02 May 2007
U.S. Envoy to Iraq Sees Signs of Progress with Security Plan
Plan reduces sectarian violence although al-Qaida remains active
Washington – The new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, says he deplores the physical and psychological damage done to Iraq since he last served in the country two years ago, but adds that the new Baghdad security plan is helping curtail much of the violence responsible for that damage.
“Moving around in the city ... and remembering that I used to live here -- I spent two years living here two years ago -- it's pretty sobering to see the damage that's been done, both physically but also politically and psychologically,” Crocker told reporters in Washington via videoconference May 1.
But he said the new security plan is showing signs of progress in reducing sectarian militia and death squad activity.
He said the drop in sectarian militia activity has been accompanied by a rise in al-Qaida terrorist attacks. “There is something of an al-Qaida surge going on that is employing suicide car bombs as the principal weapon,” he said. “They are clearly trying to reignite sectarian strife, cause damage to us and strike at the symbols of the Iraqi state and government.”
Crocker said the attacks should not be interpreted as a failure of the security plan, which is achieving its goal of reducing sectarian tension, but rather a reflection of the multiple levels on which Iraqi and coalition forces are required to fight.
Improvements in the security situation, he said, would provide Iraqi politicians with enough time to move forward with the process of national reconciliation. Reconciliation, he said, is the key to stability.
“All of Iraq’s communities have been damaged by the past and have fears of the future,” he said, “and that's why national reconciliation is so important to begin to build in the assurances in and among communities that their future is going to be better than their past and that it will be guaranteed by things like rule of law that they can count on.”
Crocker said an important part of his job is to explain American political debates to the Iraqis “because the messages coming from the Congress and the American public are important ones. Our patience is not unlimited. There is a sense of frustration. We have paid a lot in blood and treasure. That doesn't go on forever and it certainly doesn't in the absence of progress.”
However, he said, the United States is not about to withdraw. He said that would encourage all parties in Iraq to revise their calculations, “and I don't think those calculations would be in the interest of national reconciliation within Iraq, nor do I think they would be something that supports our long-term interests in a variety of critical areas, both in Iraq and in the region.”
For more information on U.S. policies, see Iraq Update.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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