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Iraqi officials guarded over Bush strategy
AFP
BAGHDAD
Petroleumworld.com 01 11 07Iraqi officials gave a guarded welcome on Thursday to US President George W. Bush's new strategy for their war-torn country, but stressed that the onus was on Iraqis to make the blueprint work.
"We do not have to wait for Bush to tell us to perform. We have been doing our best," Bassem Ridha, an aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, told AFP, adding: "There is hope in the plan.
"We have our own agenda. We will do whatever we need to do to secure Iraq," he said, repeating Maliki's promise to clamp down on militias and recognising that sectarian violence "has been a major obstacle in progress."
"The Bush plan has lot more features. It is political, economical and also highlights security. It also talks about Iran, Syria. We need to settle these issues," he said.
Kurdish lawmaker Mahmud Othman said it was up to the Iraqi government to make the plan work, but expressed doubt as to whether it was capable of fulfilling promises given to Bush.
"The onus lies on Iraqi shoulders to make this plan work," he said, seeing in it "nothing new" apart from the increase in US troops.
"If the Iraqi government is capable of fulfilling promises given to Bush or those Bush talked about, then the plan will be good. If the Iraqi side is not capable then the American plan will not be successful," Othman said.
"I do not know whether this will work. If the Iraqi religious and political groups do not come together no plan can work. It's a political problem not a military problem," he added.
In a televised address to the United States, Bush took the blame Wednesday for strategic blunders in Iraq, ordered 21,500 more US troops into battle, and warned Baghdad's leaders to do more to shore up ebbing US support.
Bush said he aimed to crush terrorists, insurgents and rogue militias and help Iraq's security forces take control of the country by November.
Unveiling what is seen as a last-ditch effort to pull Iraq from the brink, the US president also promised to take more aggressive steps to curtail what he described as Iranian and Syrian help to those attacking Iraqi and US troops.
AFP 11 0700 GMT 01 07
Copyright© 2001 AFP.All Rights Reserved.
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