Iraqi President Jalal Talabani explains to the Americans why they cannot withdraw their forces.
Photo: AP
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Iraqi Authorities Afraid of Americans' Departure
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has joined the White House in criticizing the recent Baker-Hamilton Report on Iraq, authored by an independent committee headed by former U.S. secretary of state James Baker and former congressman Lee Hamilton. Talabani said that American forces cannot be withdrawn from Iraq now. Apparently, Iraqi collaborating with Washington are afraid that they will be forced to flee the country along with the Americans. Iraqi politicians have decided to reinforce the central government and to replace current prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The Baker-Hamilton Report recommends the gradual withdraw of U.S. forces beginning no later than 2008. Next year should be devoted to the training of the Iraqi Army, the report continues. The Iraqi president's desire to keep American forces is understandable, since the numerous terrorist group and the Sunni resistance is armed and trained no worse than the regular Iraqi Army, and they consider the Iraqis in Baghdad's green zone who collaborate with the Americans their No. 1 enemies.
Many in Iraqi coalition government consider Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to blame for the rampant terrorism. Behind-the-scenes negotiations began yesterday between the Shia Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution, the Sunni Islamic Party of Iraq and a bloc of Kurdish parties on replacing the prime minister. One of the main goals of the negotiations seems to be the isolation of the radical Shia led by Muqtada al-Sadr who hold 30 seats in the 275-seat parliament.
The chief movers behind the effort to replace al-Maliki are Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim from the Shia party and Sunni deputy prime minister Tariq al-Hashemi. Al-Hakim went to Washington to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush last week, and al-Hashemi met with the U.S. president yesterday. Shiite Vice President of Iraq Adil Abdul-Mahdi is a potential successor to al-Maliki. The Iraqi cabinet can be dissolved with a simple vote of no-confidence. The White House is likely to support the plan to replace al-Maliki since its initiators are all loyal to the U.S. It will probably not help the U.S. impose order in the country, however. Thus, Talabani's fears will become reality sooner or later, and the U.S. will still face the choice of battling terrorism to the last man or packing up and going home.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 12, 2006
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