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BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's faltering crackdown on Shiite militants has won the backing of Sunni Arab and Kurdish parties that fear both the powerful sectarian militias and the effects of failure on Iraq's fragile government. The emergence of a common cause could help bridge Iraq's political rifts. The head of the Kurdish self-ruled region, Massoud Barzani, has offered Kurdish troops to help fight anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. More significantly, Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi signed off on a statement by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and the Shiite vice president, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, expressing support...

Baghdad, 28 March (AKI) - Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has reportedly extended the 72-hour deadline for Shia militiamen fighting security forces in the southern city of Basra, to hand over their weapons. The Iraqi prime minister had originally set a deadline of 29 March for the militias to give up their arms but on Friday he extended it until 8 April. Fighting is continuing between Shia militias and Iraqi security forces and reports say that more than 130 people have been killed and 350 injured since a clampdown on the militias began in the oil-rich city on Tuesday. Some...

Iraq PM wants two other Saddam-era officials executed with Chemical AliBy SAMEER N. YACOUB and ANNA JOHNSON/Associated Press Thursday, March 6, 2008 12:06 AM CST Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as 'Chemical Ali,' for his alleged use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds, listens to prosecution evidence during the Operation Anfal trial, in Baghdad, Iraq, in this, Jan. 8, 2007, file photo. The Iraqi government is refusing to execute the Saddam Hussein henchman and cousin known as 'Chemical Ali' unless the executions of two other Saddam associates also are approved. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, Pool) BAGHDAD - The Iraqi...

Released detainees sit to hear words of encouragement from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during today’s detainee release ceremony at Camp Liberty. Nearly 500 men were released after the Combined Review and Release Board determined they are no longer a threat to Iraqi or Coalition forces, or the security of Iraq. Photo by Maj. Elizabeth Robbins, Multi-National Force-Iraq Public Affairs. CAMP LIBERTY — A detainee release ceremony here today at Forward Operating Base Constitution highlighted the expanded capacity of the Government of Iraq and Multi-National Force-Iraq to release detainees from Coalition Force custody. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki oversaw the...

BAGHDAD - Iraq's beleaguered prime minister accused his American critics on Sunday of underestimating how hard it is to rebuild his country and failing to appreciate his government's achievements "such as stopping the civil and sectarian war." Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said told reporters that some of the criticism from Washington sends "signals to terrorists luring them into thinking that the security situation in the country is not good." He offered no specific examples. He also said U.S. critics may not know "the size of the destruction that Iraq passed through" and do not appreciate "the big role of the...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made a serious step towards national unity at a time when Paris and Washington showered him with criticism. At a news conference in Baghdad on August 26, he announced that at a joint meeting representatives of the Iraqi Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds had reached agreement on a number of issues, which were crucial for the restoration of political stability, such as amnesty of political prisoners, elections to local and provincial governments, a bill on redistribution of oil profits and, last but not the least, abolition of the ban on jobs for the former Baath party...

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lashed out yesterday at US lawmakers who have called on him to step down, and accused American forces of committing "big mistakes" in killing and detaining Iraqi civilians in the hunt for insurgents. Alerts The embattled leader has come under fire from an array of allies and adversaries who say he has failed to unite his Cabinet and put crucial laws and programs in place. Yesterday he drew fresh criticism from two influential congressional Republicans. Maliki aimed his angriest words at Democratic senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Carl Levin of Michigan. "There are American...

France calls for new Iraq prime minister By Peter Allen in Paris Last Updated: 1:16am BST 27/08/2007 France's foreign minister risked fracturing his country's new relationship with America yesterday, by calling for Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, to be replaced. Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister In an interview published in the American magazine Newsweek, Bernard Kouchner, who visited Baghdad last week, said: "I just had (Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State) on the phone 10 or 15 minutes ago, and I told her, 'Listen, he's got to be replaced'. "Many people believe the prime minister ought to...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hit back on Sunday at Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton and other U.S. critics who have called for him to be replaced, telling them "to come to their senses." Maliki is under mounting pressure from officials in Washington to show political progress towards reconciling his majority Shi'ite Muslim sect and minority Sunni Arabs. U.S. officials are frustrated by the negligible progress so far. Clinton and fellow Democratic Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, have called for Maliki to be voted out because of his failure to find a...

