5/31/2011 2:26 PM
Ambassador to Baghdad, James Jeffery, has proposed on the Iraqi politicians on Tuesday to activate the government of broad national-partnership that was formed after the last elections, instead of looking for “new scenarios” to settle the crisis, denying the existence of negotiations with the Iraqi government for the extension of the U.S. troops presence in the country.The U.S. Ambassador’s statement took place while answering a question by a number of Iraqi media sources, including Aswat al-Iraq, on Monday, about possible scenarios to settle the current political crisis among the political blocs, through holding early elections.
“There are several scenarios before the Iraqi politicians, but selecting any of them “does not return to the United States, but it is the mission of the Iraqi people and its Iraqi politicians,” Ambassador Jeffery said, answering an Aswat al-Iraq question.
The Ambassador said: “We believe, being Iraq’s friends that a government of broad national-partnership is the best scenario for Iraq, which is actually existing nowadays and includes members of all political blocs.”
“If we take into consideration the problems and the continuation of threats, along with the period that took different blocs to form the Iraqi government, being 10 months that followed the last elections, we suggest that everybody concentrate on the activation of the current government, he said, reiterating that “Iraqis, and not the United States, are to decide the best solution that serves them.”
As regards to the possibility to extend the security agreement by the end of the current year, the Ambassador said: “There are no negotiations between the United States and Iraq, and the American Administration is waiting for the result of dialogues among the Iraqi political blocs, in order to start negotiations, expressing conviction that “both countries would reach a joint platform to serve the current phase.”
Answering a question about ‘fears’ that al-Qaeda and Iran would impose control on Iraq after the departure of the American troops by the end of the current year, the U.S. Ambassador admitted that such scenario was “frightening,” but said that the United States “shall exert every effort to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq, so long as the Iraqi government wanted that.”
As regards to the U.S. expected withdrawal from Iraq and the size of workers in the Iraqi Embassy in Baghdad, the Ambassador said his Embassy “strives to increase the number of Iraqis, working in the Embassy to reach 70% of its total workers, the same as the situation is in Turkey, where I served, before I was transferred to Iraq.”
Answering a question about the size of the Embassy cadre, the U.S. Ambassador pointed out that “the issue had not been decided yet, and it depends on the decision of the political forces, because we have not began our dialogue with them yet, waiting for their decision.”
He pointed out that “the large size of his Embassy staff depends on the additional missions assigned for it now, as it is carrying out the training and development of Iraqi cadres, as well as giving advice regarding such issues as technology, sciences, energy and security, according to the Strategic Agreement, signed between both countries at the end of 2008.”
“Our Embassy has large plans to train the Iraqi police by the American Army, and we have a plan to supply the Iraqi Army with millions of dollars, allocated by the United States, as aids, through the employment of such aids by large companies, such as Boeing and others,” he said, pointing out that the Iraqi troops “were trained to face the internal security threat, though they weren’t trained enough for tradition fighting.”
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