'Maliki Government Non-Functional,' Says Armed Services Committee Chair

(CNSNews.com) - Returning from a trip to Iraq last weekend, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the political compromises needed for success in Iraq cannot be achieved with the current Iraqi leadership.

"The most striking feature of any visit to Iraq is the bravery and professionalism of American troops," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) during a conference-call briefing with reporters on Monday. "Their courage, along with the increased Iraqi army capability and willingness to fight, has resulted in some reduced violence in some places in Iraq.

"Despite that, there is a deepening consensus that there is no military solution to the sectarian strife in Iraq and that the only hope of ending that violence is political compromise between the leaders of the feuding groups," said Levin, to whom the Americans for Democratic Action assign a 100 percent rating for his liberal views.

He accused Iraq's political leaders of continuing to ignore the desperate plight of the people, and he noted that recent discussions of top political leaders "have apparently produced little or nothing."

But James Carafano, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he's very skeptical that personal trips such as Levin's -- and short-term assessments, such as the one expected from General David Petraeus in mid-September -- "are really going to tell us much about the long-term prospects for Iraq."

Sen. Levin noted that Iraqi leaders' "failure" to achieve political compromise has "reinforced the widely held view that the Maliki government is non-functional and cannot produce a political settlement because it is too beholden to religious and sectarian leaders."

"Iraqi leaders have not met their own political benchmarks to share power and resources, to modify the de-Baathification laws to schedule provincial elections and to amend their constitution," said Levin. "So, I hope that the Iraqi assembly, when it reconvenes in a few weeks, will vote the Maliki government out of office, and it will have the wisdom to replace it with a less sectarian and a more unifying prime minister and government."

Levin also called for the United States to begin troop reduction to "pre-surge levels" within four months, and to let the Iraqi army take the lead in counterinsurgency measures.

"Every successful counterinsurgency campaign that has ever been conducted has taken years," countered Carafano. "It's taken months and years to even know if they are on the right track."

"Everybody is running around this summer like they're going to find some kind of magic answers that are going to tell them something," he told Cybercast News Service.

"People will find whatever answers they want," said Carafano. "People who want to say it is failing will find evidence for that."

He added that the United States must keep "plugging along and continuing to push the Iraqi political process forward and build Iraqi security forces."

By Monisha Bansal
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
August 21, 2007

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Sectarian -
Sectarianism is an adherence to a particular sect or party or denomination. It also usually involves a rejection of those not a member of ones sect. A sectarian conflict usually refers to conflict along religious lines such as the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in northern Ireland and western Scotland, or between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Often it is promoted by a group within the dominant community, such as the Orange Order in Ulster. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarian

Feuding groups in Iraq
READ “A Future Flashpoint” at
http://www.flashpoints.info/countries-conflicts/Iraq-web/Iraq_briefing.h...

*QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

Why is unity so important to a country?

Can you think of instances throughout the world where an inability of two or more groups to compromise caused/is causing prolonged violence?

Sectarianism is often found where there are two or more conflicting religious groups trying to come to an agreement. What are the complications that arise when you add religion to a conflict?

*REMEMBER TO BE RESPECTFUL
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