Thread: Iraq/Dinar News. 09/05 to 01/14/07

Panel reaches deal on U.S.-Iraq policy - Yahoo! News

Panel reaches deal on U.S.-Iraq policy
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 6 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - A bipartisan commission, under pressure to offer a U.S. exit strategy for the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, has reached a consensus and will announce its recommendations next week, the group's co-chairman said Wednesday.

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., declined to disclose any specifics about the Iraq Study Group's decisions. The report, much anticipated by the Bush administration and members of Congress, is coming out next Wednesday amid the spiraling violence in Iraq that has raised questions about the viability of the Iraqi government.

"This afternoon, we reached a consensus ... and we will announce that on Dec. 6," Hamilton told a forum on national security at the Center for American Progress, a liberal group.

"We're making recommendations," said Hamilton, who led the group with former Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

The New York Times reported on its Web site Wednesday night that the study group will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American brigades now in Iraq, but will stop short of setting a specific timetable for their withdrawal.

The Times, citing unidentified people familiar with the report, said it does not state whether the brigades, numbering 3,000 to 5,000 troops each, should be pulled back to bases in Iraq or in neighboring countries.

A U.S. official traveling with Bush in Amman, Jordan, said the White House had no immediate comment on reports of the panel's recommendations. The official, Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for Bush's National Security Council, said the White House had not yet been given any advance briefing about what the group would be presenting to Bush.

The commission members — five Democrats and five Republicans — had been split over the appropriate U.S. troop levels in Iraq, and whether and how to pull American forces out, one official close to the panel's deliberations told The Associated Press.

Commission members also recommended direct engagement with Syria and Iran in efforts to stabilize Iraq, the Times said. The administration has been reluctant to engage those two countries, which it says have abetted the violence in Iraq.

Robert Gates, Bush's nominee for defense secretary, has endorsed the idea of engaging Iran and Syria.

Gates made the comments in response to a questionnaire from the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is to hold a confirmation hearing Tuesday.

There are currently about 139,000 U.S. troops in Iraq; some 20,000 are in and around Baghdad, the capital.

President Bush is under growing pressure to withdraw substantial numbers of U.S. troops while shifting more responsibility to the Iraqi government. Even so, top military commanders have said they would consider increasing U.S. troop levels, at least temporarily, if they deemed it necessary.

Bush said Tuesday he would not withdraw American forces "until the mission is complete."

Defense officials, meantime, said the Pentagon is developing plans to send four more battalions to Iraq early next year, including some to Baghdad.

The extra combat engineer battalions of Army reserves, would total about 3,500 troops and would come from around the United States, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deployments have not been announced.

At a Pentagon news conference Wednesday, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would not say whether more troops are planned for Baghdad. He did say that was among the ideas that commanders are debating.

He also said there was no plan to shift all troops from the volatile Anbar Province into Baghdad.

Pace was asked if the advice of generals was becoming less important because of the commission's impending report and the congressional takeover by Democrats, some of whom have been critical of the war.

"This is a very complex problem, and the more 10-pound brains we can bring to bear on the problem for our nation, the better," Pace said.

The Pentagon's decisions on which reserve battalions to send to Iraq next year would depend on how long the units had served on the battlefront because the Pentagon is trying to not break a policy of deploying troops no longer than 24 months on the ground in Iraq. The decision-making process was described by defense officials who requested anonymity because the plans have not yet been announced.

In addition, military leaders are shifting brigades within Iraq. The officials said they are moving an agile Stryker Brigade into Baghdad to help shore up security there. The 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division will move from Mosul in northern Iraq to Baghdad, replacing a Stryker brigade that has gone home to Alaska.

Portions of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division are moving into Iraq and heading up to Mosul to take its place, officials said.

___

Associated Press writers Beverly Lumpkin and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

Bush, Maliki hold crunch talks on Iraq By Tabassum Zakaria
17 minutes ago



AMMAN (Reuters) - President Bush met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan on Thursday to seek ways to stem sectarian carnage threatening to split Iraq.

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Their working breakfast began a day after U.S. officials insisted the Iraqi leader was not offended by a critical White House memo and had not snubbed the U.S. president in Amman.

