26 July 2006
Iraqi Prime Minister Sees Iraq as Central to War on Terror
Nuri al-Maliki highlights political, social progress since fall of former regime
Washington – Iraq is the central battle that will determine the outcome of the War on Terror, according to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and it is the responsibility of all liberal democracies to support Iraq’s struggle to overcome the forces seeking to tear it apart.
“Should democracy be allowed to fail in Iraq and terror permitted to triumph, then the War on Terror will never be won elsewhere,” al-Maliki told a joint session of the U.S. Congress July 26, one day after he met with President Bush at the White House. (See related article.)
The prime minister said that any loss to terrorism is a loss for all humanity. At the heart of this conflict, he said, is a struggle for the soul of Islam.
“Let me be very clear,” he said. “This is a battle between true Islam, for which a person's liberty and rights constitute essential cornerstones, and terrorism, which wraps itself in a fake Islamic cloak, in reality, wages a war on Islam and Muslims and values and spreads hatred between humanity.”
Terrorism has no religion and is contrary to Islamic teachings, he said.
The Iraqi prime minister said the ongoing violence in his country has overshadowed significant progress that has been achieved since the fall of Saddam Hussein. He said a new Iraq is “emerging from the ashes of dictatorship.”
“We have gone from a one-party state ruled by a small elite to a multiparty system where politics is the domain of every citizen and parties compete at all levels,” al-Maliki said.
“We have gone from mass graves and torture chambers and chemical weapons … to the rule of law and human rights,” he said. “And the human rights and freedoms embodied in the new Iraq and consolidated in the constitution have provided a fertile environment for the ever-growing number of civil society institutions, which are increasing in scope and complexity and provide a healthy reflection of what is developing beneath the violence.”
He pointed to the democratic process that led to the drafting and adoption of a new constitution and the formation of a national unity government representing all ethnic and sectarian groups as examples of political progress. He also pointed to the free press, the growing free-market economy and rising living standards as examples of social and economic progress.
The Iraqi prime minister added that it is imperative to move ahead with the economic reconstruction of the country and proposed that the reconstruction begin in the relatively peaceful provinces.
“We need to make an example out of these stable areas as models for the rest of the country,” he said. “Undoubtedly, reconstruction in these areas will fuel economic growth and show what a prosperous, stable, democratic and federal Iraq would look like.”
He urged the Congress to earmark a greater portion of the reconstruction funds for Iraqis and Iraqi companies, saying that foreign companies often have high operating and security costs.
Al-Maliki identified the two greatest threats to his country as terrorism and armed militias. He said terrorists seek to destroy Iraq’s political system and social order while militias infringe on the rightful role of the state to ensure its citizens’ security.
The prime minister pledged that the Iraqi people would remain steadfast in defending their newfound freedom.
“The journey has been perilous, and the future is not guaranteed. Yet many around the world … underestimated the resolve of Iraq's people and were sure that we would never reach this stage,” al-Maliki said. “Few believed in us. But you, the American people, did, and we are grateful for this.”
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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