Iraq's Maliki at White House to seek US help battling
increasing violence
Mandel Ngan
/ AFP - Getty Images
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki speaks on US-Iraqi relations at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington.
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
The prime minister of Iraq, a country in the grip of its
worst violence in five years, is in Washington to ask for American help to
fight what he calls the growing influence of al Qaeda.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama Friday afternoon at the White House. In a speech Thursday, he cast the United States and Iraq as partners that had “shed blood together fighting terrorism.”
The visit to Washington is Maliki’s first in two years. For the prime minister, who pushed to get American troops out of Iraq four years ago, the request for help is an illustration of an increasingly dire security situation.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama Friday afternoon at the White House. In a speech Thursday, he cast the United States and Iraq as partners that had “shed blood together fighting terrorism.”
The visit to Washington is Maliki’s first in two years. For the prime minister, who pushed to get American troops out of Iraq four years ago, the request for help is an illustration of an increasingly dire security situation.
This is the deadliest
year in Iraq since 2008. More than 7,000 people have been killed, according
to the casualty database Iraq Body Count. Iraqis say that they live in constant
fear of explosions and assassinations.
Maliki, in an Op-Ed earlier this week in The New York Times, blamed al Qaeda and its affiliates, and portrayed the attackers as common enemies of the United States and Iraq.
“Imagine how Americans would react if you had a terrorist organization operating on your own soil that killed dozens and maimed hundreds every week,” he wrote. “For Iraqis, that isn’t a hypothetical question.”
Outside experts and some American officials take a different view — blaming a power struggle between religious factions within Iraq and spillover from the civil war in Syria, which shares a border with Iraq.
U.S. officials blame Maliki for moving closer to Iran and refusing, against requests from Washington, to give Sunni and Kurdish minorities in the Iraqi government, which is led by Shiites.
A group of senators, including John McCain, R-Ariz., sent a letter to Obama earlier this week urging him to press Maliki to come up with a “comprehensive political and security strategy that can stabilize the country.”
The letter blamed a resurgent al Qaeda and the spillover from Syria, but it also faulted Maliki for an autocratic leadership style that has alienated Sunnis and Kurds and has driven some Sunnis to join al Qaeda.
On Thursday, Maliki said in a speech that the United States and Iraq were partners that “shed blood together fighting terrorism.” He wants American Apache attack helicopters and other military help to fight militants.
“We have a request — I won’t say a right — it’s a request,” Maliki said Thursday at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. “It’s not only about Iraq, but it’s about all the countries in the world that are suffering from terrorism.”
In the speech, he denied that violence in his country is being fomented by sectarian strife among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions.
“There is no problem between Sunnis and Shiites,” he said. “The Sunnis are killed today but also the Shiites,” he said. “It is al Qaeda who is killing all of the Iraqis.”
Maliki, in a December 2010 interview with The Wall Street Journal, ruled out the presence of American troops in his country by the end of the following year. The last American troops left in December 2011.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Maliki, in an Op-Ed earlier this week in The New York Times, blamed al Qaeda and its affiliates, and portrayed the attackers as common enemies of the United States and Iraq.
“Imagine how Americans would react if you had a terrorist organization operating on your own soil that killed dozens and maimed hundreds every week,” he wrote. “For Iraqis, that isn’t a hypothetical question.”
Outside experts and some American officials take a different view — blaming a power struggle between religious factions within Iraq and spillover from the civil war in Syria, which shares a border with Iraq.
U.S. officials blame Maliki for moving closer to Iran and refusing, against requests from Washington, to give Sunni and Kurdish minorities in the Iraqi government, which is led by Shiites.
A group of senators, including John McCain, R-Ariz., sent a letter to Obama earlier this week urging him to press Maliki to come up with a “comprehensive political and security strategy that can stabilize the country.”
The letter blamed a resurgent al Qaeda and the spillover from Syria, but it also faulted Maliki for an autocratic leadership style that has alienated Sunnis and Kurds and has driven some Sunnis to join al Qaeda.
On Thursday, Maliki said in a speech that the United States and Iraq were partners that “shed blood together fighting terrorism.” He wants American Apache attack helicopters and other military help to fight militants.
“We have a request — I won’t say a right — it’s a request,” Maliki said Thursday at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. “It’s not only about Iraq, but it’s about all the countries in the world that are suffering from terrorism.”
In the speech, he denied that violence in his country is being fomented by sectarian strife among Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions.
“There is no problem between Sunnis and Shiites,” he said. “The Sunnis are killed today but also the Shiites,” he said. “It is al Qaeda who is killing all of the Iraqis.”
Maliki, in a December 2010 interview with The Wall Street Journal, ruled out the presence of American troops in his country by the end of the following year. The last American troops left in December 2011.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Hadi Mizban
/ AP
A woman grieves for her sister, who died in a bombing, while
inspecting the site of the car bomb attack in Baghdad on Oct. 19.
Explore related topics: iraq, white-house, obama, al-qaeda, maliki
1 comment:
"American help to fight what he calls the growing influence of Al Qaeda".....What??? What a joke! The Al qaeda that US created in the first place....hmmmm...it's getting stranger and stranger. Not even credible any more.
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