Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for a dialogue on Wednesday with rival blocs to gauge whether or not US troops currently in Iraq should stay beyond a year-end deadline for their withdrawal. Maliki’s remarks come as US officials press Baghdad to decide within weeks if it wants a longer-term American military presence, with radical Shiite cleric warning any extension would lead his feared Mahdi Army to return to the streets.
“The decision about the US withdrawal is a huge national task, so I will call all the blocs’ leaders to have a dialogue to say whether they want to keep the forces or not,” Maliki told a news conference in Baghdad. “After that, the government will decide on keeping them, or making them leave.” Maliki said on April 26 that he would make such a call after returning from a planned trip to South Korea, which he completed this month. He has previously alluded to the domestic political difficulties he would have in securing parliamentary approval for an extension for US forces, crucially from Sadr and his supporters.
In a statement read to loyalists in Baghdad on April 9, Sadr warned, “If the Americans don’t leave Iraq on time, we will increase the resistance and restart the activities of the Mahdi Army.” Maliki, however, dismissed those comments, noting that Sadr’s movement had only 40 seats in the 325-member parliament, and would have to respect any decision taken by a majority of political leaders. “The entire poiltical world will be bound by the decision (of the government) and Moqtada al-Sadr is part of this world,” he said.
“If 80 or 90 percent of Iraqis say (they want US forces to stay), the remaining 10 percent must accept this decision, or walk away from the political process … and become law-breakers.” Around 45,000 American troops are currently stationed in Iraq, with all US forces required to leave the country by the end of the year, according to a bilateral security pact. Maliki himself warned last month that Iraq was lacking when it comes to protecting its borders, but insisted that none of its neighbours would invade.
And although Iraqi officials insist their own forces are capable of maintaining domestic security, attacks still hit. Last week, a suicide car bomb at a police station south of Baghdad killed 24 people and wounded 72 others. While violence is down from its peak in 2006 and 2007, official figures showed 211 people still died in attacks last month.
