By WILLIAM C. MANN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The United Nations (news - web sites) envoy, who is helping draft an Iraqi interim government, urged the Bush administration Sunday to "tread carefully" in besieged Fallujah and avoid alienating an already angry populace.
As for Najaf, one of the holiest cities of Islam's Shiite sect that also is
under near siege by U.S. forces, Lakhdar Brahimi warned of a disaster if
American soldiers enter the city to hunt down a radical cleric.
"This is a city with a lot of history. It is charged with a huge, huge
quantity, if I might, if that's the word for it, of history," Brahimi said on
ABC's "This Week."
"Sending the tanks hauling into a place like this is not the right thing to
do, and I think the Americans know that extremely well now."
Brahimi, in an interview taped Friday in Paris, said as a diplomat, he
considers military force the wrong answer for any problem. That's especially the
case with Fallujah, west of Baghdad in the so-called Sunni Triangle, and Najaf,
in the southern Shiite region, he said.
Fallujah has been under siege by U.S. Marines since April 5 and a decision on
whether to enter the city and eliminate armed insurgent forces is expected to
come soon.
President Bush (news
- web
sites) consulted in a conference call Saturday with senior national security
and military advisers about the city, a senior defense official said.
Brahimi said he wanted to add his voice "to that of a lot of other people in
pleading for (U.S. forces) to tread carefully" when it comes to Fallujah.
Before leaving Iraq (news
- web
sites) he described the siege as unacceptable collective punishment of
Fallujah's people for the misdeeds of a few. Asked about that Sunday, Rahimi
said:
"When you surround a city, you bomb the city, when people cannot go to
hospital, what name do you have for that? And you, if you have enemies there,
this is exactly what they want you to do, to alienate more people so that more
people support them rather than you.
"In this situation, there is no military solution. There is never any
military solution to any problem. Even when you have total victory, you've got
to end up talking to people," said Brahimi.
Rahimi is U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan (news
- web
sites)'s envoy to Iraq. President Bush has said Rahimi will help choose the
government that will replace the current U.S.-appoint Iraqi Governing Council on
June 30.
One figure not expected to be on Brahimi's list is Ahmad Chalabi, an Iraqi
Shiite who spent 40 years in exile from President Saddam Hussein (news
- web
sites)'s Sunni Muslim-dominated government. Chalabi has been reported as a
significant source of intelligence that led U.S. officials to go to war.
On "Fox News Sunday," Chalabi denounced Brahimi as "an Algerian with an Arab
nationalist agenda."
"He already is a controversial figure in Iraq. He is supposed to be a
unifying figure, so he can choose a government that will be effective," said
Chalabi. "...I believe that he should be more sensitive to the realities of
Iraq."
Separately, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington said Sunday he thinks it
would have been wiser if the United States in the aftermath of the war last year
had not disbanded the Iraqi army and paid them remain on the job.
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan did not
dispute the suggestion that he had given that advice to President Bush.
"I don't talk about my conversations with the president, but I believe that
would have been the right way to go," Bandar said of the idea of paying $200
million to the Iraqi army.
"There's no point in Monday-morning quarterbacking now," Bandar said. The
question arose after Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward said Bandar had told
Bush the way to stabilize Iraq was to pay the Iraqi military three months pay.
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