Thursday, May 10, 2007
Iraqi national security advisor lobbies U.S. politicians to keep troops in Iraq
Politics, Security
(UPI) - Iraqi national security advisor Mowaffak Al Rubaie is lobbying US politicians in Washington to keep US troops in Iraq to avoid anarchy. Monday and Tuesday, Rubaie visited two Democrats leading the Congressional charge to reduce troop numbers by fixed dates - Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan and Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, The New York Times reported. "I know that they are running out of patience, and I understand this very well," Rubaie told The Times in an interview. "And we have to play the political game. But I feel we are on the last mile of a walk toward success, and if they let go and don't take our hand, I feel that we are going to lose everything."
President Bush has promised to veto any bill that includes withdrawal dates, and his administration said that it would review troop numbers and tour lengths in September. Meanwhile, Rubaie said that opponents to the war needed to be more aware of consequences of a sudden-pullout. "If you ram it down our throats and sync it to Washington because of the election cycle, things will crumble," he said.
Labels: Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, U.S. troops
Monday, April 30, 2007
Iraq to proceed with security reconstruction with or without U.S.
Security
(Azzaman) - Iraq will go ahead with its plans to build its own armed forces and reinstate security despite U.S. warnings of timetables and benchmarks, National Security Adviser said. Mowafaq al-Rubai said Iraq’s battle against Qaeda-related groups in Iraq will continue whether the Americans stayed or left.
“The Americans have their timetables and are governed by schedules but these things do not concern us,” he said in an interview. “We will proceed with the building of the armed forces and the institutions of a modern state and revise the constitution. “What others say is not a matter of concern for us. America addresses its own people and we address our own. “They (Americans) say this is the last battle to beat Qaeda and we say to them it is the first battle. We have our schedules and they have theirs,” Rubai said.
He said the government was involved in ‘serious negotiations’ with ‘certain influential armed groups’ and was trying its best to engage them in the political process. Rubai did not say which groups were involved but reiterated there would be no compromise with terrorist groups like Qaeda. He said the security plan now in its third month has ‘achieved a great deal’ despite the surge in car bomb attacks.
Prior to the start of the plan more than 100 bodies were dumped on the streets of Baghdad. “Now the figure has dropped by nearly 90 percent,” he said. “Killing on identity has almost disappeared in Baghdad and this is a victory by itself,” he said. He said the building of concrete walls to isolate and separate certain quarters of Baghdad on sectarian grounds was ‘to protect the people’ and that more such walls will be constructed in the future.
“The Americans have their timetables and are governed by schedules but these things do not concern us,” he said in an interview. “We will proceed with the building of the armed forces and the institutions of a modern state and revise the constitution. “What others say is not a matter of concern for us. America addresses its own people and we address our own. “They (Americans) say this is the last battle to beat Qaeda and we say to them it is the first battle. We have our schedules and they have theirs,” Rubai said.
He said the government was involved in ‘serious negotiations’ with ‘certain influential armed groups’ and was trying its best to engage them in the political process. Rubai did not say which groups were involved but reiterated there would be no compromise with terrorist groups like Qaeda. He said the security plan now in its third month has ‘achieved a great deal’ despite the surge in car bomb attacks.
Prior to the start of the plan more than 100 bodies were dumped on the streets of Baghdad. “Now the figure has dropped by nearly 90 percent,” he said. “Killing on identity has almost disappeared in Baghdad and this is a victory by itself,” he said. He said the building of concrete walls to isolate and separate certain quarters of Baghdad on sectarian grounds was ‘to protect the people’ and that more such walls will be constructed in the future.
Labels: Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, armed groups, Iraq, Iraqi security forces, negotiations, U.S.
Iran agrees to participate in Sharm el-Sheikh Iraq conference
Region, Politics
(AP) - Iran agreed Sunday to join the U.S. and other countries at a conference on Iraq this week, raising hopes the government in Tehran would help stabilize its violent neighbor and stem the flow of guns and bombs over the border. In an apparent effort to drive home that point, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told an Iranian envoy that the persistent violence in Iraq, some of it carried out by the Shiite militias Iran is accused of arming, could spill over into neighboring countries, including those that are "supposed to support the Iraqi government."