It coincided with reports that the Iraq Study Group will recommend that the U.S. military shift from combat to a support role in Iraq, and will call for a regional conference that could lead to direct U.S. talks with Iran and Syria, both accused by Washington of fomenting violence in their neighbor.

A source familiar with the deliberations of the independent, bipartisan group said the idea was for U.S. combat forces to pull back to bases in Iraq and in the region over the next year or so. "It's basically a redeployment," the source said.

The panel is to present its report to Bush on December 6. The president this week vowed not to "pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete."

Bush had expected to see Maliki on Wednesday, along with Jordan's King Abdullah, but was told on the way from Latvia, where he attended a NATO summit, that the Jordanians and Iraqis had decided against a three-way meeting, a U.S. official said.

In the end, Abdullah met both leaders separately.

U.S. officials insisted the change had nothing to do with a memo by White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley that questioned Maliki's ability to control the turmoil in Iraq.

The memo said "the reality on the streets of Baghdad suggests Maliki is either ignorant of what is going on, misrepresenting his intentions or that his capabilities are not yet sufficient to turn his good intentions into actions."

The memo, reported by The New York Times, was written after Hadley visited Iraq at the end of October.

PRESSURE

Bush is under pressure at home and abroad to change strategy on Iraq, where sectarian violence shows no sign of abating -- although the White House refuses to describe it as a civil war.

Democrats who will take control of the U.S. Congress in January from Bush's Republican Party, say their November election wins show Americans want a new policy in Iraq.

Some Democrats have proposed beginning a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops next year. Bush insists Iraqis must be able to take over security before U.S. forces can leave.

Maliki, by coming to the talks in Jordan, lost a key Shi'ite ally when radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr carried out his threat to boycott parliament if the meeting went ahead.

The White House says Bush has confidence in Maliki's leadership and wants to strengthen his ability to impose security and reconcile rival ethnic and political groups.

But no major announcements were expected from Thursday's meeting, U.S. officials said.

Former Representative Lee Hamilton, who heads the Iraq Study Group along with former Secretary of State James Baker, said on Wednesday the panel had reached a consensus agreement.

Snow said Bush would review the report but not necessarily take it as a blueprint for future policy.

The president "does not outsource his obligations," Snow said. "Obviously the insights of the Baker-Hamilton commission are going to be a factor as we look forward."

Many in Washington have held out hope that the report would provide a way for the United States to extricate itself from an increasingly deadly and unpopular war or at least set forth policies that attract support from Democrats and Republicans.

Engaging Syria and Iran may not be easy and many analysts question whether either can help stabilize Iraq. Bush has ruled out direct talks with Iran unless it stops enriching uranium.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flayed Bush's Middle East policies on Wednesday in a letter that urged Washington to withdraw troops from Iraq and recognize a Palestinian state.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey dismissed Ahmadinejad's letter to the American people as a "public relations stunt." The White House said Iran should "stop meddling in Iraq and end its support for terrorism and destabilizing behavior in the region."

(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi and Caren Bohan in Amman, Arshad Mohammed in Washington and Irwin Arieff in New York)

