Obama: Involve more minorities in Iraq gov't
Saturday, January 7, 2006
Printable FormatCHICAGO TRIBUNE
By Jason Straziuso
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday said the United States will not be successful in Iraq unless the political landscape better represents the country's minorities.
Obama, the nation's only black senator, met with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Saturday. He said before his two-day trip to Iraq that he wanted to ask U.S. commanders what a realistic time frame was for bringing troops home.
"What I'm fully convinced of is if we don't see signs of political progress ... over a relatively short time frame, let's say six months or so, we can pour money and troops in here till the cows come home but we won't be successful," said Obama, a Democrat from Illinois.
Talabani predicted Saturday that a new government could be formed within weeks and said the country's main political groups had agreed in principle on a national unity coalition that would include the country's majority Shiites and minority Kurds and Sunni Arabs.
Obama said he was confident a new government could be formed but was skeptical of the time frame.
"My suspicion is it's going to take a little longer than that," he said. "Creating not just a majority government but a government that actually incorporates in a meaningful way Sunni interests may take a little longer."
Obama, who last year called for a phased troop reduction from Iraq, said he is "constantly impressed and proud of the outstanding work" done by American troops, but that he still questions the overall U.S. policy in Iraq.
"In my mind, at least, there's a difference between the discrete successes on the ground and whether the overarching policy will ultimately be successful," he said. "The fundamental policies that led to us being here were flawed and not well thought through and the odds of our long-term success is hard to assess at this point."
He said, however, that he understood Iraq was in too fragile of a state for an immediate withdrawal.
The freshman senator also urged Iraqis to take steps to show that U.S. involvement is still justified.
"There is going to have to be decision by Iraqis reflected by actions and steps to justify continued major investment by the U.S.," he said.
Obama, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, plans to depart Iraq on Sunday and travel to Jordan. He is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday and will spend the rest of the week traveling around Israel and the Palestinian territories. He's scheduled to return to the United States next Saturday.