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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Iraqi leaders say US force shouldn't be cut too soon |
| 2005-02-02 |
| Iraqi officials awaiting election results began Tuesday to grapple with the issue of how long American troops should remain in the country. At a news conference Tuesday, the interim president, Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, said it would be "complete nonsense to ask the troops to leave in this chaos and this vacuum of power," a position similar to that taken last week by Ayad Allawi, the interim prime minister. Both men are hoping to retain their posts in the new government, which appears likely to be a coalition of groups with differences on other key issues - including the role of religion in politics - but a common acceptance of the need for continued American military power in the battle with Sunni insurgents. The first official returns from the voting, including an announcement of the turnout and some initial vote breakdowns, are likely to be released Wednesday, according to officials of the Iraqi election commission. Complete results are expected to take as much as another week, but preliminary skirmishing has already begun in the contest for prominent positions in the new transitional government. And just as the elections gave new momentum to the debate in Washington about eventual American troop withdrawals, the imminent creation of Iraq's first fully elected government in decades has stirred fresh discussion of the issue here. Mostly, Iraqi politicians who have spoken out on the issue have emphasized the need for caution, with any reduction in American troop levels linked to progress in building effective Iraqi security forces. Another leading figure, Defense Minister Hazim al-Shalaan, said at a separate news conference on Tuesday that a withdrawal of the 150,000 American troops serving in Iraq would be "very dangerous." He added: "The American forces cannot leave Iraq now. They will leave when security is established and there is a strong army and police force." The commander of the new Iraqi Army, Gen. Babakir Zebari, also weighed in, telling reporters that some withdrawals could begin within a year. "In six months, or maybe at the end of the year, the construction of the Iraqi Army will be finished and our forces will be capable of guaranteeing security," he said. A Shiite vice president, Ibrahim Jafari, leader of the powerful Dawa religious group, warned there could be civil war if American troops left prematurely. The positions the Iraqi leaders staked out on American force withdrawals appeared to align closely with that of United States commanders, who have said they hope to see enough progress in the building of Iraq's new forces that they can begin reducing troop levels, or at least pulling troops back to bases outside the major cities and towns, by late this year or early in 2006. American officers who have been disappointed by many of the Iraqi security units in the past said they were pleased with their performance on Sunday, when they were assigned responsibility for the close protection of more than 5,300 polling stations, and stood their ground under a wave of insurgent attacks. The statements came on another day, the second since the elections, with a low level of insurgent attacks in Iraq. On Sunday, according to figures provided by the American military command, insurgents mounted 260 attacks, the highest number on any day since American troops captured Baghdad nearly 22 months ago. The attacks, including suicide bombings, killed about 50 people, but failed to have more than a marginal impact on the voting, in which about 8 million Iraqis cast ballots out of more than 14 million who were eligible, according to the estimate given by top officials of the election commission as the polls closed. There were fears that insurgents would begin a wave of reprisals on Tuesday, when tight security restrictions imposed for the elections were lifted. The actions included an easing of night curfews, the removal of many temporary checkpoints, the reopening of the borders and a resumption of commercial flights at the Baghdad airport. But scattered reports from across the country indicated that there had been no new major bomb blasts, and there were no reports of killings of voters, although it could be a day or two before any violence in outlying towns and cities becomes known. A report from the Kurdish city of Erbil in the north said two Iraqis were killed by a roadside bomb on Tuesday. The Associated Press reported that it had obtained a videotape in which a group calling itself the Battalions of Holy Jihad in Iraq said it had captured four members of the Iraqi National Guard and threatened to inflict "the punishment they deserve for their treason against the country and its people." The same group posted a claim on the Internet that it had captured an American soldier and said it would behead the captive within 72 hours unless the United States released members of the group being held in detention, but there were indications that the claim might have been false. The Web site involved posted a still photograph of the man said to have been captured, instead of the shaky video film usually used to announce hostage-takings. The man, identified by the militants as John Adam, was shown seated on the ground with his arms behind his back. He had an almost lifeless stare, and the body armor and boots he was wearing appeared to differ from those worn by most American soldiers in Iraq. The Pentagon said it was checking, but had no reports of any soldiers missing. A possible explanation was offered by the Drudge Report, a Web site that specializes in media issues, which posted an article under the headline, "Did Iraqi militants take 'toy' hostage?" The site posted the photograph of the soldier said to have been captured alongside photographs of a toy soldier set that included a soldier doll with a strikingly similar stare, and a toy M-16 rifle of the kind carried by American soldiers. A similar weapon was pointed at the man who was shown in the photograph of the supposed hostage, but the weapon appeared suspended in air, with no hand visible holding it. The haste with which some of the country's leading politicians have staked out their positions on the issue of American troops offered a foretaste of the maneuvering that lies ahead over the composition of the new government. Western officials here have welcomed the political flurry, saying that it is further evidence, on top of the high voter turnout, that Iraqis have a fresh sense that with a new government, this time with a popular mandate, they will increasingly be in charge of their own affairs. Those officials have also noted calls from across the spectrum of political groups for the new government to contain a broad ethnic and religious mix. On Tuesday, Sheik Ghazi, the interim president, said he intended to make a renewed push to get Sunnis involved, including participation in the drafting of a new constitution, even if the turnout among Sunni voters proved to be low. He predicted that the new government would maintain the same ethnic balance in its top posts - a Sunni as president, a Shiite as prime minister, and a Shiite and a Kurd as the two vice presidents - as was the case in the departing administration. From the evidence so far the leading contenders in the battle for top posts are likely to be drawn from the largest coalition of Shiite parties, the United Iraqi Alliance, centered on powerful Iran-backed religious parties but also including a wide array of secular and independent candidates. Another important force is likely to be Dr. Allawi's Iraqi List group, a secular coalition that includes not only Shiites like Dr. Allawi but also many Sunnis. A key to what may happen on the issue of American forces, and on the formation of the new government, lies in the attitudes of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the most powerful of the religious groups in the Shiite alliance. He was quoted on Tuesday by the Agence France-Presse news agency as having said that his group would not seek to establish a Shiite state, "but to have a government whose priority is to respect the people's opinion, to organize elections and to have a government in favor of everyone's participation." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Toy Solider? Looks like it me. |
| Posted by: Theter Ebbomomp3141 2005-02-02 9:02:09 AM |