Posted on Wed, Jan. 17, 2007
Iraqi leader criticizes comments by Bush, Rice
By Leila Fadel McClatchy Newspapers BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki voiced frustration with both President George Bush and
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday, saying their recent criticism
of the Iraqi government probably helped the "terrorists." Al-Maliki, whose
relationship with the United States is strained, was especially upset about
Rice's comment last week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when she
said that al-Maliki's government is working on "borrowed time." "Such
statements give moral boosts to the terrorists and push them towards making an
extra effort and making them believe that they have defeated the American
administration, but I can tell you that they haven't defeated the Iraqi
government," he said during a meeting with a handful of reporters. The
interview was al-Maliki's first public comments since Bush announced last week
that he's sending 21,500 additional American troops to Iraq. The Times
of London posted audio of the interview on its Web site. McClatchy Newspapers
didn't take part in the interview. Al-Maliki also criticized Bush for
saying that the chaotic execution of Saddam Hussein looked like a "revenge
killing" during an interview Tuesday with PBS' Jim Lehrer. "I would like to
correct President Bush that Saddam, that person, was not subjected to any act
of revenge, any physical attack," al-Maliki said. "It was a judicial process
that ended with him executed or sentenced to death according to Iraqi law,
which sentences such criminals to death." Al-Maliki said he thought Bush
was responding to news media pressure. "I know President Bush and I know him as
a strong person who does not get affected by the media pressure, but it seems
that the pressure ... led to the president giving this statement."
Al-Maliki's relationship with the United States has been deteriorating for
months over various issues, including control of the military forces
in Iraq, the strategy for fighting the war and U.S. killings of Iraqi
civilians. On Wednesday, in what may have been a sign of the state of
relations between the U.S. and al-Maliki, Rice flew from Kuwait to Europe
directly over Baghdad but didn't stop to meet with Iraqi officials.
Al-Maliki has come under increasing pressure to disarm Shiite militias allied
with his government, especially the Mahdi Army, which is loyal to anti-American
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and is believed to be behind the killings of
hundreds of Sunnis across the capital. Al-Sadr's supporters hold five seats in
al-Maliki's Cabinet and form the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament.
Al-Maliki's comments came one week after Bush announced that 17,500 of the
additional U.S. troops would be committed to a Baghdad security plan intended
to target "extremists" in the capital. The plan is supposed to be Iraqi-led,
with U.S. forces acting as a support system. But some here fear that the plan
will allow Shiite militias to continue their campaign to force Sunni residents
out of the capital. Al-Maliki predicted that the government's need for U.S.
troops would decrease in the next three to six months. Advisers to
al-Maliki and legislators have indicated that al-Maliki gave only a tepid
welcome to more forces in the capital. "I believe that if we succeed in
implementing the agreement between us to speed up the equipping and providing
weapons to our military forces, I think that within three to six months our
need for the American troops will dramatically go down," al-Maliki said. "That
is on condition that there are real, strong efforts to support our military
forces and equipping and arming them." Al-Maliki blamed high casualties on
an ill-equipped Iraqi army. "I can strongly say that we could have been in
a better situation right now regarding the equipment we have and the weapons we
have," he said. "If that had happened it would have greatly
decreased the level of our losses and the losses of the multinational forces
as well." ---
---------------------------------
Don't get soaked. Take a quick peak at the forecast
with theYahoo! Search weather shortcut.
