Iraq Government & Politicians Reaction To Petraeus-Crocker Report In Baghdad Press
Baghdad, 13 September 2007 (Voices of Iraq)
Baghdad press on Wednesday gave prominence to the mixed reactions of the Iraqi government and politicians in response to the Petraeus-Crocker report to the U.S. Congress.
The independent daily al-Dustour quoted Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Iraqi government, as saying, “Iraq will be comfortable with a gradual pullout of U.S. troops,” in reference to the report’s recommendations for drawing down U.S. troops to 130,000 by mid-2008.
“I do not think there will be a problem with a gradual withdrawal that is agreed upon with the Iraqis,” al-Dabbagh said, adding that a sudden pullout is “not in anyone’s interest, not in the region’s, not in Iraq’s.”
In his testimony before Congress on the progress of the surge of 30,000 extra troops ordered by President George W. Bush in January 2007, top U.S. commander in Iraq General David Petraeus said that the Multi-National Force (MNF) has managed to purge the Iraqi capital Baghdad of al-Qaeda militants, and envisioned a further draw down of troops by next summer.
In an editorial entitled, ‘What after the report?’ the editor-in-chief of al-Dustour, Basim al-Sheikh, described the report as “unbiased and positive to an extent,” adding that it gave a true picture of the situation on the ground.
Al-Ittihad newspaper, issued by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani, highlighted on its first page calls by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a high-level meeting on Iraq in New York on September 21. Citing a statement published on the United Nations’ official website, the newspaper wrote, “Ban Ki-moon and al-Maliki will hold a meeting to discuss ways to implement Security Council resolution no. 1770 on strengthening the UN’s role in Iraq and the deteriorating situation in the country.”
Ban Ki-moon and al-Maliki launched the International Compact with Iraq at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh on May 3, 2007 with the support of the World Bank.
Tareeq al-Shaab, the mouthpiece of the Iraqi Communist Party, led by Hamid Majid Mousa, devoted most of its front page to statements by Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi about the performance of the committee assigned to implement article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which is related to the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk. Al-Hashemi urged the committee to settle all disputes and work for the good of the country, the newspaper indicated.
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