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Jalal Talabani rejects US report on Iraq
10.12.2006
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BAGHDAD, December
10, -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has rejected
the recommendations of a high-level US report which
has pushed for a change of American strategy in the
war-torn country.
"As a whole, I reject this report," he told
journalists at his residence in Baghdad Sunday.
"I think that the Baker-Hamilton report is not fair
and not just, and it contains dangerous articles
which undermine the sovereignty of Iraq and its
constitution."
The Iraq Study Group report, which sounded a warning
alarm about US policy in Iraq and called for an
eventual reduction of US troops, has met with a
mixed reaction from Iraqi politicians.
Talabani had previously praised the sections calling
for dialogue with neighboring countries such as
Iran, but on Sunday said he objected to including
representatives of the former regime in any attempts
at reconciliation. |
Iraqi
President : Jalal Talabani, a Kurd |
Involving Baathists in a proposed conference would
be "against the long struggle of the Iraqi people
against dictatorship," he said.
Sunni Arab politicians had specifically welcomed
this move.
Iraq is caught in a spiralling sectarian conflict
and insurgency that kills over a 100 people a day
and threatens to tear the country apart.
On Friday, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for
holding a national reonciliation conference of all
factions to stem the bloodshed.
The Iraqi president, a Kurd who has been known as a
long-standing ally of the United States, also
strongly criticized the report's call for a
reduction in US support for the Iraqi government if
there isn't substantial progress.
"It's treating Iraq like a young small colony upon
which they impose conditions and neglect the fact
that we are a sovereign country and respected," he
said.
One of the recommendations of the report by former
US secretary of state James Baker and ex-congressman
Lee Hamilton was for the US military to embed
advisors into every Iraqi unit.
However Talabani said this would undermine the
country's sovereignty.
"Our hands are crippled on security," he said,
echoing a complaint by Maliki that the government
had no control over its security forces.
"Iraq will have to redeem its sovereignty over the
security file," Talabani said.
AFP
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