Los Angeles Times
April 21, 2007
BAGHDAD —
In the latest warning from Washington that America's patience is wearing thin, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told Iraqi government officials Friday that they need to pass legislation aimed at easing sectarian tension before the U.S. military conducts a formal evaluation this summer of its current troop increase in Iraq.
Gates stopped short of announcing an outright deadline, but he used
some of his most forthright language to date to make clear to the
Iraqi government that American soldiers would not remain on Baghdad
streets indefinitely.
"Our commitment to Iraq is long-term, but it is not a commitment
to have our young men and women patrolling Iraq's streets
open-endedly," Gates said.
Meeting with Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, the Defense secretary said that he does not want the Iraqi
parliament to take its summer recess, scheduled for July and August,
unless it first acts on a series of reconciliation laws, including
measures to share the country's oil wealth and allow provincial
elections.
The Bush administration is hoping that political and economic
agreements between the Shiite-led government, its Kurdish allies and
the minority Sunni population will tamp down sectarian violence on
Baghdad's streets and beyond.
Over time, officials including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
former Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and even President Bush have warned
of growing impatience with the status quo.
"I constantly signal to the Iraqi leaders that our patience, or
the patience of the American people, is running out," said Khalilzad
at a news conference before departing Iraq in late March.
Nevertheless, Iraqi politicians have made little progress on key
benchmarks, including the oil issue and initiatives to allow Sunnis
who had worked in Saddam Hussein's government to return to public
sector jobs.
Gates said Friday that he and Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top
American commander in Iraq, will evaluate the administration's troop
surge strategy in Baghdad before deciding whether it should continue.
In a joint news conference with Iraqi Defense Minister Abdel Qader
Jassim Mohammed, Gates said that besides the summer evaluation, there
was no further discussion of timelines with Iraqi leaders.
Gates said he told al-Maliki and others that the evaluation "would
be enhanced by the reconciliation legislation."
The issue of timetables and benchmarks has been at the forefront of
political debate in Washington.
Democrats want to set a deadline for troops to be withdrawn from
Iraq. President Bush has said repeatedly that he will not sign any
legislation that sets a date for withdrawal.
Although Gates has not contradicted Bush, he emphasized during his
two days here that the Iraqis elected to run the country after the
U.S.-led 2003 invasion must move quickly to quell the violence.
"We will see where the situation is at the end of the summer where
General Petraeus and I have repeatedly said we will be making at least
a preliminary evaluation where things stand with the Baghdad security
plan, the surge and reconciliation," Gates said.
Some military officers have said that even if the Pentagon has not
issued an explicit timeline, they believe there is an unspoken one,
considering Gates' call for an evaluation and next winter's
presidential primaries.
"We have an implied time line," a mid-level officer in Baghdad
said Friday. "Our presidential election is driving this and I think
the Iraqis understand that."
The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because the issue
of timelines has become heavily politicized.
While the Bush administration has portrayed the military as against
imposing a timeline in Iraq, in reality the views of many officers are
more complicated. Some say that an explicit timeline could serve to
prod the Iraqi government to make compromises to placate the Sunni
minority. Others worry that a timeline works only with a government
that is broadly accepted by the population.
Senior military officers who support the troop buildup have said
privately that the plan will have to show concrete results before the
presidential primaries beginning in early 2008.
Throughout his five-day trip to the Middle East, Gates has repeated
his contention that the debate in Congress over the Iraq war has been
helpful in putting pressure on the Iraqi leadership. Even after
congressional Democrats, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif., used Gates' comments to defend their stance with President
Bush, Gates has continued to defend the debate.
But on Friday, he said he disagreed with the contention this week
of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that the war was
"lost."
The purpose of the current strategy, Gates said in his news
conference, was to buy time for the Iraqi government to reach
compromises on the reforms.
"We continue to be committed to this government and we continue to
be committed to the Baghdad security plan, the strategy for buying
time for progress toward justice and reconciliation here in Iraq,"
Gates said. "These measures will not fix all the problems of Iraq,
but they will manifest the will of the entire government of Iraq to be
a government for all people of Iraq. We also spoke about the
importance of gestures of reconciliation."
The oil law, due to be debated next week, is opposed by the Kurds.
The Kurds also favor a referendum that would allow oil-rich Kirkuk to
join the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan. But that measure is
strongly opposed by both Shiite and Sunni Arabs.
Al-Maliki has endorsed a version of de-Baathification that could
allow thousands of Sunnis to return to government jobs, but the
measure is opposed by many Shiite members of the legislature.
A statement released by al-Maliki's office said the prime minister
was confident that Iraq would overcome sectarian differences and pass
reconciliation measures.
"The main problem suffered by Iraq is political not a security
one," the statement said.
The U.S. has applied the heaviest pressure to pass the new laws on
the Shiite political parties that dominate the government. But
American military officers have been pressuring Sunni factions as
well, telling them progress on the reforms is unlikely unless they can
get behind al-Maliki, a Shiite.