Bush, Maliki hold crunch talks on Iraq - Yahoo! News

Opening : the Amman summit. The prospective solutions

November 30, 2006 Peasant Torch A meeting of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki with the American President George Bush in Amman, the importance of exceptional that it came at a time when Iraqi life deflation clear by the sectarian violence that is so restless that the return of borrowed again by terrorist acts, which does not stop the terrorists from implementing it on a daily, targeted ignite a sectarian war For Al-Maliki and Bush necessarily require that the party to seize the Iraqi elements of a new government of the ethnic, As the meeting comes in the wake of statements to the American President in which he pointed out that the decision to negotiate with Iran and Syria on the security situation is for the Iraqis. This is a good thing, However, the most important matter is the mechanisms to deal with the security issue and the role of multinational forces led by the United States. What forms of firepower and logistical support for the security forces and the Iraqi military, and what the United States will use pressure on the states and the Islamic Aljawaralarabi or even concessions in order to forestall the programs and plans of terrorists and the remnants of the regime and opposition groups that have arisen with the financial support and information from the Gulf States and Ajawa R. Iraqi ... The time has come to reveal the professor Maliki all the things that the Iraqi government has been caught between the pressures and trends in several internal and external, This has made the government has not been able to implement its national political or they are trying to achieve amid great difficulties, Perhaps the least of the manifestations of insecurity and the growing terrorist act seeks to put people in the case Teiis the ability of the government of national unity. The political protagonists Iraqis today is in an unenviable position. and now their understanding of the dimensions of threat to the country they are obliged to review their roles and tendencies. If successful completion of the national unity government as promised by the Iraqi public, which led to the rule, the female arrivals days will make all the people and the government and political parties not only reaps loss and disaster. Bush to meet with al-Maliki and one of the windows, which is expected to emit practical solutions long awaited by the people impatient and pain.

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Political first : bloc chest attached membership in the parliament and the government

Baghdad-Sabah Chest bloc decided yesterday to suspend its membership in the House of Representatives and the government in protest at a meeting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and American President George Bush today in Jordan. A statement received (morning) copy of the chest bloc in the House and the ministers decided to suspend their membership in protest at the visit is a provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a violation of his constitutional rights - according to the statement.

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Political first : Sunni leaders in Basra decide prohibiting the killing of Shiites

Joining groups and terrorist organizations. Basra morning The authorities in Basra Sunni (Islamic Party and the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni and dignitaries stay Sunni clans) fatwa banning blood and belonging to the Shiite organizations (terrorist and takfiri) It called for building tombs of the two Imams in Samarra, the military. Said Sheikh Abdul Karim locusts Party official Islamic in Basra in a statement to the News Agency reported (Voices of Iraq) Independent yesterday, Wednesday, that "all Sunni leaders in Basra met Tuesday and issued a fatwa prohibiting the blood of all the Iraqi people (Sunni and Shiite) and all other communities." He pointed out that the fatwa was confirmed earlier statements and fatwas issued by the same actors. He added : "The fatwa barred affiliation of each organizations (terrorist and takfiri) after a rift." The locusts "fatwa calling him to rebuild the military tombs of the two Imams in Samarra." He said locusts "We call for unity based on religious and patriotic." He called locusts security services in Basra and the achievement of security and preserving the blood of Iraqis and pursue criminals and terrorists and Altkverein, He also called for the scheduling of the withdrawal of the coalition forces and granting the country independence. He said locusts, "despite the fact that the fatwa came in response Consistent with Matrha Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr. but they also came to promote religious previous statements issued by the bodies themselves. " The Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr had asked Sheikh Harith al-Dhari Secretary-General of the Association of Muslim Scholars in last Friday's sermon to issue a fatwa supports building Almerkdin against military issued a statement condemning the investigation memorandum issued two weeks ago against the onslaught. And in Basra yesterday issued a similar advisory opinion signed by eight scientists year called for the prohibition of blood and standing in the Shiite terrorist organizations.

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Iraq : the names of the new ministers in the pocket of a member of Parliament

Baghdad-Khalid Qattan Knowledgeable sources of the names of the new ministers who would replace the ministers, who in the government's intention to drive them out of office for their incompetence in the management of their ministries. A member of the House of Representatives Nasser Al Saeedy that carries the names of the new ministers from the United Iraqi Alliance, who are holders of doctorates, master's degrees, However, he declined to disclose their names.

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Political first : Sunni leaders in Basra decide prohibiting the killing of Shiites

