US report calls for Iraq exit in five years
UNITED STATES: The United States should halve its military
presence in Iraq within three years and completely pull out within five
years, the latest US report on the war-scarred country said.
Only then will Iraq's government, which has so far been a
"disappointment," take on its own security responsibilities to rebuild
the nation, the report by the United States Institute of Peace said.
"The United States faces too many challenges around the world to
continue its current level of effort in Iraq, or even the deployment
that was in place before the surge," the report said.
A sustainable military presence "is likely no more than half the
current level within three years, with a view to removing all units
within five years, when all US bases should be turned over to the Iraqi
government," it said.
"Only when the Iraqis and their neighbors perceive the real prospect
of US withdrawal will they feel the need to take on greater
responsibility."
The institute's report was released at the start of a week of drama
in Washington as General David Petraeus and Baghdad ambassador Ryan
Crocker, the top two Americans in Iraq, prepare to testify in Congress
Monday and Tuesday.
They face a hostile barrage from Democrats over if and when troops
can come home from a four-year war that has killed more than 3,700 US
soldiers, tens of thousands of Iraqis and cost half a trillion dollars.
Petraeus will argue that the contentious strategy announced by
President George W. Bush in January of surging 28,500 extra troops into
Iraq has slashed sectarian violence and should be extended. But he also
is expected to accept gradual cuts in the 168,000 strong US garrison in
Iraq, beginning early next year - although that is unlikely to satisfy
anti-war Democrats.
The new recommendations were issued at the institute's behest by
several experts who sat on the Iraq Study Group, a high-profile
bipartisan commission that last December appealed for a new course in
the war-torn nation.
The study group called for diplomatic overtures to Iran and Syria in
a bid to stabilize Iraq, a series of benchmarks to judge progress by
Iraqi authorities, and a US shift away from combat and to training Iraqi
forces.
Those recommendations were largely reprised by the Institute of
Peace, which ran the Iraq Study Group, and which works to prevent
international conflict and promote post-conflict development.
The Bush administration should focus on five key objectives as it
charts its next steps in Iraq, the institute's report said. Those were:
- Prevent Iraq from becoming a safe haven for international
terrorists;
- Restore US credibility, prestige and capacity to act worldwide;
- Improve regional stability;
- Limit and redirect Iranian influence;
- Maintain Iraq as a single, independent state.
Washington, Monday, AFP |