Agence France-Presse, 29 March 2007
PARIS (AFP) - Already feeling the heat at home to pull out of Iraq, US President George W. Bush was under mounting international pressure Thursday to bring American troops home.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani followed the lead of Saudi King Abdullah the previous day at the same Arab summit in Riyadh, hitting out at the US for its "occupation" of his country and attacking Washington's mistakes.
"In beloved Iraq, blood is being shed among brothers in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and ugly sectarianism threatens civil war," Abdullah told the high-powered gathering.
The United States, which considers Saudi Arabia a key ally in the region, admitted to being caught off guard.
"We were a little surprised," said US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns. "Obviously, we will seek clarification."
But later Thursday, the White House rebuffed Abdullah's remarks.
"When it comes to the coalition forces being in Iraq, we are there under the UN Security Council resolutions and at the invitation of the Iraqi people," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.
Asked whether the US military presence in Iraq was illegitimate, as the Saudi king had said, Perino replied: "Certainly not."
Washington got little comfort from Talabani in his speech Thursday.
"The decision to turn the liberation of Iraq into an occupation ... with the dire consequences this had internally and the fears (it aroused) in Arab, regional and international arenas -- all this was contrary to what Iraqi parties and national forces were planning at the time," he said.
"This applies equally to many hasty decisions and measures taken by the occupation's civil administration -- without understanding the Iraqis' point of view, and the consequences they had on the situation in the country and the political process as a whole," he added.
Talabani did not spell out the mistakes he was referring to, but the US-run administration installed after Saddam's fall has been widely criticised for taking decisions that have made the situation worse.
For example, tens of thousands of members of Iraq's former ruling Baath party were stripped of their posts in government, at universities and in business after the 2003 US-led invasion. The law has been a major source of grievance for the minority Sunnis.
Less of a surprise perhaps was the call by Russian President
Vladimir Putin for a deadline on the presence of foreign troops in Iraq.
"The situation in Iraq is of serious concern," he said in a statement sent to the Arab League summit in Riyadh.
"In order to prevent the country from descending into full-scale civil war and disintegration, there must be real national reconciliation," he added.
Bush also faced mounting political pressure at home, as the Democratic-led Congress stepped up the pressure on him to change course in Iraq.
After days of passionate debate, the US Senate on Thursday approved a bill tying funding for the war in Iraq to a timetable for withdrawing US troops.
The bill sets a mandatory start to a troop pullout within 120 days of its final passage, and a guideline of March 21, 2008 for the completion of the withdrawal of most US combat forces.
It passed by 51 votes to 47 in a vote essentially split along party lines.
That set the scene for a dramatic confrontation with Bush, who has repeatedly rejected any time restrictions on the presence of US troops. And he was standing his ground on Thursday.
"I'll veto a bill that restricts our commanders on the ground in Iraq, a bill that doesn't fund our troops, a bill that's got too much spending on it," Bush said after meeting with Republican congressional allies.
In Baghdad meanwhile, the new US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, was sworn in at the American embassy, in the city's tightly fortified Green Zone on Thursday. One of his first duties will be to present his credentials to Talabani.
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Citation: "Bush takes flak from all sides over Iraq," Agence France-Presse, 29 March 2007.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070329/pl_afp/usiraqmilitary
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