Joining groups and terrorist organizations. Basra morning The authorities in Basra Sunni (Islamic Party and the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni and dignitaries stay Sunni clans) fatwa banning blood and belonging to the Shiite organizations (terrorist and takfiri) It called for building tombs of the two Imams in Samarra, the military. Said Sheikh Abdul Karim locusts Party official Islamic in Basra in a statement to the News Agency reported (Voices of Iraq) Independent yesterday, Wednesday, that "all Sunni leaders in Basra met Tuesday and issued a fatwa prohibiting the blood of all the Iraqi people (Sunni and Shiite) and all other communities." He pointed out that the fatwa was confirmed earlier statements and fatwas issued by the same actors. He added : "The fatwa barred affiliation of each organizations (terrorist and takfiri) after a rift." The locusts "fatwa calling him to rebuild the military tombs of the two Imams in Samarra." He said locusts "We call for unity based on religious and patriotic." He called locusts security services in Basra and the achievement of security and preserving the blood of Iraqis and pursue criminals and terrorists and Altkverein, He also called for the scheduling of the withdrawal of the coalition forces and granting the country independence. He said locusts, "despite the fact that the fatwa came in response Consistent with Matrha Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr. but they also came to promote religious previous statements issued by the bodies themselves. " The Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr had asked Sheikh Harith al-Dhari Secretary-General of the Association of Muslim Scholars in last Friday's sermon to issue a fatwa supports building Almerkdin against military issued a statement condemning the investigation memorandum issued two weeks ago against the onslaught. And in Basra yesterday issued a similar advisory opinion signed by eight scientists year called for the prohibition of blood and standing in the Shiite terrorist organizations.

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The first political : Talabani : achieving stability in Iraq requires the support of all the countries of the region

The extension of the visit for two days and the expectations of the accession Assad Tehran-Sabah With extended President Jalal Talabani to visit Iran for two additional days for further talks and of consultations with the officials there, observers expected that the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to visit Tehran today. If ratified these expectations today, Thursday, will see the peaks on Iraq. the first in Amman where he will meet with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki with the American President George Bush and Jordan's King Abdullah II at the summit, described the task, and the other in Tehran between President Talabani and the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ahmadinejad and Assad in the event of the last to arrive there. The President Talabani praised during his meeting yesterday with the head of the the Exigency Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Iranian humanitarian aid to Iraq and said that the stability and security in Iraq requires the cooperation of all the countries of the region, especially the Islamic Republic of Iran and that aid Iran to provide security and restore Ama R. Iraq and the provision of some essential needs of the Iraqi people at this time. He added that the President of the Republic of insecurity is the most important problem in Iraq, adding that ignite the fire of sectarianism between different sects of the goals sought by the enemies of the escalation of security in Iraq, expressing hope in the settlement of this dilemma reference efforts in Iraq. President Talabani said that the national unity in Iraq were the efforts of all religious groups and political and nationalistic adding that the government formed after made great efforts to control the security situation in Iraq and seek to remove the security problems and the living and educational needs of the Iraqi people, through their increased powers Ha gradually. For his part, Hashemi Rafsanjani that the national unity and the unity of Iraqi soil is the most important requirement for Iraq at the present time, adding that the enemies of Iraq are trying to provoke conflicts between the Shiites and Sunnis and Kurds and stoking the internal war that the government will be able to thwart such plots expertise. He announced the readiness of the Islamic Republic of Iran to help to establish security and stability in Iraq and said that the government and people of Iran has repeatedly announced its readiness to help the Iraqi people but the invisible hands that seek to discord between the two countries and peoples to prevent such assistance. And it Hashemi Rafsanjani, the occupiers that they are a big obstacle to establishing security and recognizes the Iraqi people to power he hoped to see the Iraqi people and the government wants free and Amra and that the departure of the occupiers from the region. During his visit he met with the President of the Republic is also the head of the Iranian judiciary Mahmoud Alchehrodi The Taliban made a presentation on the situation in Iraq and the steps that have been accomplished to activate the initiative of national reconciliation and absorb the tensions and lay the foundations of security and stability in the country. The President emphasized the importance of supporting the Taliban neighboring countries for these efforts, based on the fact that the stability of Iraq is an important factor for achieving stability in the region.

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Political first : Australia stands ready to support the political and economic process in Iraq

Baghdad-Mahdi Karim Al-Taee The Australian government has expressed its readiness to support the political process in Iraq and assigned the Ministry of Trade in various areas across the contribution of Australian companies in the implementation of contracts and projects in different parts of the country. According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce for the "morning". This came in the words of the Australian Ambassador, who met Dr. Abdel Farmer, the Sudanese Minister of Trade yesterday, Wednesday, at the headquarters of the ministry. The spokesman pointed out that the Sudanese affirmed during the meeting the importance of the search for new frameworks in the development of economic relations between the two countries and the need for Australian companies to invest in projects for the mission in Iraq in order to promote infrastructure that was destroyed by the military operations and the wrong policies x Lal decades.