Al-Maliki's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, said Sunday that the U.S. has not provided Iraq with any "solid evidence" that Iran is arming fighters in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also expected to attend the Iraq conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik on Thursday and Friday, raising the possibility of a rare direct encounter between high-level U.S. and Iranian officials. In Washington, Rice would not rule out a meeting with the Iranians, whose delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Iraqi leaders had been pressing for the Iranians to attend the meeting in Sharm el-Sheik for weeks, but Iran refused to commit, in part because of fears that it would come under pressure from the U.S. and others about its nuclear program. In addition, the Iranians have been lobbying for release of five Iranians held by the U.S. in Iraq since January. The U.S. has accused the five of links to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit that arms and trains Shiite extremists in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.
The decision to attend "came after consultations between Iraqi officials and the Iranian president," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in an interview with Iranian state television. Senior Iranian envoy Ali Larijani flew to Baghdad on Sunday for talks with al-Maliki and other senior Iraqi officials, the highest-ranking Iranian official to visit Iraq since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. During their meeting, Larijani told al-Maliki that all countries that want stability in the region "have no choice but to support Iraq's elected government."
Iraq's other neighbors as well as Egypt, Bahrain and representatives of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members have also agreed to attend the meeting. Apart from security issues, the U.S. and Iraq hope the conference will produce an agreement to forgive Iraq's huge debts and offer financial assistance in return for an Iraqi pledge to implement political and economic reforms.
But Iraq's Arab neighbors are expected to demand that the Baghdad government, dominated by Shiites and Kurds, do more to reach out to its own disgruntled Sunni Arabs before they pledge substantial aid. On Sunday, President Bush called Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, to discuss the importance of the reconciliation process and the need for all Iraqi parties to work together to stabilize the country, according to Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
The Iraqis, for their part, were anxious for the Iranians to attend to give them leverage against their Sunni-dominated neighbors and to help press their case that Sunni extremists, including al-Qaida, pose the gravest threat to stability.
Al-Maliki's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, said Sunday that the U.S. has not provided Iraq with any "solid evidence" that Iran is arming fighters in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also expected to attend the Iraq conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik on Thursday and Friday, raising the possibility of a rare direct encounter between high-level U.S. and Iranian officials. In Washington, Rice would not rule out a meeting with the Iranians, whose delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Iraqi leaders had been pressing for the Iranians to attend the meeting in Sharm el-Sheik for weeks, but Iran refused to commit, in part because of fears that it would come under pressure from the U.S. and others about its nuclear program. In addition, the Iranians have been lobbying for release of five Iranians held by the U.S. in Iraq since January. The U.S. has accused the five of links to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit that arms and trains Shiite extremists in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.
The decision to attend "came after consultations between Iraqi officials and the Iranian president," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in an interview with Iranian state television. Senior Iranian envoy Ali Larijani flew to Baghdad on Sunday for talks with al-Maliki and other senior Iraqi officials, the highest-ranking Iranian official to visit Iraq since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. During their meeting, Larijani told al-Maliki that all countries that want stability in the region "have no choice but to support Iraq's elected government."
Iraq's other neighbors as well as Egypt, Bahrain and representatives of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members have also agreed to attend the meeting. Apart from security issues, the U.S. and Iraq hope the conference will produce an agreement to forgive Iraq's huge debts and offer financial assistance in return for an Iraqi pledge to implement political and economic reforms.
But Iraq's Arab neighbors are expected to demand that the Baghdad government, dominated by Shiites and Kurds, do more to reach out to its own disgruntled Sunni Arabs before they pledge substantial aid. On Sunday, President Bush called Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, to discuss the importance of the reconciliation process and the need for all Iraqi parties to work together to stabilize the country, according to Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
The Iraqis, for their part, were anxious for the Iranians to attend to give them leverage against their Sunni-dominated neighbors and to help press their case that Sunni extremists, including al-Qaida, pose the gravest threat to stability.
