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Maliki to tell Bush: 'I'm not America's
man in Iraq'
28.10.2006
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BAGHDAD, October
28, -- Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will ask
US President George W. Bush for more help in
building local armed forces and will also tell him,
in a video conference, not to take his government
for granted.
Maliki met the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay
Khalilzad, on Friday to smooth ruffles in the close
working relationship between the two administrations
after a week of testy exchanges and diplomatic mis-steps.
The prime minister told the envoy: "I consider
myself a friend of the United States, but I'm not
America's man in Iraq", according to Hassen Sunaid,
a senior Maliki aide who talked to him shortly after
the meeting.
Maliki fell out publicly with his main ally this
week after US officials appeared to try to bump him
into accepting a timetable of political reforms
designed to placate Iraq's warring parties and to
end a sectarian war. |
Iraqi Prime minister Jawad al-Maliki
Photo:AP |
The furious Iraqi leader insisted that no outside
power could decide the agenda of his government,
even though two countries' agree over the key points
of a plan to disarm illegal militias and kickstart a
peace process.
After the meeting with Khalilzad, the pair later
released a rare joint statement which tried to paper
over the cracks in their alliance, but not before
Maliki had spoken firmly to the US envoy.
Sunaid quoted the prime minister as telling
Khalilzad: "I am elected by a people and a
parliament. Security should be coordinated with me.
Decisions should not be unilateral."
"Prime Minister Maliki rejected any decision about a
timetable that does not take into account the
objective circumstances in Iraq," Sunaid added.
Maliki will tell Bush the same thing in a 2.00pm
(1100 GMT) video conference, the aide said.
He will call on the United States to live up to its
commitments to rebuild the Iraqi military and equip
it to fight the insurgency against his rule.
"He will also call for US support for
reconciliation," Sunaid added.
Maliki and the United States do not see eye-to-eye
on the peace process, with the Iraqi leader more
keen than Washington to draw Shiite militia leaders
such as radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr into a peace
process.
"They will also talk about the extension of the US
forces in Iraq. This should be done with the
approval of the Iraqi parliament," the adviser said.
The United States has 142,000 troops in Iraq
protecting Maliki's government, fighting a Sunni
insurgency driven by supporters of Saddam Hussein's
ousted regime and Islamist militants, and training
Iraqi security forces.
Bush is under pressure from domestic critics of his
war plan and US public opinion to push the Iraqi
government for quicker progress towards national
reconciliation and the disarmament of Shiite
militias.
The joint statement issued by Maliki and Khalilzad
said: "The Iraqi government has made clear the
issues that must be resolved with timelines for them
to take positive steps forward on behalf of the
Iraqi people."
"The United States fully supports their goals and
will help make them a success," it added.
Meanwhile, violence continued around Baghdad as
thousands of US soldiers scoured the city, hunting
for an American soldier who was kidnapped on Monday
after slipping out of the fortified Green Zone to
visit Iraqi relatives.
"Cordon and checkpoint operations will be conducted
today and operations to find our missing soldier
continue," said a US military spokeswoman.
"This morning we had reports of a total of 12 bodies
recovered throughout Baghdad that were victims of
sectarian killings," she added. Baghdad is in the
grip of a vicious war between Sunni and Shiite death
squads.
The US military suspects that the missing soldier,
an American of Iraqi descent, is being held by an
armed gang and has searched sites in Sadr City, an
impoverished east Baghdad suburb, bastion of Sadr's
Mahdi Army militia.
A barrage of mortar shells hit the Abu Dshir
neighbourhood in south Baghdad on Saturday, killing
one civilian and wounding between 25 and 35 more,
according to Iraqi security officials.
And a car bomb exploded in Sadr City's Al-Mudhafar
Square, killing a bystander and wounding 11 other
people, according to medics at Al-Kindi hospital.
The US military on Saturday also announced that a
marine, wounded in action in western Iraq on Friday,
had died, bringing the number of American dead this
month to 98.
AFP
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