Iraqis warn against quick withdrawal

Iraq’s embattled government on Monday warned of the dangers of a hasty American military withdrawal, as it mounted a desperate defence of its record on national reconciliation.

Speaking hours before General David Petraeus, the American commander, and Ryan Crocker, the US am­bassador to Iraq, delivered their assessment of policy to Congress, Hoshyar Zebari, foreign minister, said a precipitous American withdrawal would accelerate disintegration and risk a wider regional conflict.

“The division of the country would become a fact . . .  Iraq would be a free-for-all,” he told the Financial Times. “And because of the polarisation between Shia and Sunni, the removal of the multinational forces would lead to regional war.”

Mr Zebari’s comments are part of the Iraqi government’s campaign to deflect US congressional pressure to withdraw troops.

An assessment by the US Government Accountability Office last week found Iraq had fully met only three out of 18 benchmarks for political, economic and military progress.

The lack of political progress, a key part of Monday’s testimony, and the government’s paralysis – nearly half of cabinet members no longer attend meetings – have already led some US politicians to call for the removal of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister.

On Monday Mr Maliki told a special session of the Iraqi parliament that his government had succeeded in “stopping Iraq from sliding towards civil war”. But despite the “tangible im­provements” in security in Baghdad and the provinces, Iraqi security forces were not yet ready to take over security from American troops, he said.

”We are absolutely confident that national reconciliation is our only choice, which will take Iraq to safe shores,” he added.

Mr Zebari insisted that Iraqi political leaders had moved closer to compromise, despite the failure of parliament to pass legislation demanded by the US, such as the oil law and new rules to reverse de-Ba’athification.

“There’s a need for strategic patience because compromise takes time. You cannot subject the country to artificial timetables,” said Mr Zebari. “The benchmarks [set by the US] are existential issues for us – they are about how to share power and wealth,” he added. “We’re resolving them through national consensus, rather than a majority vote.”