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- A powerhouse Republican lobbying firm with close ties to the White House has begun a public campaign to undermine the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, CNN has confirmed. A report by the U.S. intelligence community questions Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ability to govern. This comes as President Bush is publicly taking great pains to reiterate his support for the embattled Iraqi leader. Al-Maliki's government has come under sharp criticism and scrutiny from Washington lawmakers and officials, as reflected in Thursday's National Intelligence Estimate. A senior Bush administration official told CNN the White House...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Bush, scrambling to show he has not abandoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, offered a fresh endorsement today. "Prime Minister Maliki's a good guy, good man with a difficult job and I support him," Bush said in a speech to military veterans. "And it's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position," Bush said. "It is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy and not a dictatorship." The president's comment was intended to dispel the impression he left on Tuesday that he...

Earlier today, the Italian news service AKI reported that the presumed leader of the largest insurgency in Iraq will start cooperating with the Iraqi government. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, one of the highest-ranking members of Saddam Hussein's government, reportedly pledged to work with Iraqi and American forces to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq: The leader of Iraq's banned Baath party, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, has decided to join efforts by the Iraqi authorities to fight al-Qaeda, one of the party's former top officials, Abu Wisam al-Jashaami, told pan-Arab daily Al Hayat. "AlDouri has decided to sever ties with al-Qaeda and sign up to...

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Iraq's prime minister lashed out Wednesday at U.S. criticism, saying no one has the right to impose timetables on his elected government and that his country "can find friends elsewhere." Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed the U.S. presidential campaign for the recent tough words about his government, from President Bush and from other U.S. politicians. Bush on Tuesday said he was frustrated with Iraqi leaders' inability to bridge political divisions. But he added that only the Iraqi people can decide whether to sideline al-Maliki. "Clearly, the Iraqi government's got to do more," Bush said. "I think...

George Bush hints Iraqi PM must go By Alex Spillius in Washington Last Updated: 10:27pm BST 21/08/2007 President George W Bush yesterday signalled that his patience with the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki had run out, suggesting that he should be voted from office before the country's security deteriorates further. Speaking at a trade summit in Canada, Mr Bush said: "There's a certain level of frustration with the leadership in general. "The fundamental question is, will the government respond to the demands of the people? And if the government doesn't respond to the demands of the people, they will replace...

Iraq: One of the loudest Iraq War critics, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, reports "tangible results" from the surge. Then he jeopardizes Iraq's future by calling for the prime minister's head. "I hope the parliament will vote the Maliki government out of office and will have the wisdom to replace it with a less sectarian and more unifying prime minister and government," Levin said after three days in Iraq and Jordan with the armed services panel's ranking Republican, Sen. John Warner. First, consider how much arrogance it takes to tell a fledgling democracy who should — and shouldn't...

"No one has the right to place timetables on the Iraq government. It was elected by its people," he said at a news conference in Damascus at the end of a three-day visit to Syria. "Those who make such statements are bothered by our visit to Syria. We will pay no attention. We care for our people and our constitution and can find friends elsewhere," Mr. al-Maliki said.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 — The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, after completing a two-day tour of Iraq, said Monday that the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki should be voted from office because it has proved incapable of reaching the political compromises required to end violence there. Skip to next paragraph The Reach of War Go to Complete Coverage » The Democratic chairman, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, and the committee’s ranking Republican, Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, who traveled to Iraq together, issued a joint statement that was only slightly more temperate than Mr. Levin’s...

The Iraqi prime minister and president on Thursday announced a new alliance of moderate Shiites and Kurds, saying Sunni moderates refused to join but the door remained open to them. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the agreement was the first step to unblock political stagnation that has gripped his Shiite-led government since it first took power in May 2006. The announcement after three days of intense political negotiations in the capital was disappointing because it did not include Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and his moderate Iraqi Islamic Party. President Jalal Talabani and al-Maliki were flanked by the leader...

Baghdad, Aug 12, (VOI)- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on Sunday for a summit meeting by political leaders during the two upcoming days. "The internal political problems the country is suffering from, have forced me to make a call for the Iraqi political leaders to meet in a summit during the next two days," Maliki told a news conference in Baghdad. The Prime Minister added "the aim behind the summit is to address basic topics arisen in the Iraqi political arena as well as considering the political program and the strategic problems facing the government." "The meeting is to...

