Caught In The Middle

Is there a danger that this sort of squabbling could give an opportunity to Al Qaeda to regain ground?
Definitely. They will try their best to take advantage of any division in the tribes or whoever might be in the political process. But rest assured, I'll try my best to mitigate and pacify any sort of differences. Everybody now has first to stabilize and try to fight the extremists. Everybody should work toward this goal, and be relaxed and flexible in addressing minor issues. The problem is that this region has been hijacked by Al Qaeda and other terrorists and everybody is betting on violence to sort everything out. So that psychology has to be changed.

The Maliki government seems to think it can fill the empty cabinet posts with Sunnis from outside your parties, rather than give in to your demands.
This is not going to sort out the problem. [Our Sunni coalition] is an elected political entity, others are not. We have legitimacy, others do not. They could fill the blanks but they are not going to sort out the political problem.

One of the big sticking points is the deBaathification law now being considered; it allows all but the highest former officials back into public life. Isn't that a step toward reconciliation?
It's better than the past. But the political process should be open for everybody except those people who opted for terrorism. The problem of reconciliation is a shortage of good will.

You've demanded a timetable for American withdrawal from Iraq. How soon would you like that to happen? Already, some of the 30,000 surge troops are leaving.
We should have a timetable based on clear-cut benchmarks and parameters. But I am very much concerned about a security vacuum, so reform of the Iraqi security forces is very important. The state of our security forces right now in no way is going to allow for a major withdrawal. I was in Diyala recently and I can tell you there are many pockets of resistance. When I asked why, the reply was, there are not enough troops.

© 2007