Iraq leaders pull back from US surge


Joshua Partlow, Baghdad
October 9, 2007


SEVERAL Iraqi leaders say they have lost faith in the US military strategy that has sought to reduce violence so politicians could realise national reconciliation.

Iraqi leaders believe sectarian animosity is entrenched in the structure of their Government, and instead of reconciliation, they now stress alternative goals: streamlining bureaucracy, putting seasoned technocrats in positions of authority and improving the dismal record of providing basic services.

"I don't think there is something called reconciliation, and there will be no reconciliation as such," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd. "To me, it is a very inaccurate term. This is a struggle about power."

Prominent Shiite cleric and parliament member Humam Hamoudi said reconciliation would emerge naturally from an efficient, fair government, not through political engineering among Sunnis and Shiites.

The acrimony among politicians has strained the Shiite-led Government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki close to the breaking point. Nearly half of the cabinet ministers have left their posts. The Shiite alliance in parliament, which once controlled 130 of the 275 seats, is disintegrating with the defection of two important parties.

Legislation to manage the oil sector and to bring former Baath Party members back into the Government have not made it through the divided parliament.

The US military's latest hope for grass-roots reconciliation, the recruitment of Sunni tribesmen into the Iraqi police force, was denounced last week in stark terms by Iraq's leading coalition of Shiite lawmakers.

Tariq al-Hashimi, one of Iraq's two Vice-Presidents and the most influential Sunni politician said: "There is a shortage of goodwill from those parties who are now in the driver's seat of the country."

Iraqi leaders say there are few signs that Mr Maliki's Government is any more willing to share power now than 15 months ago, when he unveiled a 28-point reconciliation plan.

A key proposal then was an amnesty for insurgents to bring members of the resistance into the political fold. But in the summer and autumn of last year, sectarian violence rose to its highest levels.

Mr Hashimi drafted a 25-point statement of principles that condemned all extremism and sectarian discrimination.

Mr Hashimi's statement called for candid dialogue among Iraq's factions. Last month he met Shiite religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, a rare and symbolic gesture that underscored the possibility of co-operation across the sectarian gap.

But he said he sensed no fundamental willingness from Mr Maliki's Government to reconcile with the Sunnis.

It has been two months since the largest Sunni coalition walked out of the cabinet when its list of 11 demands were not met.

Sunni leaders sense their Shiite counterparts believe the era of Sunni leadership in Iraq is gone for good and they should accept the new reality.

Deputy Prime Minister Salam Z. al-Zobaee, Iraq's second-highest Sunni official said: "The Sunnis, even if they've been participating in the Government, are still marginalised in decision-making."