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Washington ramped up diplomatic efforts to quell sectarian violence in war-torn Iraq, as a growing number of US political leaders demanded Baghdad assume more of the burden for its own security.
Increasingly impatient with the continuing spiral of violence in Iraq, politicians in Washington said it was time for radical action spearheaded by the Iraqi government.
“Obviously, the situation in Iraq is not acceptable, and changes are going to have to occur,” said US Senator Trent Lott, a top Republican in Congress.
He made his remarks as US President George W. Bush prepared to travel to Jordan for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about Iraqi authorities taking greater control over security amid a sharp rise in Shiite-Sunni violence.
Vice President Dick Cheney held similar talks this weekend with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz in Saudi Arabia, where he was expected to seek Riyadh's help in fostering reconciliation between warring factions in Iraq, as well as promised reconstruction aid.
The flurry of diplomatic activity came as America's involvement in Iraq hit 1,348 days Sunday– the length of its military role in World War II — and with US soldiers facing a still largely unknown enemy in Iraq and do not know when they will leave.
Meanwhile, a growing chorus of US political leaders in Washington said Sunday it is time President George W. Bush press Iraq to take control of its own security and forge a political solution to its sectarian strife.
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel — a leading congressional voice on military matters — wrote in an essay in the Washington Post Sunday that it was time for Washington to face facts that things in Iraq are not going well and begin planning for a phased troop pullout.
“The time for more US troops in Iraq has passed. We do not have more troops to send and, even if we did, they would not bring a resolution to Iraq,” wrote Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, who said there were disturbing similarities between that conflict and the current one.
That sentiment was echoed Sunday by Democrats. Asked if it was time to present Iraq's leaders with an ultimatum, Senator Dick Durbin told ABC news, “I think it's past time.”
“It is time to tell the Iraqis that unless they're willing to disband the militias and the death squads, unless they're willing to stand up and govern their country in a responsible fashion, America is not going to stay there indefinitely,” said Durbin, the Senate's number two Democratic leader, who said it was time for “Iraqis to stand up and defend their own country.”
Lott, who takes the number two post for Senate Republicans in January, directed much of his discontent at Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki.
“There are problems with him. He's going to have to decide whether he's going to really try to control his militia groups, whether he's really going to try to govern and protect the people and move forward or not,” the Republican lawmaker said.
“I don't know whether the government is going to be able to survive if the circumstances don't change there,” Lott said.
There were also new concerns about the stubborn staying power of Iraq's insurgency, as the New York Times revealed that a classified US report concluded that insurgent groups in Iraq are raising tens of millions of dollars each year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting and other crimes.
The newspaper said the top-secret study said the revenue stream has allowed the Iraq's insurgency to become financially self-sustaining.
The paper said the US government report, which it obtained a copy of, estimates that insurgent groups are raising between 70 million and 200 million dollars each year from illegal activities.
Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah II, who is hosting the Bush-Maliki summit in his country this week, warned Sunday that the violence in Iraq is but one of three brewing civil wars in the Middle East.
“The difficulty that we're tackling with here is … the strong potential of three civil wars in the region, whether it's the Palestinians, that of Lebanon or of Iraq,” he told ABC television.
He added that the conflicts cannot be separated one from another, but must be tackled as part of a “total picture.”
“I keep saying Palestine is the core,” he said.
“It is linked to what's going on in Lebanon. It is linked to the issues that we find ourselves with the Syrians,” he said calling for a “comprehensive” regional approach to forging peace.