As Iraqis queue miserably for food and water, or swelter in homes and hospitals without electricity, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government is collapsing around him. The latest boycott -- by four ministers from a non-sectarian party -- brought to 17 the number of members of the Shiite-led coalition to have walked out, tendered their resignations or withdrawn from cabinet meetings. Hopes that the so-called national unity coalition can be saved now depend on the senior leadership of the rival parties cutting a new power-sharing deal that can convince the bitter Sunni minority to return to the fold. But Maliki...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will go to Iran today where he will hold talks on August 8 with Iranian officials on economic and political cooperation. The two countries have greatly expanded bilateral relations following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. RFE/RL Iraq analyst Kathleen Ridolfo discusses what al-Maliki hopes to achieve. RFE/RL: What is the purpose of al-Maliki's visit to Iran? Kathleen Ridolfo: This is al-Maliki's second visit to Iran since he took office and it comes within the context of bettering political relations and economic relations and -- of course more importantly -- securing relations between Iran and...

31 minutes ago BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faces a revolt within his party by factions that want him out as Iraqi leader, according to officials in his office and the political party he leads. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, al-Maliki's predecessor, leads the challenge and already has approached leaders of the country's two main Kurdish parties, parliament's two Sunni Arab blocs and lawmakers loyal to powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Jaafari's campaign, the officials said, was based on his concerns that al-Maliki's policies had led Iraq into turmoil because the prime minister was doing too little to promote national reconciliation. The...

BAGHDAD (AP) - A key aide says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's relations with Gen. David Petraeus are so poor the Iraqi leader may ask Washington to withdraw the overall U.S. commander from his Baghdad post. Iraq's foreign minister calls the relationship ``difficult.'' Petraeus, who says their ties are ``very good,'' acknowledges expressing his ``full range of emotions'' at times with al-Maliki. U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who meets with both at least weekly, concedes ``sometimes there are sporty exchanges.'' It seems less a clash of personality than of policy. The Shiite Muslim prime minister has reacted most sharply to the American...

TEHRAN, Iran - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has postponed his first official visit to Tehran for "technical reasons," officials said Sunday. Al-Maliki was supposed to visit Iran Monday. It was unclear how long his trip would be delayed. Iraq's ambassador to Iran, Mohammad Majid al-Sheikh, and Ali al-Adeeb, a legislator and senior member with al-Maliki's Dawa party, confirmed that the trip had been postponed, with both citing "technical reasons." They did not elaborate. Meanwhile, iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted unidentified Foreign Ministry officials as saying that talks were still under way with Iraqi officials to set a...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric on Saturday warned the prime minister to quell violence or risk "other powers" filling the gap, while police found the tortured and blindfolded bodies of 13 Pakistani and Indian pilgrims and their Iraqi driver. At least 15 violent deaths were reported elsewhere in Iraq, while the government announced it had formally taken over the notorious Abu Ghraib prison from coalition authorities. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, the cleric's office said. In July, al-Sistani was credited with restraining the Shiite community...

IRAQ'S Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to use "maximum force against terrorism", as bombs killed at least 19 people in Baghdad during the first meeting of his national unity Cabinet. In a fresh reminder of the huge task Mr Maliki faces in reining in bloodshed that has pushed Iraq to the brink of sectarian civil war, blasts hit Baghdad, including one suicide bomber who killed at least 13 people and wounded 18 in a crowded restaurant popular with police. Police and civilians were among the dead.

BAGHDAD, May 20, 2006 – In a watershed day in Iraqi history, the country's Parliament today approved 39 ministers and state secretaries that form the elected, representative government. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announces his new Cabinet in the Baghdad convention center May 20. Multinational Force Iraq photo   The Parliament confirmed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's choices for the Iraqi national unity government. The 37-member Cabinet contains representatives from all major parties and all major ethnic and secular groups. Following the vote, the ministers took their oath of office during a session broadcast throughout Iraq. The Parliament met at the...

One of the subtle consequences of the formation of the Iraqi cabinet after months of tortuous negotiations is that it is now the internationally recognized legal and permanent goverment of Iraq. The BBC has a roundup of quotes which indicate this new status. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Minister: Our first step will be to invite the Iraqi prime minister or foreign minister to a meeting [of EU foreign ministers]. The EU troika (Germany, Britain and France) will travel to Baghdad when the security situation permits.George W Bush, US President: Iraqis now have a fully constitutional government, marking the end...

I congratulate Prime Minister Maliki on the formation of Iraq's new unity government. Iraqis now have a fully constitutional government, marking the end of a democratic transitional process in Iraq that has been both difficult and inspiring. This broadly representative unity government offers a new opportunity for progress in Iraq. The new government reflects Iraq's diversity and opens a new chapter in that country's history. Iraq's new leaders know the period ahead will be filled with great challenge. But they also know that they -- and their great country -- will not face them alone. The United States and freedom-loving...

