Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki distanced himself on Wednesday from a United States-announced ”timeline” to end sectarian violence and criticised a raid on a Shi’ite militia stronghold aimed at a death squad leader.
Al-Maliki, himself a Shi’ite Muslim, spoke a day after the top US civilian and military officials in Iraq said his government had agreed to a series of steps to end the bloodshed over the next year that would allow US troops to start going home.
”The Americans have the right to review their policies but we do not believe in a timetable and no one will impose one on us,” al-Maliki told a news conference in remarks that seemed aimed at dispelling any perception he is a pawn of the White House.
He also contradicted a US military statement that said Wednesday’s Iraqi-US ground and air assault on the crowded Sadr City slum district of Baghdad, in which four people were killed, had been authorised by his government.
”We will be seeking an explanation from the multinational forces to avoid a repetition of what happened without our cooperation in advance,” Maliki said.
US President George Bush was due to hold his own news conference on Iraq on Wednesday amid mounting public disaffection with policy there that opinion polls say could cost his Republicans control of Congress in elections on November 7.
Tuesday’s briefing by Bush’s ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and his military commander General George Casey also sought to allay American public fears over lack of progress in Iraq, where 90 US soldiers have been killed so far in October, already the deadliest month for a year.
Khalilzad said al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders had agreed to a series of political and security steps or ”benchmarks” and he expected ”significant progress” over the next 12 months, a timeframe he called realistic.
US officials have pointedly avoided using the term ”deadline” and have not said what Washington would do if the benchmarks are not met.
Al-Maliki, too, insisted he was not working to any deadlines, though he did repeat that he would deal with sectarian militias responsible for much of the bloodletting in the country.
”The state is the only one that has the right to carry weapons … We will deal with anyone outside the law,” he said.
”Everyone now realises that the existence of armed groups and militias harms the stability and unity of the state.” — Reuters