Thursday, December 07, 2006
Iraqis: ISG report won't change much
Politics, Security
Iraqi citizens said Thursday that a U.S. advisory's group recommendation that Washington move toward military disengagement offered little hope of an improvement in their lives anytime soon. The Iraqi government said that the Iraq Study Group's recommendation was in line with its own plans to stop the rampant violence in the country, but cautioned that there was no "magic wand" to solve Iraq's problems.
"The situation is grave, very grave in fact, and cannot be tolerated," Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said Wednesday on the pan Arab satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya. "Absolute dependence on foreign troops is not possible. The focus must be on boosting the Iraqi security forces." But he warned that improving the battlefield capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces would not be "the magic wand that brings a solution in one day." The bipartisan blue-ribbon panel said all U.S. combat brigades "not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq" by the first quarter of 2008, but it said "could," not "should" or "must." On the streets of Baghdad on Wednesday, skepticism seemed widespread.
"The situation is grave, very grave in fact, and cannot be tolerated," Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said Wednesday on the pan Arab satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya. "Absolute dependence on foreign troops is not possible. The focus must be on boosting the Iraqi security forces." But he warned that improving the battlefield capabilities of the Iraqi armed forces would not be "the magic wand that brings a solution in one day." The bipartisan blue-ribbon panel said all U.S. combat brigades "not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq" by the first quarter of 2008, but it said "could," not "should" or "must." On the streets of Baghdad on Wednesday, skepticism seemed widespread.
