Iraq must win hearts - US envoy

2005-08-02 20:39

Baghdad - Iraq's government must win the hearts and minds of the people to defeat insurgents who want to trigger civil war, said United States ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad on Tuesday.

He said: "In order to defeat the insurgency, one needs to reach a national compact among Iraqis because if all Iraqis... see themselves as part of this new Iraq... they will separate themselves from the insurgency."

He said the Iraqi people would then "join others to oppose those who want to destroy this new Iraq".

Khalilzad emphasised the importance of maintaining political momentum towards reform, warning that failure by Iraqi leaders to agree on a road map for the future would prove "an opportunity for terrorists and insurgents".

Sectarian civil war

Parliament was trying to reach agreement on a draft constitution, which would be put to a national referendum in mid-October.

Khalilzad said: "We know what they want, the insurgents. They want a sectarian civil war, they want an ethnic civil war and they want to expand the conflict.

"I think the solution to the problem of the insurgency is not a military solution alone.

"There is a military component to it, but the military component has to be integrated into a broad strategy of political elements.

"We need to isolate the insurgency, these terrorists, extremists who come from abroad... and some who would like to restore the old regime" before they can be destroyed by targeted military force.

- AFP