Iraqi political leaders are likely to make headway in forming a government ahead of a September 1 date for the United States to end combat operations in the country, the US commander in Iraq said yesterday.
Iraq has been in political limbo since an inconclusive March 7 election as Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish political factions have failed to agree on a new government in five months since the vote.
“I think we’ll see some first steps toward forming a government by 1 September,” US General Ray Odierno told ABC’s “This Week” program without elaborating on what those steps might be.
Odierno also said he was confident that Iraqi forces, helped by 50,000 US troops that will remain in Iraq after September 1, can overcome attacks by people trying to take advantage of the political stalemate.
US troop levels in the drawdown of forces are not linked to the formation of an Iraqi government, Odierno said.
“Our numbers are linked to the capacity that the Iraqis — of the Iraqi security forces being able to sustain stability — and I think they are moving toward that capacity,” he said.
The United States currently has just under 65,000 troops in Iraq. It had close to 150,000 at the height of the conflict.
Odierno credited the Iraqi security forces with staying “neutral” and “very professional” in conducting their duties while competing political factions struggle to put together a government.
The 50,000 US troops that will stay in Iraq after September 1 will represent a “significant presence” to help the Iraqi military against militant forces, including al Qaeda in Iraq, whose capabilities have been worn down by the allies, he said.
“Their ability to surge and do this over a sustained period of time is limited, and that’s due to a lot of the work of the Iraqi security forces, working with us to conduct these operations,” Odierno said.
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