RAMADI, Iraq, 14 March 2007 — Iraq’s embattled Shiite premier flew yesterday into the western city of Ramadi, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency, on a mission to build ties between the country’s bitterly divided sects.
The unannounced visit came as the Pentagon confirmed reports that Washington is considering pulling US troops out of Iraq if its current “surge” strategy fails to quell raging sectarian violence engulfing Baghdad.
“I haven’t been to Ramadi since 1976,” said Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, on his first visit to Anbar province since his election last year, and a trip hailed by US commanders as a vital step toward peace.
“I love this province and I’m proud that it’s part of Iraq,” he said, after meeting Anbar Governor Maamun Sami Rashid in a Saddam-era palace now inside a joint US and Iraqi military base.
Maliki — accompanied by his defense and interior ministers — and his host the governor vowed to work together to combat Al-Qaeda insurgents who have been fighting in Anbar since the March 2003 US-led invasion. US commanders said they were delighted that Maliki had made the trip, seeing it as a concrete sign that his Shiite-led government is serious about making peace with Anbar’s Sunni leaders, many of whom have turned against the insurgency.
US and Iraqi troops, meanwhile, pushed on with an intensive drive to secure Baghdad as the White House confirmed a possible pullout of US soldiers from Iraq if its “surge” strategy fails.
The US military is deploying additional troops in Baghdad and Anbar in support of the new security plan called Operation Fardh Al-Qanoon (Imposing Law), which has already seen the deployment of about 90,000 Iraqi and US soldiers in Baghdad.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe on Monday cited Defense Secretary Robert Gates as saying it would be irresponsible for the United States not to have considered a fallback plan if the escalation in troop levels fails to achieve the goal of quelling violence in Iraq.
