Bush reaffirms support for Iraqi prime minister

10/28/2006

Hours earlier, al-Maliki aide quoted him as saying ‘I am not America’s man’

WASHINGTON (MSNBC NEWS)—President Bush on Saturday reaffirmed his support for Iraq’s prime minister, telling Nouri al-Maliki that he is not “America’s man in Iraq” but a sovereign leader whom the U.S. is aiding.

Playing down tensions over a U.S. plan for benchmarks toward reducing the violence, the leaders said they were “committed to the partnership” and would work “in every way possible for a stable, democratic Iraq and for victory in the war on terror.”

In a statement after a 50-minute video conference, Bush and al-Maliki outlined three goals: speeding up the training of Iraq’s security forces; moving ahead with Iraqi control of its forces; and making the Iraqi government responsible for the country’s security.

A special group of high-level Iraqi ministers will work with the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, and the U.S. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, to recommend how best to achieve those goals.

“As leaders of two great countries, we are committed to the security and prosperity of a democratic Iraq and the global fight against terrorism which affects all our citizens,” according to their joint statement.

During the video hookup, al-Maliki told Bush, “History will record that because of your efforts, Iraq is a free country,” according to White House press secretary Tony Snow.

“What you’ve got in Maliki is a guy who is making decisions,” Snow said after the session.

“He’s making tough decisions, and he’s showing toughness and he’s also showing political skill in dealing with varying factions within his own country. And both leaders understand the political pressures going on,” Snow said.

‘The sovereign leader of Iraq’

Al-Maliki was quoted by a close aide as having told the U.S. ambassador to Iraq on Friday, “I am a friend of the United States, but I am not America’s man in Iraq.”

In response, Snow told reporters, “He’s not America’s man in Iraq. The United States is there in a role to assist him. He’s the prime minister — he’s the leader of the Iraqi people. He is, in fact, the sovereign leader of Iraq.”

Al-Maliki squabbled with the Bush administration this week over his objections to a timeline proposed by Washington for bringing security to Iraq.

“There are no strains in the relationship,” Snow said.

“In this prime minister, you have somebody in the Iraqi government who wants to take charge, who wants to take responsibility, is working on all fronts, on the economic side, on the security side, and on the political reconciliation side,” the spokesman said.

“And he believes it’s important to do whatever he can to build greater faith and trust with the Iraqi people in the democracy. So the president’s very happy actually with the way the prime minister is working.”

The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the death of a Marine in the restive Anbar province west of Baghdad on Friday, raising to 98 the number of American forces killed in Iraq in October, already the fourth deadliest month since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

U.S. policy tarnished

The dispute has further tarnished President Bush’s bid to promote policy “adjustments” in Iraq with less than two weeks left before U.S. midterm elections.

The vote is expected to be in part a referendum on Bush’s policy in Iraq as U.S. deaths have topped 2,800 and the war dragged into its 44th month.

Bush and al-Maliki were to hold a video conference at 2 p.m. Saturday, according to a close aide of the Iraqi prime minister.

Fresh bloodletting

The relative five-day calm in Baghdad in the five days since the end of the holy month of Ramadan ceded ground Saturday to a fresh outbreak of bloodletting.

Clashes erupted Saturday between U.S. and Iraqi troops and gunmen in the city of Ramadi, an insurgency stronghold where scores of militants staged a military-like parade last week not far from the local U.S. base. The troops used loudspeakers to ask residents to stay indoors.

One person was killed and 35 wounded when a rocket slammed into an outdoor market in Baghdad’s turbulent southern neighborhood of Dora, police Lt. Mohammed al-Baghdadi said. A second person was killed and nine were wounded when a bomb went off in a minibus in an eastern Baghdad district, police Lt. Ali Hussein said.

In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said they had found two bodies of apparent sectarian violence in the city’s central al-Mu’allimeen district. A third body was pulled from the Diyala river earlier Saturday. Later, police reported the shooting deaths of two men in a Baqouba market.

U.S.-Iraqi rift?

The Washington-Baghdad dispute has not only undermined Bush’s attempt to put a new face on Iraq strategy but was highly embarrassing to Khalilzad, who announced the timeline at a news conference Tuesday and said al-Maliki was on board.

But over the next two days, al-Maliki declared he saw imposition of timelines as an infringement on Iraqi sovereignty and his government’s authority. The timeline program, he said, was a product of U.S. electoral politics.

The White House later claimed al-Maliki’s comments were taken out of context. But hours later, the Iraqi leader reissued the same complaint, unambiguously in an interview with British journalists.

The language in Friday’s statement, issued in both English and Arabic, suggested a clear attempt to dampen further speculation about the growing rift between the two governments.

“The government of Iraq is committed to a good and strong relationship with the U.S. government to work together toward a democratic, stable Iraq, and to confront the terrorist challenges in light of the strategic alliance between the two countries,” it said. The “Iraqi government has made clear the issues that must be resolved with timelines.”

Al-Maliki owes his job to backing from 30 lawmakers from the “Sadrist” movement of Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-U.S. cleric whose Mahdi Army militia is blamed for much of the sectarian violence sweeping Iraq since a February attack against a major Shiite shrine.

Washington has in recent weeks stepped up pressure on al-Maliki to crack down on the militias and their affiliated death squads, but al-Maliki, who came to office in May, has yet to take concrete action despite repeated assertions that he would disband them.