AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
WASHINGTON: British Defense Minister John Reid warned Thursday that prolonged delay in forming a national unity government in Iraq will create a vacuum that invites more insurgent violence.
“Terrorists love a vacuum,” Reid said after talks here with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Iraq and other issues.
“So the longer this goes, the more pleased the terrorists would be because it gives them the opportunity to intervene with acts of violence and, secondly, because they will claim it is an illustration of the inability of politicians in Iraq to come together,” he said.
Rumsfeld took a softer tone, counseling patience as the Iraqis work through their differences.
Nearly four months after Iraq's December 15 elections, Iraqi Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political parties remain deadlocked on the makeup of the new government.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shiite who faces growing calls for his resignation, refused Thursday to step aside unless asked by parliament.
“I don't know when it'll happen or exactly what way it'll shake out. It's going to be an Iraqi solution,” Rumsfeld said. “It's not going to be an American or a British solution for that country, as it should be.”
Whoever is named to key defense and interior ministries must be seen as balanced and governing from the center — “and certainly not a representation of the spoils of an election victory,” Rumsfeld said.
Reid said it was “a time for holding firm and holding our nerve in Iraq.”
Rising concern over the political drift in Baghdad prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Minister Jack Straw to travel to Baghdad together on Monday to press for action.
Rice also warned of the dangers of a political vacuum and said Iraq needed a strong, unifying government led by somebody who could bring stability to the country.
Rumsfeld, however, highlighted the political difficulties that Iraqi leaders face in fashioning a government.
“It isn't easy things, what those people are trying to do,” he said. “It's easy for us here in an air-conditioned room to say, 'Gee, they ought to form a government.' And they should. And it would be a help if they did.
“On the other hand, what they're doing is difficult. They're negotiating. They're meeting with each other. They're talking to each other, as opposed to shooting at each other,” he said.
Reid and Rumsfeld discussed other issues besides Iraq including Afghanistan where there has been a recent upsurging in violence, and the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
Reid said he discussed Iran at an earlier meeting with Rice but said the subject was only briefly mentioned in his talks with Rumsfeld.
“If you're asking whether we touched upon, mentioned, implied, nodded to each other, in any way sent signals about military action in Iran, the answer's no,” Reid said.
Iran held military exercises this week in the Gulf that featured missile tests and maneuvers around the Strait of Hormuz, through which 80 percent of the region's oil is shipped to the world.
On the JSF, Reid smoothed over a dispute about technology transfers that last month prompted a threat by a top British procurement official to pull out of the program.
He said the new radar-evading aircraft, which is supposed to enter production next year, remains Britain's future fighter of choice.
“And we are committed to seeing that that works through it, and I'm certain that's going to have a positive outcome,” he said.
