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U.S. Sen. Hutchison suggests partitioning
Iraq
17.10.2006 |
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She says option for distinct regions with shared
oil revenues should be put on the table
With sectarian violence ever worse in Iraq, U.S. Sen.
Kay Bailey Hutchison said Monday that more
consideration should be given to dividing the
country into semi-autonomous regions to help reduce
conflicts.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a host of
officials in the region and the United States oppose
partition, but the Texas Republican said, "We ought
to put it on the table as an option."
Allowing the Kurds, Sunni and Shia to govern their
own territories while sharing in Iraq's oil revenues
through a national revenue stream could help quell
the bloodletting, Hutchison told the Houston
Chronicle editorial board.
"We have to step back and stop trying to put our
American ideas onto this problem and start trying to
get an understanding of their views, and strong-held
prejudices and biases and ethic preferences," said
Hutchison, who serves on the defense appropriations
subcommittee. |
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
Photo:chron com |
Al-Maliki complains
Al-Maliki complained Monday to President Bush that
talk of partition was undermining the Iraqi
government, White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
Hutchison, who is up for re-election in November,
drew a sharp contrast with one of her election
opponents, Democrat Barbara Ann Radnofsky, who has
called for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.
troops from Iraq.
Without clear goals or an "exit strategy," Radnofsky
says, the war has made the world more dangerous and
wasted billions of dollars.
"That is absolutely the wrong thing for America to
do," Hutchison said of setting a withdrawal
deadline. She said terrorists would be emboldened to
attack U.S. targets in such a case.
In subtle criticism of the Bush administration,
however, Hutchison acknowledged the need for a
"course correction" in Iraq, saying it "should have
come earlier than this, perhaps."
Arab silence 'is deafening'
She expressed frustration that U.S. allies and
friendly Arab governments haven't done more to
stabilize Iraq.
"It is time for the Arabs to step up to the plate,"
she said. "There is a silence in the Arab world that
I think is deafening."
She declined to term Saudi Arabia or other
U.S.-friendly Arab governments allies.
"My definition of 'ally' is a country that we can
totally rely on," she said.
"And I don't think Saudi Arabia has totally kept its
word in stopping the madrasa schools" that export
fundamentalist Islamic teachings around the world.
chron com
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