By Xinhua
Baghdad : Iraqi government and opposition were sharply divided over the report made by two Baghdad-based U.S. top brass during their two days of testimony before U.S. Congress.
The Iraqi government hailed the long-awaited testimony as “factual” and “positive,” while the opposition saw it as a politically-motivated “courtesy gift” to U.S. President George W. Bush.
In his high-profile testimony on Monday, top U.S. military commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus, joined by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, painted a rosy picture of Iraq and proposed a gradual drawdown of troop presence in that country.
FACTUAL AND POSITIVE
Gen. David Petraeus said a Marine unit will depart Iraq later this month and recommended cutting U.S. troop levels there by a single combat brigade or 4,000, in mid December.
In his vision, U.S. troop levels in Iraq could drop back to 130,000 next summer, or the level before the Bush Administration decided to send 30,000 additional troops to Iraq in January to quell violence.
There are now 168,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, the highest level since the war began in 2003.
Iraqi national security advisor, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, said the government welcomed the two officials’ testimony, noting that the Iraqi government has achieved “historical progress” towards democracy.
“This report appeared wide range of transparency in estimating Iraq’s current situations,” he said.
The government of Kurdistan region in Iraq saw the testimony as “factual,” suggesting that all exterior interventions in Iraq’s affairs should be referred to, not only the Iranians.
Abbas al-Bayati, a lawmaker from the ruling Shi’ite United Iraqi Alliance bloc, said the two’s testimony has granted the Iraqi government more time to make progress in national reconciliation, describing it as “positive since it said the general security situation in Iraq is getting improved.”
Currently, nearly half of the ministers in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s national unity government had resigned or suspended their participation in the government.
Political followers loyal to Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al Sadr, collectively called Sadrist Movement in the parliament, withdrew its six members from the cabinet in April.
Secular ministers from the Iraqi National List, led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, withdrew at the beginning of August, shortly after the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni Muslimbloc in parliament, pulled its six ministers out.
TAILORED AND POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED
Iraqi opposition politicians of all stripes, however, dismissed the testimony as some tailored political document and even blamed the political stalemate on the incapability of Prime Minister Nurial-Maliki.
The Sadrist bloc, loyal to the Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, saw the report as “the fruit of agreement between the U.S. and Iraqi governments, and clearly a courtesy gift to the U.S. President George Bush.”
Mustafa al-Hiti, from the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, led by former Minister of State Saleh al-Mutlaq, criticized the report, saying it “drew an overoptimistic picture of the reality in Iraq, just like the one presented by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in the Parliament building on Monday.”
“But we know very well of the disastrous reality in Iraq,” al-Hiti said, adding that the report came “to polish al-Maliki’s government and Bush’s administration, both of which are now facing crises.”
Iraqi National Assembly Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani labeled the Iraqi government a failure, and went even further to suggest anew government be formed.
“The national unity government has failed in achieving its promises, there is little progress in the political process,” al-Mashhadani said Tuesday in a statement.
“The failure of the current Iraqi government resulted in the appearance of a dangerous crisis, which have negative impacts on the entirely political process. Remedy steps should be taken in consideration to prevent the continuous deterioration,” he said.