DAR AL ISLAM-IRAQ: A BROAD STRATEGIC AGREEMENT BETWEEN IRAQI MILITARY, IRAQI GOVERNMENT AND THE U.S. MILITARY...SO SAYS GATES...

Iraq strikes deal with US on war strategy
(AFP)
22 December 2006

BAGHDAD - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates left Iraq on Friday after striking “a broad strategic agreement” to avert all-out war, as British troops seized Iraqi police accused of carrying out a massacre.

Gates, under massive pressure to come up with a plan to pull Iraq out of chaos and bring 129,000 US troops home, said he would report his findings and impressions to President George W. Bush as early as the weekend.

“This is a very difficult situation,” said Gates at the US military headquarters in Iraq after a three-day fact-finding visit, as the crackle of gunfire and roar of military aircraft could be heard in the distance.

“But I believe, based on what I have heard and seen both from American commanders and the Iraqis, that things are moving in a positive direction.”

Gates said the embattled Iraqi government had put forward concrete plans to restore security in the war-shattered country, but gave no details. Nor would he say whether sending more US troops to Iraq was part of the plan.

Insurgent and sectarian violence is at an all-time high in Iraq where deadly bombings, shootings and kidnappings claim an average of 100 lives a day.

The defence secretary, who discussed improving security with Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said he had been impressed with their understanding of the problems and their eagerness to take charge.

“We’ve talked with the Iraqis about the best path forward in terms of improving the security situation here in Baghdad.

“And I think we have a broad strategic agreement between the Iraqi military, and the Iraqi government and our military,” he said.

But Iraqi-US cracks were only too apparent over attempts from the Maliki administration to woo radical anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement back into the unity coalition, despite US attempts to sideline him.

US officials have made it clear that they favour a realignment in Iraq’s unity government, which would exclude Sadr and his Shiite militia, with the violence of Iraq’s vicious sectarian war at an all time high.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Iraq strikes deal with US on war strategy