Iraqis tell Washington to monitor its own progress
15 Sep 2007 11:46:56 GMT
15 Sep 2007 11:46:56 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove--> Source:
Reuters
By Waleed Ibrahim and Mussab Al-Khairalla
BAGHDAD, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers said on Saturday Washington was
covering up for its own mistakes in Iraq by setting them artificial benchmarks
to meet and then ticking them off like scorecards.
Frustrated by criticism from the United States over their slow progress
towards political goals meant to foster national reconciliation, Iraqi leaders
said Washington would be better served by dxamining its own progress in the
unpopular war.
"The Americans always try to pretend the responsibility for cleaning up this
mess isn't theirs and tend to shift blame onto Iraq, Iran and Syria for
everything that goes wrong," said veteran Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman.
"But they should stop this nonsense and admit that most of the accountability
rests on their shoulders," he told Reuters.
In a report ordered by Congress, the White House said on Friday that Iraq's
leaders had not met half of their key goals.
The U.S. administration's admission of shortfalls in the performance of
Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's fractured government came a day after
President George W. Bush had said enough progress had been made to justify
troop withdrawals.
The White House report concluded Iraq's leaders had made satisfactory
progress on nine out of 18 political and security benchmarks and unsatisfactory
progress in seven. It said it could not rate two other targets.
The benchmarks, which include a crucial revenue-sharing oil law, are designed
to promote reconciliation between Iraq's warring majority Shi'ite and minority
Sunni Arabs.
Maliki's shaky unity government has been all but paralysed by infighting. A
dozen ministers, Shi'ites and Sunnis, have left his cabinet and the political
movement of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has threatened to pull out of
the coalition.
The White House report followed two days of Congressional testimony by
General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and U.S. ambassador
Ryan Crocker in a progress report that was seen as possibly presaging a change
in U.S. policy in Iraq.
Their much-anticipated report noted some security improvements but also
described very modest political gains. Bush broadly backed Petraeus's
recommendation for a limited withdrawal of about 20,000 troops by July.
"Before they ask the government to treat the problems in Iraq they should
correct the mistakes they committed, like the disbanding of the Iraqi army,"
Sunni Arab lawmaker Izzedine al-Dawla said.
BRITISH CRITICISM
British generals who served in Iraq during the U.S.-led invasion to topple
Saddam Hussein in 2003 have criticised U.S. post-invasion planning as "fatally
flawed".
Othman said it was hard to keep up with U.S. demands.
"One day they say three out of 18 objectives were met. Then they say we've
met nine of 18 objectives," Othman said.
"It's like they're marking an exam paper."
Shi'ite lawmaker Abbas al-Bayati said Iraqis were only paying attention to
the progress report by Crocker and Petraeus.
"It is the most accurate and it calls for their army to continue working in
Iraq until stability is reached," he said.
Nassar al-Rubaie, head of Sadr's Shi'ite parliamentary bloc, said progress
could only be achieved by setting a timetable for the total withdrawal of U.S.
troops.
"An indication of progress can be judged by the increase of qualified Iraqi
security forces that can provide security in the event of an American
withdrawal," Rubaie told Reuters.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15246353.htm
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