“The Key Threat”
The following are excerpts are from Senator Carl Levin’s opening statement, before Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, concerning the situation in Iraq with Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus.
“During my recent trip to Iraq, just before the latest outbreak of violence, a senior U.S. military officer told me that when he asked an Iraqi official, ‘Why is it that we’re using our U.S. dollars to pay your people to clean up your towns instead of you using your funds?’, the Iraqi replied, ‘As long as you are willing to pay for the cleanup, why should we do it?’
“This story crystallizes the fundamental problem of our policy in Iraq. It highlights the need to change our current course in order to shift responsibility from our troops and our taxpayers to the Iraqi government, to force that government to take responsibility for their own future, politically, economically and militarily. Our current open-ended commitment is an invitation to continuing dependency.
“The Bush administration strategy has been built on the assumption that, so long as we continue to provide the Maliki government with plenty of time, military support and financial assistance, they will take responsibility for Iraq’s future. But the major political steps have not yet been taken by the Iraqis, including establishing a framework for controlling and sharing oil revenue, adopting an election law so an October 1 provincial election will take place, and considering amendments to the constitution.
“Even the few small political steps that have been taken by the Iraqis are in jeopardy because of the incompetence and excessively sectarian leadership of Mr. Maliki. Last week, this incompetence was dramatized in the military operation in Basra. Far from being the ‘defining moment’ President Bush described, it was a haphazardly planned operation, carried out apparently without meaningful consultation with the U.S. military or even key Iraqi leaders, while Maliki made unrealistic claims, promises and threats.
“In January of last year, when President Bush announced the surge, he said the Iraqi government planned to take responsibility for security across Iraq by November 2007. The President also pledged to hold the Iraqi government to a number of other political benchmarks which were supposed to be achieved by the end of 2007. But instead of forcefully pressing for political progress, President Bush has failed to hold the Maliki government to their promises, showering them instead with praise that they are ‘bold’ and ‘strong.’ The President has ignored the view of his own military leaders who, according to a State Department report less than five months ago, concluded that ‘the intransigence of Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government is the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq, rather than al-Qaida terrorists, Sunni insurgents or Iranian-backed militias.’”
“During my recent trip to Iraq, just before the latest outbreak of violence, a senior U.S. military officer told me that when he asked an Iraqi official, ‘Why is it that we’re using our U.S. dollars to pay your people to clean up your towns instead of you using your funds?’, the Iraqi replied, ‘As long as you are willing to pay for the cleanup, why should we do it?’
“This story crystallizes the fundamental problem of our policy in Iraq. It highlights the need to change our current course in order to shift responsibility from our troops and our taxpayers to the Iraqi government, to force that government to take responsibility for their own future, politically, economically and militarily. Our current open-ended commitment is an invitation to continuing dependency.
“The Bush administration strategy has been built on the assumption that, so long as we continue to provide the Maliki government with plenty of time, military support and financial assistance, they will take responsibility for Iraq’s future. But the major political steps have not yet been taken by the Iraqis, including establishing a framework for controlling and sharing oil revenue, adopting an election law so an October 1 provincial election will take place, and considering amendments to the constitution.
“Even the few small political steps that have been taken by the Iraqis are in jeopardy because of the incompetence and excessively sectarian leadership of Mr. Maliki. Last week, this incompetence was dramatized in the military operation in Basra. Far from being the ‘defining moment’ President Bush described, it was a haphazardly planned operation, carried out apparently without meaningful consultation with the U.S. military or even key Iraqi leaders, while Maliki made unrealistic claims, promises and threats.
“In January of last year, when President Bush announced the surge, he said the Iraqi government planned to take responsibility for security across Iraq by November 2007. The President also pledged to hold the Iraqi government to a number of other political benchmarks which were supposed to be achieved by the end of 2007. But instead of forcefully pressing for political progress, President Bush has failed to hold the Maliki government to their promises, showering them instead with praise that they are ‘bold’ and ‘strong.’ The President has ignored the view of his own military leaders who, according to a State Department report less than five months ago, concluded that ‘the intransigence of Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government is the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq, rather than al-Qaida terrorists, Sunni insurgents or Iranian-backed militias.’”
posted by Jim O'Leary | 12:03 AM
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