Iraqi prime minister takes softer tone

AP on Yahoo ^ | 7/16/07 | Robert H. Reid - ap

[NormsRevenge]

BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sought to soften earlier comments that American troops can leave "any time they want," saying Monday that Iraq's security force was on the road to taking over from U.S. troops — but it's not there yet.

Al-Maliki told reporters Saturday he was confident that Iraq's army and police are capable of maintaining security "if the international forces withdraw any time they want."

Those comments landed squarely in the middle of Washington's battles over Iraq policy. The U.S.-backed prime minister appeared to undermine the White House's contention that the 155,000 American troops must remain in the country because Iraq's own security forces are not ready to deal with Sunni and Shiite extremists on their own.

On Monday, however, al-Maliki rolled back. He hoped that Iraqi forces would receive enough training to be able to take over security duties from the Americans by the end of the year.

"I hope this here will be the end of the building of our forces so that we are prepared to take control of security. This needs the cooperation of everyone involved, both us and the coalition forces," he told NBC News.

"As soon as we reach this level of readiness, the door will be open for dialogue between us and Americans about our future plans. Now we are thinking as politicians about how to maintain robust long-term relations with the Americans whether they remain on Iraqi soil or pull out from Iraq," he said.

Al-Maliki's weekend comments likely reflected Iraqi frustration over criticism from the United States about his government's failure to meet any of the 18 benchmark measures which the White House says are necessary for national reconciliation.

Al-Maliki's assessment of Iraqi military capabilities drew a sharp retort Monday from former Rep. Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group. Hamilton said he was "extremely doubtful" the prime minister will be able to secure the country so that American forces can leave any time soon.

Many Iraqi politicians believe the Americans have underestimated the difficulties in enacting the benchmark bills in a parliament riddled with sectarian dissension.

"There is no chance that the Iraqi forces could take over at any time, or certainly by the first of the year," Hamilton said in a nationally broadcast interview. "All of the support efforts, logistical and medical and so forth, they are not close to being able to meet."

Senior U.S. military officers have also said they doubt Iraqi forces will be ready to operate on their own by the end of the year.

Maj. Gen. William Lynch, who commands U.S. forces south of Baghdad, said Sunday that it will take until fall to drive extremists from sanctuaries in his sector and "it's going to take us through the first of the year and into the spring" to shore up those gains.

Lynch and other commanders have lauded progress, especially in the Iraqi army, but have complained there aren't enough Iraqi forces to consolidate gains.

Last Friday, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the number of Iraqi battalions capable of operating independently had dropped from 10 in March to six currently. He said much of the problem was a result of combat losses.

[NormsRevenge]

Onlookers stand atop the crater left behind when a suicide bomber detonated a truck wired with explosives near a Kurdish political party's offices, followed by two other car bomb blasts, in the northern city of Kirkuk 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, July 16, 2007. The coordinated attack, believed to be the deadliest in Kirkuk since the four-year Iraq conflict began, killed more than 80 people and wounded more than 150, police said.(AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)

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A soldier stands guard near a crater at the scene of a bomb attack in Kirkuk, about 155 miles north of Baghdad, July 16, 2007. (Slahaldeen Rasheed/Reuters)

[NormsRevenge]

U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police vehicles are seen near the crater left behind when a suicide bomber detonated a truck wired with explosives near a Kurdish political party's offices, followed by two other car bomb blasts, in the northern city of Kirkuk 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, July 16, 2007. The coordinated attack, believed to be the deadliest in Kirkuk since the four-year Iraq conflict began, killed more than 80 people and wounded more than 150, police said. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)

[bray]

The Surge is Working Al QuedaDNC’s Worst Nightmare
You can see the confidence building on our side.

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[stm]

Al Maliki is an assclown and an impediment to Iraq’s progress. Time for a change.

[farmer18th]

The American Revolution: ten years of political struggle is carried on by American freedom fighters; they form their own state governments, hold continuous elections and achieve their first great victory (Saratoga) before foreign help is secured. Upon achieving independence from their tyrant overlords, they re-organize

The Iraqi Revolution: Muslim sectarian thugs kill each other like dogs in their own places of worship for centuries on end, until periods of order are achieved by brutal strongmen or mullahs, who torture their enemies and sap their economy. Western (Christian) peace keepers come in to give them back a representative government they were never capable of sustaining in the first place. Western diplomats help forge an oxymoronic Islamic “republic” and then wonder why it doesn’t work.

[Allegra]

On Monday, however, al-Maliki rolled back. He hoped that Iraqi forces would receive enough training to be able to take over security duties from the Americans by the end of the year.

He said that last year, too.