Iraqis Plan to Take Control of Security From U.S. Forces in June 2007
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Prime Minister al-Maliki said Thursday he believed Iraqi forces would be ready by June 2007 to take full control of security in Iraq, an issue on which he pressed President Bush during their meeting in Amman, Jordan.
In making the argument that his military and police could handle security in the country, Mr. al-Maliki has routinely said the force could do the job within six months.
“I can say that Iraqi forces will be ready, fully ready to receive this command and to command its own forces, and I can tell you that by next June our forces will be ready,” Mr. al-Maliki said in an interview with ABC News.
Mr. Bush and Mr. al-Maliki agreed that America would speed efforts to turn security over the Iraqi forces, although they mentioned no timetable during a post-summit news conference.
Mr. al-Maliki also said he rejects all Iraq’s militias, including the Madhi Army of the powerful, anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is a key ally of the Shiite prime minister. Despite such promises in the past, Mr. al-Maliki has frustrated the Bush administration by doing little to curb militias, which have been heavily involved in Iraq’s spiraling sectarian violence in city’s such as Baghdad.
Mr. al-Malaki said he reassured Mr. Bush of “the government’s resolve to impose the government’s authority, bring stability, hold to account outlaws, and limit the possession of arms to the hands of the government.”