Labels: Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Ali Larijani, Condoleezza Rice, Iran, Manouchehr Mottaki, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, Nouri Al-Maliki, Sharm al-Sheikh Conference
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Al-Maliki says Iraq will take control of security by end of 2007
Politics
(Reuters) - Iraq plans to take security control of all its provinces from foreign forces before the end of the year, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a speech read out by a senior official on Wednesday. Maliki is under growing pressure from powerful anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to set a timetable for the withdrawal of 146,000 U.S. troops from Iraq.
In a speech delivered on his behalf by National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie at a ceremony marking the handover of southern Maysan province from British forces to Iraqi control, Maliki said three provinces in the autonomous Kurdistan region would follow next. "Maysan ... will be followed by the three Kurdistan provinces, a month from now," Maliki said.
"After that Kerbala and Wasit (provinces). Then it will be province by province until we achieve (this transfer) before the end of the year." The transfer of Maysan means four of the country's 18 provinces are now under Iraq's security control. Sadr withdrew six ministers from his political movement from Maliki's government on Monday to press his demand for a timetable for the pullout of American troops. Maliki has repeatedly said U.S. troops would leave Iraq only when Iraqi forces were ready to take over security.
In a speech delivered on his behalf by National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie at a ceremony marking the handover of southern Maysan province from British forces to Iraqi control, Maliki said three provinces in the autonomous Kurdistan region would follow next. "Maysan ... will be followed by the three Kurdistan provinces, a month from now," Maliki said.
"After that Kerbala and Wasit (provinces). Then it will be province by province until we achieve (this transfer) before the end of the year." The transfer of Maysan means four of the country's 18 provinces are now under Iraq's security control. Sadr withdrew six ministers from his political movement from Maliki's government on Monday to press his demand for a timetable for the pullout of American troops. Maliki has repeatedly said U.S. troops would leave Iraq only when Iraqi forces were ready to take over security.
Labels: Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Moqtada Al-Sadr, Nouri Al-Maliki
Monday, February 26, 2007
Iraqi oficial - Iran no longer providing weapons to Iraq
Security, Politics, Iran
(Reuters) Iranians have stopped training and providing weapons to Iraqi militants in Iraq in the last few weeks to allow a U.S.-backed security plan in Baghdad to succeed, a senior Iraqi official said on Sunday. National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told CNN there was some evidence that Iranians had been supporting some Shi'ite militia groups fighting U.S. troops in Iraq.
"There is no doubt in my mind that recently in the last few weeks they have changed their position and stopped a lot of their tactics and interference in Iraq's internal affairs," Rubaie said in an interview. It was unclear if he was talking of the Iranian government. Washington accuses Shi'ite Iran of fuelling violence in Iraq.
U.S. officials said this month that the Quds Force, a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was supplying weapons to Shi'ite militia groups in Iraq. Washington has been particularly concerned about the so-called explosively formed penetrators, a sophisticated Iranian made roadside bomb that the U.S. military says has killed 170 U.S. soldiers in Iraq since 2004.
"Recently the Iranians have changed their positions and we have some evidence that they have stopped supplying arms or creating any of these shaped mines in the streets of Baghdad," Rubaie said. He said the Iranians had also advised some of their Shi'ite allies in Iraq to "change their position and support the government to give the Baghdad security plan a good chance of success."
"There is no doubt in my mind that recently in the last few weeks they have changed their position and stopped a lot of their tactics and interference in Iraq's internal affairs," Rubaie said in an interview. It was unclear if he was talking of the Iranian government. Washington accuses Shi'ite Iran of fuelling violence in Iraq.
U.S. officials said this month that the Quds Force, a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was supplying weapons to Shi'ite militia groups in Iraq. Washington has been particularly concerned about the so-called explosively formed penetrators, a sophisticated Iranian made roadside bomb that the U.S. military says has killed 170 U.S. soldiers in Iraq since 2004.
"Recently the Iranians have changed their positions and we have some evidence that they have stopped supplying arms or creating any of these shaped mines in the streets of Baghdad," Rubaie said. He said the Iranians had also advised some of their Shi'ite allies in Iraq to "change their position and support the government to give the Baghdad security plan a good chance of success."
Labels: Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iran, Quds Force, weapons
