Iraqi leaders must shoulder responsibilities: Cheney
CAMP SPEICHER (Iraq), May 10: US Vice-President Dick Cheney wrapped up a two-day visit to Iraq on Thursday warning that the country's own leaders were the only ones able to bring their conflict to an end.
“Success in that effort depends on Iraq's leaders themselves, and the ultimate solution in this country will be a political solution,” Cheney told around 2,000 US soldiers at Camp Speicher, a sprawling US base.
“But that requires basic security, especially in Baghdad, where Americans are working beside Iraqi forces to carry out the new strategy,” said the vice president, who spent Wednesday meeting top Iraqi politicians in Baghdad.
Cheney spent the night at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, thus becoming the most senior US official to overnight in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion, before attending intelligence briefings and a troop rally.
“It was a good report, and I come away with even more appreciation for all you do, and greater confidence for the days ahead,” Cheney told the soldiers, who gave him a warm welcome to the dusty desert camp.
Camp Speicher is home to roughly 10,000 to 12,000 US troops and is named after US Navy pilot Scott Speicher, who was shot down on the first day of the first Gulf War and is officially listed as presumed killed in action.
The huge base sits about seven miles from executed former dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit in the grounds of the former Iraqi air force academy.
Inside the wire, the camp is one of the safest places in Iraq.
The last effective rocket attack there was two years ago, and the only casualty was a civilian contractor who had a heart attack, according to a base spokesman, Major Tage “TJ” Rainsford.
But the combat forces that venture outside the base to carry out counter-insurgency operations across Iraq's northern provinces face daily threats from the roadside bombs that have killed many US soldiers.
Cheney noted that the top US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said the troops were operating in “the most complex and challenging” environment he has ever seen.
“Extremists from inside and outside the country want to stir an endless cycle of violence, and Al-Qaeda is operating and trying to open new fronts,” said Cheney.
“Some seem to have no interest in seeing the emergency of a strong, secure and democratic Iraq. A violent minority is trying to tear down the institutions of peaceful self-government that Iraqis are trying to build.” Cheney made no direct reference to the bitter political wars in Washington over US troops funding, with the White House's Democratic foes seeking to curtail US involvement in the unpopular war.
Major General Benjamin “Randy” Mixon, who commands Multinational Division North, said of the US soldiers: “They watch and they listen to it (the political debate). It doesn't affect their morale or their performance.”
“To me it is not appropriate to tie the funding of troops to other political issues. That should be separate. Congress has the responsibility to fund soldiers, and to get that wrapped up in politics is inappropriate,” he said.
“Timelines, benchmarks -- work those things out in a separate venue.” But Mixon underlined that “the Iraqi government has got to stand up. We cannot stay here forever.” Mixon said he had urged US commanders to plan now for a reduction of forces next year, especially in northern provinces less prone to violence than Baghdad, while keeping in mind the need for an “extended presence.”—AFP