Iraq's Prime Minister designate Jawad al-Maliki says the failure to disband militias threatens to push Iraq into civil war. "The weapons must be in the hands of the state," he said. "Their presence in the hands of others will be the start of problems that will trigger a civil war." US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has said the armed groups, which are tied to leading political parties, are killing more Iraqis than insurgents and they must be disbanded. Mr Maliki urges Iraq's Shiites, Kurds and Arab Sunnis to unite against suicide bombings, shootings and assassinations that have killed many thousands of...

The Shiite Muslim politician tapped as Iraq's prime minister said Monday that he thinks U.S. troops could begin withdrawing in 18 months or less if his country's security forces get up to speed. In an interview with CNN, Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki also promised to tackle the problem of militias, the armed groups thought to be fueling sectarian violence in the country. Al-Maliki said the private forces that have held sway on the streets of Iraq must be "disarmed." During the interview, al-Maliki said Iraqi must establish a "nationwide reconciliation" in the ethnically and religiously diverse country, torn by bloody,...

The selection of a compromise prime minister in Iraq is a major victory for that country’s fledgling political class, and for the Bush administration. Purveyors of doom on Iraq now have some explaining to do: If the country is in the midst of a full-scale civil war fatal to our project there, how is it that elected representatives of the major factions were able to sit down and hammer out an agreement on the top positions in a national unity government? Iraq pessimists act like they have a special immunity from ever having to recalibrate their view of the conflict,...

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2006 – After months of deadlock, Iraq reached an "important milestone" in its journey toward democracy with an agreement on top leadership posts for a national unity government, President Bush said yesterday. The parliament elected a president, two vice presidents, a parliament speaker and two deputies yesterday. President Jalal Talabani then named Jawad al Maliki as prime minister-designate. "This agreement represents compromise and consensus among many different Iraqi groups and it came after months of patient negotiations," Bush said in a speech at the California Highway Patrol Academy in Sacramento. "The agreement reflects the will of the...

Amidst rumors of a coup, the prime minister may finally be willing to step aside. More than four months after the election, a shift in the position of incumbent prime minister may finally open the way for the creation of a new Iraqi government. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari announced Thursday that he would refer his nomination for a second term back to the United Iraqi Alliance, the dominant Shi'ite bloc in the new legislature. That opens the way for the Alliance to select a new candidate and break the deadlock created by the refusal of the Kurdish, Sunni and secular...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Bowing to intense pressure, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari agreed Thursday to allow Shiite lawmakers to find someone else to head the new government, abandoning his claim on another term in the face of Sunni and Kurdish opposition.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, under intense pressure to give up plans for a second term, agreed Thursday to let Shiite lawmakers reconsider his nomination, a step that could mark a breakthrough in the months-long effort to form a new government. Key to al-Jaafari's change of heart was pressure from U.N. envoy Ashraf Qazi and his meetings Wednesday with the most powerful Shiite cleric in the country, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical cleric who has backed al-Jaafari, said Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman. "There was a signal from Najaf," Othman said, referring to al-Sistani's office in the Shiite...

Iraq: Jaafari ready to give up its candidature for the post of Prime Minister BAGHDAD - Ibrahim Jaafari was ready Thursday to be given up her candidature for the post of Prime Minister after having lengthily insisted to succeed itself, opening the way at an exit of the political crisis in Iraq. "Doctor Jaafari was selected like candidate by the Iraqi unified list (AUI, the block Shiite) and it asks today this block to decide its candidature", declared one of its close relations Jawad Al-Maliki with the press. Outgoing the Prime Minister thus leaves with his block the choice...

Iraq's vice-president has added his voice to calls for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to step down as candidate to lead a new government. Adel Abdul Mahdi is the most senior figure in Mr Jaafari's dominant Shia alliance to urge him to withdraw. Mr Jaafari's nomination is one of the main sticking points in deadlocked coalition talks with Kurds and Sunnis. Mr Mahdi's comments came a day after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw ended a visit to Baghdad to press for swifter movement on establishing a government of national unity.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 2 — Iraq's dominant Shiite political bloc fractured Sunday when its most powerful faction publicly demanded that the incumbent Shiite prime minister resign over his inability to form a unified government. The split came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Jack Straw, the British foreign minister, paid an urgent visit to Iraqi leaders here to convey in the most forceful terms yet that their patience for the country's political paralysis was wearing thin. It was not clear whether the joint visit by Ms. Rice and Mr. Straw, the top emissaries of the two countries that led...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's biggest Shi'ite Islamist party will urge Ibrahim al-Jaafari to resign as prime minister, a senior parliamentarian from SCIRI said on Sunday in the first publicly hostile comments from Jaafari's key coalition ally.

