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Qubad Talabani spoke of White House plans
to flood Baghdad
27.1.2007
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January 27, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Qubad Talabani, the Iraqi
Kurds' de facto ambassador in Washington, spoke
diplomatically of White House plans to flood Baghdad
with more U.S. and Iraqi troops, but he also voiced
some doubt.
The plan calls for two Iraqi army battalions from
the Kurdish region to work side-by-side with U.S.
troops to pacify violence-plagued Baghdad. But like
their U.S. counterparts, a vast majority of the
Kurdish troops don't speak Arabic and aren't
familiar with the sprawling capital city.
"They are well-trained fighters and will be
committed to the effort," Talabani, the Kurdistan
Regional Government's Washington representative,
said Thursday.
"But is a Kurdish fighter as out of place in Baghdad
as a U.S. soldier? That is probably true."
Talabani's concerns underscore the growing
skepticism in the rancorous debate playing out in
Washington and Baghdad as President Bush attempts to
implement his plan to send an additional 21,500
troops to Iraq. |
Qubad J. Talabani, representative of Kurdistan's
government to the U.S. |
The dialogue is likely to become even more heated as
Senate Democrats plan to open debate next week on a
non-binding resolution saying the troop increase is
not in the national interest. And anti-war sentiment
will be stoked this weekend with protest marches in
Washington.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a
speech Friday that the House would soon "explore
appropriate ways to affect the policy and strategy
being pursued in Iraq," perhaps with a new vote on
the use of U.S. military force there.
In his State of the Union address, Bush called on
opponents of the so-called troop surge to give his
plan a chance to work.
Vice President Dick Cheney followed with an
aggressive defense of the strategy during a CNN
interview, saying that congressional critics and the
media have failed to accept that the administration
has achieved "enormous successes" in Iraq.
On Friday, Bush reiterated that he would move
forward with his plan despite congressional
opposition.
"I'm the decision-maker, I had to come up with a way
forward that precluded disaster," Bush said after a
meeting with senior military advisers. "I know there
is skepticism and pessimism and that some are
condemning a plan before it's even had a chance to
work."
Iraqi parliament erupts
In Iraq, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attempted
to sketch out the new Baghdad strategy to Iraqi
members of the Council of Representatives on
Thursday, a usually dull parliamentary session
erupted into a sectarian shouting match. Shiite and
Sunni lawmakers jeered at each other, and one Sunni
lawmaker declared that the prime minister could not
be trusted to disarm the Shiite militias. Al-Maliki
retorted that the parliament member oversaw a
sectarian death squad and threatened to arrest him.
Iraqi exiles and Middle East experts also have been
dismissive of the new Bush plan. Toby Dodge, a
consulting senior fellow for the Middle East at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies, told
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the
political component of the strategy amounts to
little more than a "rearranging of the deck chairs
on the Titanic."
The Democratic resolution critical of the new Bush
plan is scheduled for debate in the Senate. A
second, less strongly worded resolution spearheaded
by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) has gained some GOP
support. Sponsors of both measures have discussed
combining them.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke
against the resolutions, saying that "any indication
of flagging will in the United States gives
encouragement" to the enemy. Several supporters of
the president in the Senate have also spoken against
the non-binding measures for the same reason.
Talabani said that in theory, an increase in troops
coupled with a renewed focus on reconstruction and
resolve by the various ethnic and religious groups
to make difficult political concessions could have a
positive effect. But the reality on the ground is
that the various factions remain distrustful of one
another, he said.
"Where we are still at is that a Kurd will never
trust an Arab in power, an Arab will never trust a
Kurd, a Sunni will not trust a Shiite and a Shiite
will not trust a Sunni," said Talabani, whose
father, Jalal Talabani, is Iraq's president.
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