23 July 2006
Bush, Iraqi Leader Expected To Review Baghdad Security Plan
Official says Iraq's government also working to unify country, reform economy
Washington -- President Bush's meeting with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq July 25 will be an opportunity for the leaders to evaluate progress in the areas of security, political reconciliation and economic reform in Iraq, according to a senior administration official.
Speaking on background via teleconference July 21, the official said the issue of security "will figure very large in their bilateral conversations; they'll probably get down to some very specific conversations about what's going on in Baghdad, what can be done to improve the situation there, what we [the United States and Iraq] can be doing to adjust our strategies."
The official said the initial results of "Operation Together Forward," a plan to improve security in the capital, "have been disappointing," but Iraqi and coalition leaders are working on adjustments to the initiative. (See related article.)
These adjustments involve "a shift of emphasis, a shift in the way of using forces," the official said. "There's an open question about ... whether more forces will come from other parts of the country."
Over the last 10 days, security forces also have focused their efforts on "individuals who are leaders or instigators of sectarian violence," the official said.
According to the official, improvements in Baghdad's security could lead to positive "reverberations" throughout the country, which is one reason why the city "is so heavily on the minds both of the Prime Minister and the President."
NATIONAL RECONCILIATION EFFORTS
Although sectarian violence in Baghdad and other parts of the country is on the rise, Iraq is not experiencing a civil war, the official said.
"[W]hat you really can see when you look at the individual developments in Iraq over the last few months [is that] this country is trying to pull itself together," the official said. "You see its leadership is trying to come together and find tangible ways, rhetorical ways, symbolic ways of underscoring the importance of maintaining Iraq at the expense of empowering different sectarian groups." (See related article.)
The official cited Iraq's National Reconciliation and Dialogue Project as one example of the government's efforts to unify the country. (See related article.)
Al-Maliki's "government is still acting as a national government, it still has members at the most senior levels working to create an agenda that is not a sectarian agenda, and one that will advance the interests of the country as a whole," the official said.
The official also cited a survey conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI) in June that shows close to 80 percent of the Iraqi population does not want the country segregated according to religious or ethnic sects. Close to 90 percent also said a unity government is "extremely important" to Iraq's future.
ECONOMIC REFORMS
On the economic front, al-Maliki has announced and is implementing plans for change in key areas, the official said. These involve new investment laws, anti-corruption initiatives, restored financial relationships with countries and initiatives to improve essential services.
The official noted that, in the last two months, Iraq "has realized its highest oil production and export levels since before the war."
"Over the course of 2006, in the first six or seven months, exports were averaging about 1.47 million barrels a day. And in June, they were at 1.67. So that's a significant increase," the official said.
The country also has seen an increase in the number of hours per day electricity is available, the official said. This improvement is, in part "a reflection of the new electricity minister and the electricity plan that he's put in place that has resulted in a number of initiatives on the security front, but also on things like rapid repair, getting up cables faster when they come down, those kinds of things."
The United States is cognizant of the challenges Iraq faces and is "working very diligently to constantly assess the tools and the approaches" necessary to tackle those challenges, the official said.
"[O]ur major national security interest in a successful Iraq is as essential as ever, and ... we are engaged from the President on down at constantly adjusting our strategy so that we have the greatest chances of success," the official said.
For more information on U.S. policies, see Iraq Update.
A transcript of the briefing is available on the White House Web site.
A copy of the IRI survey on Iraq and a press release on the poll are available on the IRI Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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