Bush Administration Urges Iraqis to Form Government
http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=D1E8EB:2F72C9DUS officials say process must be controlled by Iraqis themselves
The Bush administration says it is prodding Iraqi politicians to form
a government, but insists the process must be controlled by Iraqis
themselves.
Adam EreliThe State Department confirms that, in recent days,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has spoken with Iraqi leaders
representing the country's Kurdish and Shi'ite populations about the
formation of a new Cabinet. But State Department spokesman Adam Ereli
says there are limits to what the United States can and should do in
pressuring Iraq's political process to move forward.
"This is not a question of Washington, or any outside power, telling
the Iraqis who they should choose for their government," he said. And
any such interference would backfire. First of all, it is against our
principles, but second of all, it would not work. For this [new Iraqi]
government to be effective, to be credible, to be accepted by Iraqis,
it has to be chosen by Iraqis."
Delays in naming a Cabinet and uncertainty over Iraq's political
future appear to have emboldened insurgents, who have stepped up
attacks with deadly results. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told VOA
that, in order to defeat the insurgency, Iraq must not, as he put it,
"backslide" on the political front.
But State Department spokesman Ereli insists the picture in Iraq is
not all bleak. "Let us keep it in perspective. You have had elections
[in Iraq]. You have a transitional national assembly. You have a
presidency council. We are making progress on the security front," he
said. "We are looking at ways, with international coordination, that
the international community can support Iraqi reconstruction. And it
is complicated, and it is difficult, but they certainly are not
stagnant or dead in the water [at an absolute impasse]."
Monday, Iraqi insurgents attacked the country's petroleum
infrastructure, setting fire to a pipeline in the north, one day after
a wave of bomb attacks killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens of
others.