Leaders of the Shiite Muslim alliance that governs Iraq have given Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari until Sunday to convince his opponents he should retain his job in Iraq's next government or face being pushed aside, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. In another sign that support for Jafari is weakening within his coalition, Qasim Dawood, an independent member of the Iraqi legislature, on Saturday became the first member of the alliance to publicly call for Jafari to withdraw his name for prime minister. I call on Jafari to take a courageous step and set a fine example by stepping down," said...

Senior members of Iraq’s ruling Shia Alliance bloc called publicly for the first time on Saturday for Ibrahim Al Jaafari to step down as prime minister to break months of deadlock over a national unity government. “I call on Jaafari to take a courageous step and set a fine example by stepping down,” Kasim Daoud, a senior member of the independent group within the Alliance, told Reuters. Other senior Alliance officials, speaking anonymously, confirmed that four of seven main groups within the bloc wanted Jaafari to give up the nomination for a second term. “There is a broad trend inside...

The Bush administration has told Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari he is unacceptable as head of the next government, the New York Times reports. Redha Jowad Taki, a member of parliament, told the Times that U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad passed on a personal message from President Bush at a meeting last Saturday. Taki, who was at the meeting, said Khalilzad told Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim that Bush doesn't want, doesn't support, doesn't accept Jaafari. Jaafari and other Shiite leaders are not taking the message well.

Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari says he is willing to withdraw his nomination to lead the new government if the Iraqi people want him to do so. "If my people ask me to step aside I will do this," Mr Jaafari said, shortly after attending the much-delayed inaugural session of Iraq's parliament. The Shias' nomination of Mr Jaafari has been a major sticking point in forming a government as he lacks wider support. He has been criticised for not doing more to curb Iraq's violence. Growing sectarian violence in the country has prompted predictions that Iraq is on the brink...

Leaders of Sunni, Kurdish and a secular political party decided today to ask the Shiite alliance to withdraw its nomination of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari for another term, political officials said. The move is expected to draw sharp opposition from radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose support enabled al-Jaafari to win the nomination by a single vote in a February 12 caucus of Shiites who won election to the new parliament. A political battle over al-Jaafari could further complicate efforts to form a national unity government – a key step in the US plan to begin withdrawing its troops this...

al-Jaafari's nomination to continue for four more years as Iraq's prime minister is already in trouble, according to Iraqi sources. "I doubt he will be confirmed," said a member of the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shia political coalition that last week nominated al-Jaafari. The nomination by the UIA, the largest political group in the new Iraqi Council of Representatives, or parliament, was supposed to make confirmation a formality. But al-Jaafari is unpopular with the Kurds, the second largest bloc in the council. And his most powerful backer, anti-American Shia militant Muqtada al-Sadr, is anathema to another bloc, led by former...

DEARBORN, Mich. - Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari met with members of the Detroit area's Arab American community and took questions at a town hall meeting Tuesday night. Hundreds of people gathered at the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn to get a glimpse of the Iraqi leader. "This is a unique opportunity," said Oday Hussan, 53, of Livonia. "This is the first time we can hear from our prime minister ... and for all Iraqis this is a great opportunity because the old regime would not give us this opportunity." Dr. Najwa Aljawad of Dearborn said she worked with the Iraqi...

(Q) What is your assessment of the current situation in Iraq? (A) The Iraqi situation is worrisome and among the main dangers that Iraq is going through at present are the cracks in national unity, the absence of the state's institutions, and the economic stagnation and even recession. There is no vision of how to proceed forward. Consequently, the hostile forces, whether inside or abroad, are trying to stop the cycle of development. We find today an absence of even the institutions we had built during our government's short period in office and by this; I mean the judicial, security,...

Iraq’s transitional prime minister called today for a speedy withdrawal of US troops and the top US commander in Iraq said he believed a “fairly substantial” pullout could begin next spring and summer. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a joint news conference with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the time has arrived to plan a co-ordinated transition from American to Iraqi military control throughout the country. Gen George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, told US reporters travelling with Rumsfeld that he believed a US troop withdrawal could begin by spring 2006 if progress continues on the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's transitional prime minister called Wednesday for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops and the top U.S. commander here said he believed a "fairly substantial" pullout could begin next spring and summer. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that the time has arrived to plan a coordinated transition from American to Iraqi military control throughout the country. Asked how soon a U.S. withdrawal should happen, he said no exact timetable had been set. "But we confirm and we desire speed in that regard," he said, speaking through...