Iraq's Maliki reaches out to Sunnis in Anbar Province

The Shiite leader pledges $120 million in reconciliation move. Too little, too late?

from the September 7, 2007 edition

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American patience with the Iraqi government is wearing thin, he said, and it's time for the government to do more to pull together for all of Iraq. Commitments, such as the one Thursday, are a positive sign he said, but more such commitments must be made by the central government. If not, then US forces should return home, he said.

"If you continue, we will continue to send you our sons and our daughters to shed their blood with you and for you," said Biden. "If you decide you cannot live together, let us know.... we can say goodbye now."

Biden suggested that the Iraqi government could move faster (than the US 200 years ago) toward establishing a functioning central government.

"Maybe you will do better than we did, but respectfully I doubt it," he told the packed room.

Barham Saleh, an Iraqi deputy prime minister who is Kurdish, said he understands Biden's impatience. But he, as long as the rest of the American public – must understand that creating a central government is not an easy thing, especially in the environment in which it is occurring.

"We need to do a lot better, but in the context of things, people need to recognize the difficulties and the challenges that we have," he said after the event. "This country is going through a tough transition."

He acknowledged that American support will not go on forever.

"We cannot be complacent about American support. Iraqi leaders need to recognize that international goodwill cannot be unlimited," he said, adding that it is pressure from the Iraqi people themselves that the central government feels the most pressure. "We need to deliver for our people, but let me tell you that the real pressure on us is from our own people."

Pat Lang, a retired US special forces colonel and former senior official at the Defense Intelligence Agency, says outreach to the Sunni Arabs of Anbar is long overdue. "Is this a good thing? It depends on which Iraq you're thinking of," says Lang.

"If you're thinking of the Iraq of the neocons' hopes and dreams – one with a stable central government that serves as a revolutionary foothold for change in the Middle East, then you're disappointed."

"But if you're like me and the tribal Iraqis, and think of the government we've created as inherently flawed, then things are finally moving in the right direction. A new political balance is being created because the government realizes that a modus vivendi needs to be worked out with these various Sunni entities that are armed and effective."

Lang doesn't expect immediate results, but says that gestures towards Sunni Arabs by Iraq's Shiite Islamist central government represent the only hope of stabilizing Iraq. "This reflects a realization... on Maliki's part, of reality."

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