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Obama, Maliki: Iraqi security promising
by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama, hailing the transfer of authority inside Iraq's cities to Iraqi military forces, acknowledged today that "differences in strategy'' remain to be resolved, but voiced satisfaction with the level of security in the war-torn nation.
Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in private meetings at the White House today, also spoke of both the Obama administration's concern for speedier ethnic reconciliation inside Iraq and the Iraqi government's appetite for accelerated new U.S. investment there.
Obama and Maliki fielded just two questions from reporters in the Rose Garden after the two met with aides in the Oval Office of the White House and then held a one-on-one meeting there.
After more than six years of war in Iraq, the United States and Iraqi leaders stand at a critical juncture: The U.S. has withdrawn military forces from Iraqi cities and is preparing for a withdrawal of all forces by 2011, as Iraqis prepare for another round of elections in an ethnically riven nation where political reconciliation has remained as elusive as security.
"We have seen both improved capacity and greater confidence on the part of Iraqi security forces,'' Obama said, with Maliki standing by his side in their Rose Garden news conference.
"Now what we've seen is that there are going to be, at times, differences in strategy,'' Obama said, pointing to the interest of Iraqi security forces in setting up checkpoints which U.S. advisers view as targets. "What we've seen is that the violence levels have remained low, the cooperation between U.S. and Iraqi forces has remained high,'' he said, promising "to make adjustments as necessary'' as Iraqis head into their elections.
This was Obama's first meeting with Maliki since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. The two had met in Baghdad in April, and Vice President Joe Biden recently met with Maliki there, relaying the Obama administration's concern about the need for stepping up the pace of ethnic healing in Iraq.
"Substantial progress has been made since Prime Minister al-Maliki's first visit to the United States in 2006,'' Obama said. "Now we're in the midst of a full transition to Iraqi responsibility'' and a partnership between the U.S. and Iraq based on "respect.''
The Iraqi government should promote "national unity,'' Obama said today. This includes legislation governing the sharing of oil revenues and other matters that have divided Iraq's ethnic and religious groups. Obama called on Iraq to integrate all these groups into its government and security forces.
"America stands ready to help the Iraqi government to build,'' Obama said, suggesting that "economic cooperation and trade'' between the two can open "new doors of opportunity.''
"Iraq has suffered a great deal,'' Maliki said through an interpreter, vowing to pursue unification of Iraq's many interests and pointing to the need for new business investment.
The Iraqi prime minister also planned a visit to Arlington Memorial National Cemetery today, in honor of more than 4,000 American military men and women who have died at war in Iraq.
Maliki, inheritor of leadership in a nation where a U.S.-led invasion toppled the since-executed Saddam Hussein in 2003, also visited the United Nations today and received assurances from the U.S. and other members of the Security Council that they are ready to lift trade barriers imposed after Saddam's invasion of neighboring Kuwait in 1990.
"There is an opportunity," British Ambassador John Sawers said after joining representatives of the U.S., China, France and Russia in a meeting with Maliki. "One of the things that came out of the meeting with the prime minister was that the time was right to address these issues."
Iraq has been pressing the UN to lift sanctions. And, while many have been lifted, some remain in force, as well as the Security Council's determination that Iraq is a threat to international peace and security.
"We have made a strong commitment to work with Iraq to get out of the Chapter Seven constraints that were imposed after the Gulf War,'' Obama said. "It would be a mistake for Iraq to continue to be burdened (by the acts of) a deposed dictator.''
Maliki, who also met with U.N. Sec'y Gen. Ban Ki-moon, told reporters there is an "understanding that Iraq has made progress" and no longer poses a regional threat. Maliki reiterated the idea, at his news conference with Obama, that Iraq no longer poses a threat to its neighbors.
"Iraq has gone a long way, and will continue to solve all problems,'' he said. "There are so many problems which are continuing to pay a price from the previous regime.''
En route from New York to Washington today, Maliki said he would voice his desire to "continue working through the agreement that has been signed between our two countries, the agreement for the withdrawal of U.S. forces." In his meeting with Obama, Maliki said, he also would "emphasize developments in relation to working on our joint economic and political interests, trade as well as cultural and scientific."
This entails the encouragement of investment by American businesses in Iraq as the nation rebuilds a war-torn economy.
In his news conference with Obama, the Iraqi leader said an investment conference will be convened in October for firms and investors interested in working in Iraq. After years of military cooperation, he said through an interpreter, "the relationship between the two sides... will see great cooperation in the areas of economic, commercial and cultural activities.''
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