U.S., Iraq affirm ‘good, strong’ ties

BAGHDAD — The American ambassador and Iraqi prime minister issued a rare joint statement yesterday in which Iraq reaffirmed its commitment to a “good and strong” relationship with Washington — a bid to dampen speculation about souring ties less than two weeks before U.S. midterm elections.

The statement followed a tense week in U.S.-Iraqi relations, as Washington has stepped up pressure on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to crack down on Shi’ite militias and death squads behind a wave of sectarian killings. Mr. al-Maliki, whose political standing is beholden to the two main militias, has repeatedly said he would disband “illegal armed groups” but so far has taken little action.

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad announced the centerpiece of the Bush administration’s new strategy: The establishment of a timeline to curb violence and solve other Iraqi problems. He said Mr. al-Maliki had agreed to the plan.

But over the next two days, Mr. al-Maliki publicly and heatedly said that he saw imposition of timelines as an infringement on Iraqi sovereignty. Then he said that the timeline program was a product of U.S. electoral politics.

The White House on Thursday said Mr. al-Maliki’s comments were taken out of context. But hours later, the Iraqi leader reissued the same complaint, unambiguously in an interview with British journalists.

Yesterday’s joint statement was issued in English on a U.S. Embassy letterhead and in Arabic by the prime minister’s office after Mr. Khalilzad and Mr. al-Maliki held an unannounced meeting earlier in the day.

It said the “Iraqi government has made clear the issues that must be resolved with timelines.”

Language in the statement suggested a clear attempt to dampen further speculation about a fraying of ties between the two governments.

“The government of Iraq is committed to a good and strong relationship with the U.S. government to work together toward a democratic, stable Iraq, and to confront the terrorist challenges in light of the strategic alliance between the two countries,” it said.

Baghdad has been awash with speculation that the Bush administration was preparing to dump Mr. al-Maliki, who was the compromise candidate for prime minister from among the dominant Shi’ite Muslims in parliament. His government has been in power five months.

In an apparent bid to squelch such talk, the statement said, “The United States will continue to stand by the Iraqi government.”

The U.S. military yesterday announced the death of a soldier in combat in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, raising to 97 the number of American troops killed in Iraq during October, now the fourth-deadliest month since the war began in 2003.

The soldier, assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, was wounded in combat Thursday “and later died of wounds,” the military said.

Baghdad’s post-Ramadan calm held into a fifth day, as a flood of U.S. troops continued combing dangerous neighborhoods for a kidnapped American soldier, whose Iraqi family yesterday issued a plea for mercy.

There were only two reported violent deaths in the capital and eight elsewhere in the country. But authorities in Suwayrah and Kut, south of Baghdad, reported pulling nine more bodies from the Tigris River, tortured and fatally shot.

Story Continues →