Baghdad, Iraq – Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Sunday strongly rejected a U.S. bipartisan panel’s report on U.S. war strategy in Iraq, calling some of its recommendations “dangerous” and a threat to his country’s sovereignty.
“The report does not respect the will of the Iraqis in dealing with their problems,” he said in a statement released by his office.
The report by the Iraq Study Group, which was released Wednesday, has drawn criticism from several Iraqi political leaders across sectarian lines. Talabani, a Kurd, is the highest-ranking political leader to oppose the study.
Talabani was particularly critical of recommendations to embed thousands of U.S. troops with Iraqi security forces to train and advise them, to centralize control of the country’s oil revenue and to allow former loyalists to deposed President Sad dam Hussein back into their old government jobs.
“I think that the report is unjust and unfair and contains some dangerous articles which reduce the sovereignty of Iraq and its constitution,” he said in a Washington Post translation of his comments.
The Iraq Study Group said most U.S. troops should be withdrawn by early 2008. Talabani demanded that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki be given full control over Iraqi security forces before then.
“The report does not respect the will of the Iraqi people in controlling its army and its capability to arm and train the army,” he said.
Al-Maliki’s political adviser said Sunday that the prime minister had not yet formed an opinion on Talabani’s statements.
Talabani criticized the report’s recommendation that the government reconcile with former enemies, including members of Hussein’s Baath Party.
When asked about Talabani’s comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, former Secretary of State James Baker, who co-chaired the study group, said the war would be won politically, not militarily.
“And a part of that is national reconciliation, and amnesty is a big part of national reconciliation,” he said.
Talabani embraced the recommendation that the U.S. and Iraq engage in talks with Iraq’s neighbors, especially Iran and Syria. The Bush administration has been reluctant to do so.
Iraq has already opened the lines of communication with both countries. Last month, Talabani met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Teh ran.
Update: Casualties
A roadside bomb killed one U.S. soldier and wounded another Sunday west of Baghdad.
Sectarian violence raged on the streets of Baghdad on Sunday, with a fresh outburst of retaliatory attacks and clashes between Shiites and Sunnis. At least 83 people were killed or found dead throughout the country, including 59 bullet-riddled bodies that turned up in Baghdad.
Late Saturday, gunmen attacked two Shiite homes in western Baghdad, killing nine men and seriously wounding another, police said. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, which police said occurred in the mostly Sunni Arab al-Jihad neighborhood, but it apparently was in retaliation for a bold assault earlier in the day against Sunnis.
Clashes also erupted between Sunni and Shiite militants in Baghdad’s mixed western Amil district. One Shiite militiaman was killed, and six people – five Sunnis and one Shiite – were wounded.
