Hague: Iraq strategy needs candid assessment
Violent scenes are an everyday occurrence for Iraqis
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Sunday, 22, Oct 2006 08:00
William Hague has said the government needs to review its current operations and exit strategy in Iraq in light of mounting bloodshed.
The shadow foreign secretary said that a "careful reassessment" of the military's role in reconstructing the troubled Middle Eastern country was needed, because it could be disastrous for Iraqis if further mistakes are made.
Following Mr Hague's calls, defence secretary Des Browne said that the British army was taking steps everyday to hand more responsibility back to Iraqi soldiers and police.
Mr Browne told Sky News that the army had been working towards the ultimate transition of leaving Iraq altogether for several months.
"We're quite far down the process of transferring responsibility to the Iraqis. We've handed over two of four provinces," he said from an official visit to troops in Afghanistan.
The defence secretary's shadow had initially told BBC1's Sunday AM programme that the worst course of action the army could take would be to "precipitately pull the rug from under the Iraqi government", explaining that this could "compound earlier mistakes".
The former Conservative party leader added that the government had "to withdraw coalition forces on some reasonable timetable, sooner rather than later, while leaving behind a democratic Iraqi government and stability, security and stability, in most of parts of the country".
And in response the defence secretary reiterated a mantra adopted by the US president that troops would not leave until their "job was done".
Earlier in the day, a prominent US state department official claimed that the White House's policy in Iraq has displayed both "arrogance and stupidity".
Alberto Fernandez told Qatar-based al-Jazeera that the international community was "witnessing failure in Iraq", although he said that it was not solely attributable to the US' actions.
"That's not the failure of the US alone, but it is a disaster for the region," the director of public diplomacy in the state department's bureau of near eastern affairs said in Arabic from Washington.
"We tried to do our best but I think there is much room for criticism, because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the US in Iraq," he added.
Mr Fernandez also explained that the US was prepared to hold talks with any sectarian groups based in the troubled Middle Eastern country, the only exception being al-Qaida itself.
"We are open to dialogue because we all know that, at the end of the day, the hell and the killings in Iraq are linked to an effective Iraqi national reconciliation.
"The Iraqi government is convinced of this," the official revealed.
Yesterday, George Bush insisted that the US' goal in Iraq remained "clear and unchanging", pledging to remain in the region until the army's mission was complete.
In his weekly radio address the US president admitted that insurgency had grown "significantly" during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but claimed that more "focused operations" on the Pentagon's behalf were behind the increase in violence.
"Side by side, Iraqi and American forces are operating in the city's most violent areas to disrupt al-Qaida, capture enemy fighters, crack down on [improvised explosive device] makers, and break up death squads," he said.
"Our goal in Iraq is clear and unchanging: Our goal is victory. What is changing are the tactics we use to achieve that goal," Mr Bush added.
The president said that the army's overriding ambition was to remain flexible, but claimed that terrorists were trying to influence public opinion in the US by carrying out an increased number of attacks.
He told listeners: "The terrorists are trying to divide America and break our will, and we must not allow them to succeed. So America will stand with the democratic government of Iraq.
"We will not pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete."
Mr Bush said that the US was a safer country with its troops in Iraq, reiterating that retreating from the Middle East "would embolden the terrorists, and make our country, our friends, and our allies more vulnerable to new attacks".
"The last few weeks have been rough," the president concluded.