Iraqis Vow To Take Over Security In '07

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday he believed Iraqi forces will be ready by June 2007 to take full control of security in Iraq, an issue on which he pressed President Bush during their meeting in Amman, Jordan.

In making the argument that his military and police could handle security in the country, al-Maliki has routinely said the force could do the job within six months.

"I can say that Iraqi forces will be ready, fully ready to receive this command and to command its own forces, and I can tell you that by next June our forces will be ready," al-Maliki said in an interview with ABC News.

Mr. Bush and al-Maliki agreed that the United States would speed efforts to turn security over the Iraqi forces, although they mentioned no timetable during a post-summit news conference.

Al-Maliki also said he rejects all Iraq's militias, including the Mahdi army of the powerful, anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who is a key ally of the Shiite prime minister. Despite such promises in the past, al-Maliki has frustrated the Bush administration by doing little to curb militias, which have been heavily involved in Iraq's spiraling sectarian violence in city's such as Baghdad.

Al-Malaki said he reassured Mr. Bush of "the government's resolve to impose the government's authority, bring stability, hold to account outlaws, and limit the possession of arms to the hands of the government."

Al-Maliki said he was determined to ensure that Iraq's security forces have the weapons and the training needed to fight more effectively on the battlefield.

"We mean by arming, the weapons fit to fight the terrorists ... the light and effective weapons, vehicles, armor vehicles and helicopters that will be active in the next phase in the fight against the terrorists," he said.

One of the main goals of the U.S. coalition is to train enough Iraqi soldiers and police to take over its security responsibilities, especially in western Iraq, where al Qaeda in Iraq is powerful, and Baghdad, where fighting between Sunni militants and Shiite militias is escalating.

Mr. Bush said the United States would accelerate a planned handover of security responsibility to Iraqi forces but assured al-Maliki that Washington is not looking for a "graceful exit" from the war.

Thursday's meetings were supposed to be Mr. Bush's second set of strategy sessions in the Jordanian capital. But the first meeting between Mr. Bush and al-Maliki, scheduled for Wednesday night along with Jordan's king, was scrubbed. Accounts varied as to why, but it followed the leak of a classified White House memo critical of al-Maliki and a boycott of the Iraqi leader's government in Baghdad.

In the ABC News interview, al-Maliki said that didn't intend to snub Mr. Bush by not meeting with him Wednesday.

CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante said it was "all smiles, no tension" when the two leaders met on Thursday. "The president went out of his way to express confidence in al-Maliki," said Plante.

"I appreciate the courage you show during these difficult times as you lead your country," Mr. Bush told al-Maliki after nearly 2½ hours of talks. "He's the right guy for Iraq."

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric in Amman for the summit, said after speaking with al-Maliki Thursday morning that Iraqi officials left the meeting with Mr. Bush feeling that "the U.S. and Iraq are on the same page."

Earlier Thursday, al-Maliki called on lawmakers and Cabinet ministers loyal to al-Sadr to end their boycott of the government in response to his summit with Mr. Bush.

"I hope they reconsider their decision because it doesn't constitute a positive development in the political process," al-Maliki said at a news conference on his return to Baghdad from a two-day visit to neighboring Jordan, where he met with Mr. Bush and King Abdullah II.

The 30 lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers loyal to al-Sadr had threatened to quit the government and parliament if al-Maliki went ahead with the summit, which aimed at halting Iraq's escalating sectarian violence and paving the way for a reduction of U.S. troops.

But they limited their protest to suspending participation in ministries and the legislature, and left open the possibility of returning to their jobs.

A senior Sadrist legislator, Baha al-Aaraji, said the cleric's supporters would return to work when there are more well-trained Iraqi security forces and the government ends the country's chronic shortages of electricity and fuel.

The Sadrists played a critical role in al-Maliki's election earlier this year, and he appears reluctant to comply with U.S. demands to disband the Mahdi army. The militia is blamed for much of the sectarian violence tearing Iraq apart.

"Political partnership means commitment," al-Maliki said, addressing his Sadrist allies, whom he advised to use constitutional channels to air their grievances.

Al-Maliki pledged again Thursday to act against illegal armed groups, but he did not name the Mahdi army or say what steps he might take.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan commission on U.S. policy in Iraq that will unveil recommendations next week is expected to urge direct diplomacy with U.S. rivals Iran and Syria — a position the Bush administration opposes.

"I appreciate the prime minister's views that the Iraqis are plenty capable of running their own business and they don't need foreign interference from neighbors that will be destabilizing the country," Mr. Bush said Thursday.

Al-Maliki, though, seemed open to the possibility of Tehran, as well as Damascus, getting involved.

"We are ready to cooperate with everybody who believe that they need to communicate with the national unity government, especially our neighbors," al-Maliki said. "Our doors are open."

The two agreed that Iraq should not be partitioned along sectarian lines into semi-regions for the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites, Mr. Bush said.

"The prime minister made clear that splitting his country into parts, as some have suggested, is not what the Iraqi people want, and that any partition of Iraq would only lead to an increase in sectarian violence," the president said. "I agree."