Positive Outcome in Saturday’s Election Could Shift Responsibility in Iraq
By Tara Fehr
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 – Wrapping up a six-day tour of Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., predicted a positive outcome for Saturday’s referendum, but also showed concern toward future U.S. involvement.
Speaking on a conference call from Kuwait on Wednesday, Dodd, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the Sunnis appeared more optimistic because the interim assembly had been making changes to the draft constitution which would allow revisions four months after its adoption. This had been an an initial concern for the Iraqi group.
Dodd traveled with Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed, a member of the Armed Services Committee. The senators talked with soldiers, military commanders, Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jaber al-Thani, and Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari.
“Most people still think it is going to be close one way or another,” Dodd said. “It’s not a sure thing that this is going to carry, but there is a positive reaction about it.”
If the constitution is approved, Dodd said, people will be encouraged to go to the polls and set up a more permanent government during the National Assembly Election on Dec. 15.
Successes in these next two elections could shift responsibility in Iraq onto the country’s own forces, or at least it should, Dodd said.
“I would be [an advocate] if we started reducing the size of our military come after these elections, after the referendum, sometime after the first of the year,” Dodd said. “Again, demonstrate to them that this is the direction that we’re going in.”
But Congress doesn’t have a timeline yet, and a spokesman for the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said the senator will discuss the timeline issue with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she testifies before the committee on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Dodd expressed concerns about the future U.S. presence in Iraq.
“We need to be doing a better job in communicating to the Iraqis that we aren’t here for the long-haul,” Dodd said. “I was under the impression that we’re doing too much hand-holding and we really need to break clean of that.”
A clean break would include properly-trained Iraqi troops and a police force, Dodd said, adding that he has learned that a number of these battalions are ready to take over the responsibility.
“You are not going to win this battle over here militarily,” Dodd said. “It’s going to be won politically.”
