BAGHDAD — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived Friday in a visit that underlined an enduring reality of Iraq under the Obama administration: As the United States prepares to withdraw, an Iraqi political system tailored to crisis and brinkmanship has repeatedly necessitated United States intervention to propel the political process forward.
The visit was Mr. Biden’s third as vice president and came amid a dispute over the disqualifications of hundreds of candidates for promoting the Baath Party of former President Saddam Hussein. American officials have feared the disqualifications could impair the credibility of the March 7 parliamentary elections, a vote seen as a landmark date in American plans to pull out combat troops by the end of August.
“I think the American role here is still needed,” said Qassem Daoud, a lawmaker and candidate for the Iraqi National Alliance, one of the leading Shiite Muslim lists. “They are mediators, and mediators that we’ve worked with for seven years.”
Mr. Biden’s visit was expected to last about 24 hours. On Saturday, he planned to meet many of the country’s senior leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and Ayad al-Sammarai, the parliament speaker, all of them pivotal figures in the dispute that has aggravated sectarian tensions in Iraq.
His national security adviser, Antony J. Blinken, played down Biden’s role in reaching a solution, saying the vice president believed that Iraqi officials would manage to find a compromise. But in a briefing after Mr. Biden’s arrival, he made clear the potential problems if the disqualifications, as handed down, went forward.
“The only concern we’ve expressed is not on the goal but on the process,” he said at the United States Embassy. “If the process by which they pursued the disqualification of candidates is perceived to lack transparency and fairness and credibility, it will cast doubt on the election, and these elections are so pivotal and important for Iraq’s future.”
The visit was Mr. Biden’s third as vice president and came amid a dispute over the disqualifications of hundreds of candidates for promoting the Baath Party of former President Saddam Hussein. American officials have feared the disqualifications could impair the credibility of the March 7 parliamentary elections, a vote seen as a landmark date in American plans to pull out combat troops by the end of August.
“I think the American role here is still needed,” said Qassem Daoud, a lawmaker and candidate for the Iraqi National Alliance, one of the leading Shiite Muslim lists. “They are mediators, and mediators that we’ve worked with for seven years.”
Mr. Biden’s visit was expected to last about 24 hours. On Saturday, he planned to meet many of the country’s senior leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and Ayad al-Sammarai, the parliament speaker, all of them pivotal figures in the dispute that has aggravated sectarian tensions in Iraq.
His national security adviser, Antony J. Blinken, played down Biden’s role in reaching a solution, saying the vice president believed that Iraqi officials would manage to find a compromise. But in a briefing after Mr. Biden’s arrival, he made clear the potential problems if the disqualifications, as handed down, went forward.
“The only concern we’ve expressed is not on the goal but on the process,” he said at the United States Embassy. “If the process by which they pursued the disqualification of candidates is perceived to lack transparency and fairness and credibility, it will cast doubt on the election, and these elections are so pivotal and important for Iraq’s future.”
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2 comments:
Joe:
Sendf help quick -- I can't stop laughing!
Give that man a Nobel Prize.
Bend over please Mr. V. P.
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