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U.S. rethinks goals for Iraqi unification
2.12.2006
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WASHINGTON (AP)
-- President Bush is becoming more personally
involved in Iraq's fragmented politics as his
administration reevaluates efforts to unite
different Iraqi groups in an attempt to preserve
U.S. options.
The administration is looking at ways to unite
Iraq's fractious sectarian and political factions,
officials familiar with an internal administration
review of Iraq policy said Friday.
At the same time, the president is stepping up his
personal diplomacy - meeting with a top Shiite power
broker at the White House next week and with the
nation's Sunni vice president in January.
The president is under pressure to find a new
blueprint for U.S. involvement in Iraq, where
sectarian violence has been growing worse. The
meetings suggest that Bush wants to become more
personally involved in trying to bring warring
factions together.
Just back from meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday in Jordan, Bush is
reaching out on Monday to another Shiite politician,
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, to seek ways to end the
violence and keep Iraq's unity government intact.
To show he's not choosing sides, Bush is planning to
meet next month with Iraq's Sunni Vice President
Tariq al-Hashemi, according to a senior
administration official. The president met with a
top Kurdish official at the White House on Oct. 25.
As Bush steps up his meetings with Iraqi leaders,
the administration is also debating whether to
abandon U.S. efforts to bring Sunni insurgents into
the political process to stabilize Iraq and instead
leave that outreach to the majority Shiites and
Iraq's third major group, the Kurds, a senior U.S
official said. No decision has been made.
Some U.S. officials have argued that the outreach to
Sunni dissidents has failed and may be alienating
Shiites, who dominate the government and are the
country's largest sect. Others maintain that ending
U.S. attempts to reach the Sunnis won't address the
insurgents' concerns.
Leaders of the internal administration review have
presented their incomplete conclusions to Bush. A
final report is expected in about two weeks and will
reflect the views of senior officials at the State
Department, White House National Security Council,
Pentagon and other agencies.
The group's work parallels that of a congressionally
chartered bipartisan commission whose
recommendations are due next week. The commission,
known as the Iraq Study Group, will recommend
engaging Iran and Syria as part of a larger group
and perhaps one-on-one, officials familiar with the
panel's findings have said.
The Iraq Study Group, headed by former Secretary of
State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee
Hamilton, D-Ind., will also recommend gradually
phasing out the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq from
combat to training and supporting Iraqi units.
However, the report due Wednesday sets no timetable,
according to officials familiar with the group's
deliberations.
Expanding on previous reports that the commission
would urge troop withdrawals beginning early next
year, a U.S. official said the report also
recommends a "conditions-based" goal of completing
combat troop withdrawals by early 2008. That is
short of a firm timetable, and would leave in place
troops needed to train and support the Iraqis.
The administration has watched as its stated goal of
helping the Iraqis erect a model democracy grew
increasingly remote this year. Sectarian violence
has intensified and thousands of Iraqis have fled
their neighborhoods or left the country to escape
killings and kidnappings.
AP
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