipping of his security forces would be sped up.
He could be the very devil himself and I would still have to agree with him on the first point...and he's going to get what he wants, obviously.