4/6/2010
Situation in Iraq is positive: US envoy
THE PENINSULA
Ambassador of the US to Iraq, Chris Hill addressing the media yesterday.
DOHA: The real challenge for Iraq after the parliamentary election last month is to figure out how to put a broad coalition, says US Ambassador to Iraq, Chris Hill.
“We are into what will be a very intense internal political season in Iraq as various politicians reach out and try to form a majority government or ending up forming a government of national unity with all major coalitions coming in. It is all politics all the time right now in Iraq and I thing that is a pretty positive trend,” Hill who is visiting Qatar told reporters yesterday.
Iraq held elections on March 7, 2010, to elect a new Parliament. The coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki trailed the one led by Ayad Allawi by 89 seats to 91, but in order to form a majority in the Parliament, both need 163 seats to obtain an absolute majority in the new 325-member Parliament.
Hill said that the fact that Iraqis went to the polls in large numbers and people voted for different options is what matters most than who came in first in the election.
“This is encouraging from the point of view of the overall health of the democratic model, but the real challenges are ahead, the challenges to figure out how to put a broad coalition,” he said.
“When that government emerges, it will be broadly-based with Shia, Sunni and Kurds and probably some minorities as well in it.”
He added that Iraq is a multi-community country with all that means in terms of challenges and making everyone feel a part of the system is not easy. “But I think that as the Iraqi people get in the glamour of freedom I don’t think they are going to give it up so easily,” he said.
Asked to comment on the coordinated attack on foreign embassies in central Baghdad on Sunday, Hill said: “Whether this represent a new tactic is hard to say. We are dealing with a terrorist organisation which is small, hidden and operating cells and don’t occupy any territory at all. I don’t see any political purpose being served by these attacks.”
“We have to continue to work with the Iraqi security forces and try our best to prevent these people from committing these acts in the future.”
As for future US-Iraq relationships, Hill said US desire for long-term relationship doesn’t mean military relationship. The US spent considerable efforts in recent years to reach out to the Iraqi society, not just in the security area, but also to the Iraqi society in education, culture, economic fields and to try to find areas of common endeavour, he pointed out.
In his assessment, as the US combat mission ends in Iraq this year and as US troops are reduced substantially down to 50,000 by the end of August, there will be an increasing shift in terms of the US presence in Iraq from the one based on the military to a presence based on civilians.
On the boarder issue between Kuwait and Iraq, Hill said: “It is our judgment that Iraq can work out with Kuwait a resolution of this issue. There has been inadequate communication on the matter. It is a solvable problem that can be addressed with proper communication.”
He said the posting of an Iraqi Ambassador to Kuwait is part of a dialogue process that should lead to discussion and resolve outstanding issues.
