Acknowledging that weeks of escalating bloodshed have had a demoralizing effect on American perceptions of the conflict, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad spoke bluntly about the growing civil strife in and around Baghdad and the challenges it poses. Casey, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said it was possible that the number of U.S. troops there would need to grow in coming months, before Iraqi security forces can begin to take control.
The military commander and the diplomat offered a strong defense of the Bush administration's policy in Iraq. The two men, who are among the principal architects of the current U.S. strategy to train Iraqi security forces in preparation for foreign troop reductions, emphasized that they do not view the U.S. campaign as never-ending and praised a call yesterday by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a crackdown on armed militias.
Khalilzad said Iraqi leaders have committed to a timeline for forging a national compact among warring factions and have promised to come to agreement on establishing universal political rights, sharing the country's oil wealth, bridging sectarian divides and disarming militias who rampage through neighborhoods unchecked.
He called such steps essential to decreasing U.S. involvement -- equal to or more important than curtailing attacks on U.S. personnel by anti-American insurgents.
"Militias are the infrastructure of a civil war, and they go against resolving disputes through the political process," Khalilzad said. "The prime minister is developing a plan by the end of the year, and we support that," Khalilzad said.
Note the part of the second to last paragraph: "decreasing U.S. involvement". It does not mean the US is not gradually pulling out of Iraq, it's just pulling out involvement in the security of Iraq. But it's not enough to stop the civil war that's been raging in Iraq for over two years.
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