White House under pressure
2007-08-27 19:54
Washington - The White House found itself under renewed political pressure on Monday as top US lawmakers expressed impatience with Iraqi leader Nuri al-Maliki and called for a withdrawal of US troops to begin.
Republican John Warner, one of the Senate's most influential voices on military affairs, amplified his bombshell demand of last week that President George W Bush should start a limited troop withdrawal from Iraq by Christmas.
"Our troops have performed magnificently, under brilliant leadership, and have done precisely as the president asked," he told NBC television on Sunday.
"But the government, under the leadership of Maliki and other Iraqi leaders, have totally failed to put the other part of that partnership in place, namely deliver greater security."
Bush defended Iraq's beleaguered prime minister last Wednesday as "a good man with a difficult job", seeking to dispel any sense that Washington is distancing itself from the government in Baghdad.
As pressure mounted on Maliki, top Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders announced in Baghdad they had agreed to resolve key disputes that have aggravated sectarian divisions and plunged the country into political turmoil.
A statement from President Jalal Talabani's office late on Sunday said the leaders agreed to ease restrictions on former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party serving in government ministries, to hold provincial elections and help security forces in stopping the bloodshed.
The White House quickly seized on the news as an encouraging sign of political progress.
"Today's agreement is an important symbol of their commitment to work together for the benefit of all Iraqis," White House spokesperson Emily Lawrimore said.
The deal, which still needs to be approved by parliament, comes as Bush faces mounting calls at home for a change in course in Iraq and two weeks before a pivotal progress report on Iraq is presented to the US Congress by top US officials.
Bush has launched a campaign to fend off demands for an early pullout of US troops, saying his "surge" strategy deploying an additional 30 000 troops shows promise.
But Democrats Maliki's government as a failure on Sunday slammed and said the current US troop "surge" could not halt sectarian turmoil.
And in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a clear timetable to be set for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq.
Democratic Senator Jack Reed also expressed disappointment with the Baghdad government but said Iraq's unrest could not be pinned on a single person after Maliki lashed out at US politicians urging him to go and demanded France apologise for pushing for his departure.
The dissident views now being expressed by prominent Republican figures like Warner have piled pressure on the Bush administration for a change of course in Iraq as the mid-September report looms.