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Political first : Security Council mandating the government end the presence of the multinational force in Iraq

After extending their stay for another year New York to London up morning The Security Council mandated the International Iraqi government end the survival of the multinational force in Iraq at any time during the next year if they want to do so after the Council agreed yesterday to the survival of these troops in Iraq for another year until the end of 2007 and comes at a time when the debate between the Americans and Iraqi officials on the subject as Itza with the plan of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki The receipt of the security file in nine provinces this year will be control of the remaining governorates late next year. In the meantime, the Minister of Defense that the British battalion and one out of every ten Iraqi military battalions that can operate independently without the support of the coalition forces. With warned Robert Ketz candidate for the position of Secretary of Defense of the American forces to leave Iraq and the legacy in this tense situation. In New York, the Security Council of the United Nations unanimously yesterday to extend the mandate of the multinational force led by the United States in Iraq until the end of 2007 to meet Lot the heart of the Iraqi government. He praised the American ambassador, John Bolton, the Council's decision, which came one day before the planned talks in Jordan between President George Bush and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on how to quell the violence and whether it should engage Iran and Syria in these efforts. Bolton said that the decision showed all the states of the region The Security Council strongly supported the "stability in Iraq and the continued progress towards democracy." He added : "We all share one goal, and I think that this is something that should be on the neighboring countries to be taken into account." But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he regretted that the resolution did not mention the need to heal the deep rifts in Iraqi society, as proposed by Moscow. The Deputy French Ambassador Jean-Pierre La France believes that the presentation of a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces would show "that the international community's goal is the restoration of Iraq's sovereignty." Without the approval of the Security Council on this resolution passed to the existing mandate of the multinational force at the end of 2006. The Iraqi government delegate resolution ending the mandate of force at any time during the next year if they so wish. The resolution also renews for one year the mandate counseling and international surveillance is an organ of the United hurt unit established by the Security Council in 2003 to monitor the use of Iraq's oil wealth. He said Faisal Istrabadi Deputy Secretary of Iraq's Ambassador to the United Nations that Iraq has decided in the first instance that the abolition of the Council at the end of this year, but he returned from his response to the request of governments contributed funds for the reconstruction of Iraq. The Iraqi oil sector has suffered from acts of sabotage and poor maintenance, the Board indicated that the sector also suffers from poor Administration, smuggling and official corruption. In the meantime, Minister of Defense that the British battalion and one out of every ten Iraqi military battalions that can operate independently without the support of the coalition. Adam Ingram, said in a statement he had made the day before yesterday that the 13 battalion of the Iraqi battalions (112), or about 11, 6% can be planned and implemented and continue to fight against the armed men without the support of the coalition forces. He added that 78 other battalion "requires only a little support in the areas of planning and logistical support, The remaining battalions acting in cooperation with the coalition units or are undergoing preliminary stages of the restructuring and basic training. " these figures are an improvement in the situation compared with the month of November 2005 when the Iraqi battalion only one able to work independently while the other 13 battalion able to work with a few. From his part, Robert Ketz, candidate President George Bush for the office of the American Secretary of Defense next he opposed the sudden and rapid withdrawal from Iraq. argued in written testimony submitted to Congress yesterday, the first American to leave Iraq and the legacy of anarchy would have serious consequences for both the region and the world over the past several years to come. It quoted by the Washington Post newspaper (translated morning) for Ketz that rely on the positions of both Iran and Syria who are in disagreement with the Alcasa T. present for the Bush administration, Ketz also invited to pledge a diplomat from both countries to support Iraq. He pointed out that even in the worst days of the Cold War, the United States had continued dialogue with both the Soviet Union and China, and I believe that the channels of communication will help in the management of many difficult situations. An Ketz pledged with Syria does not need to be one-sided. Could, for example, is a Syrian participation in the regional conference.

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