Hassan Fattah in Cairo
November 23, 2005
For the first time, Iraq's political factions have collectively called for a timetable for withdrawal of foreign forces, in a moment of consensus that comes as the Bush Administration faces pressure at home to commit to a pullout schedule.
The announcement, made at the conclusion of a reconciliation conference in Cairo backed by the Arab League, saw Shiites, who dominate Iraq's government, reach out to Sunni Arabs on the eve of parliamentary elections marred by weeks of sectarian violence.
About 100 Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish leaders, many of whom will stand in the election on December 15, signed a closing memorandum on Monday that "demands a withdrawal of foreign troops on a specified timetable, dependent on an immediate national program for rebuilding the security forces".
"The Iraqi people are looking forward to the day when foreign forces will leave Iraq, when its armed and security forces will be rebuilt, and when they can enjoy peace and stability and an end to terrorism," the statement said.
Shiite leaders have long maintained that a pullout should not be before Iraqi security forces are fully operational.
The closing statement upheld a Sunni demand for a pullout, while preserving aspects of calls by Shiites. It did not specify when a withdrawal should begin, making it more of a symbolic gesture than a concrete agenda item.
While condemning the terrorism that has engulfed Iraq, the memorandum acknowledged a general right to resist foreign occupation. This was another effort to compromise with Sunnis who have sought to legitimise the insurgency. The statement condemned terrorist attacks and religious backing for them, and it demanded the release of innocent prisoners and an investigation into allegations of torture.
In Washington on Monday, the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, tried to damp down a bitter and personal fight over the Iraq war, by praising a senior House Democrat, John Murtha, who has called for the full withdrawal of troops, and saying that an "energetic debate" over the war was part of a healthy society.
But Mr Cheney also made fresh attacks on Democratic senators who have accused the Bush Administration of exaggerating the threat of Iraq's weapons programs to build support for the invasion. He called those accusations "dishonest and reprehensible".
Even so Mr Cheney's speech signalled a softer tone from the White House. It came as members of both parties sought to step back from the name-calling that erupted last week after Mr Murtha, a former marine who is respected in both parties for his leadership on military affairs, on Thursday dropped his support for the war and called for an immediate, phased withdrawal of US troops.
In his speech on Monday before the American Enterprise Institute, Mr Cheney called Mr Murtha "a good man, a marine, a patriot".
And Mr Murtha, who last week had noted pointedly that Mr Cheney used deferments to avoid service in Vietnam, amended his own comments, saying on CNN: "I said that heated, and I feel bad about that actually, because, you know, Dick Cheney - he was in Congress for 10 years.
"He really has served this country. And he's been a public servant when he would have been making a lot more money outside."
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
- US President George Bush planned to bomb pan-Arab television broadcaster al-Jazeera, Britain's Daily Mirror reported citing a Downing Street memo marked "Top Secret".
- The Iraq war has weakened the moral authority of the US and its allies to tackle the likes of China and Russia over their poor records on civil liberties, human rights campaigner Mary Robinson claimed on Monday.
- US troops fearing a car-bomb attack fired on a crowded minivan and killed at least three civilians, including a child, north of Baghdad.
