Iraqi lawmakers push for U.S. withdrawal / Moves in parliament echo U.S. Congress' efforts to limit Bush

Vice President Dick Cheney, left, pins the Bronze Star Medal on Spc. Joshua Sullivan of Company C, 1st Batallion 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, during a medal ceremony and troop rally at Camp Speicher, Iraq Thursday, May 10, 2007. At center is Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multi-National Division North in Iraq. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) less Vice President Dick Cheney, left, pins the Bronze Star Medal on Spc. Joshua Sullivan of Company C, 1st Batallion 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, during a medal ceremony and troop rally at Camp Speicher, Iraq ... more Photo: Gerald Herbert Photo: Gerald Herbert Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Iraqi lawmakers push for U.S. withdrawal / Moves in parliament echo U.S. Congress' efforts to limit Bush 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

2007-05-11 04:00:00 PDT Baghdad -- A majority of Iraq's parliament has signed a proposed bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels, a sign of a growing division between Iraqi legislators and the prime minister that mirrors the widening gulf between the Bush administration and its critics in Congress.

The draft bill would create a timeline for a gradual departure, much like what some Democrats in the United States have demanded, and require the Iraqi government to secure parliament's approval before any further extensions of the U.N. mandate for foreign troops in Iraq, which expires at the end of 2007.

"We haven't asked for the immediate withdrawal of multinational forces, we asked that we should build our security forces and make them qualified and at that point there would be a withdrawal," said Baha al-Araji, a parliamentarian allied with the anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters drafted the bill. "But no one can accept the occupation of his country."

In both Iraq and the United States, there is deepening frustration among lawmakers and the public over President Bush's troop buildup, a policy that has yet to prevent widespread killing in Iraq. At the same time, Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki are dispatching their emissaries in an urgent transatlantic gambit to shore up support.

Iraq's national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, was in Washington this week to ask Democratic members of Congress to have patience with the "surge," and to not abandon Iraq at such a precarious time. On Wednesday, Vice President Dick Cheney landed in Baghdad to press the government to act quickly on a host of divisive political issues the Bush administration deems necessary for long-term stability.

On his second day in Iraq, Cheney spoke to U.S. soldiers at a base near Tikrit about the difficulties they face.

"We are here, above all, because the terrorists who have declared war on America and other free nations have made Iraq the central front in that war," he said, according to a transcript of his remarks. "The United States, also, has made a decision: As the prime target of a global war against terror, we will stay on the offensive. We will not sit back and wait to be hit again."

But as in the United States, Iraq's lawmakers are moving further away from the views of the government, particularly on the issue of American presence in Iraq. The draft bill is being championed by a 30-member bloc loyal to al-Sadr, but it has also gained support from some other Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish legislators.

So far, at least 138 lawmakers have signed the proposed legislation, the slimmest possible majority in the 275-member parliament, according to Araji. Nassr al-Rubae, another al-Sadr loyalist, told the Associated Press that the draft bill had 144 signatures.

Several legislators, including those loyal to al-Maliki, doubted the effort would succeed at a time when Iraqi troops still rely heavily on U.S. firepower.

The most prominent political parties in Iraq, such as al-Maliki's Dawa party; the Shiite group known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq; the Iraqi Islamic Party, a leading Sunni group; and prominent Kurdish factions appear to not support setting specific dates for withdrawal.

And even if such dates were established, it is unclear whether that would compel the United States to obey them.

Ali al-Adeeb, a Dawa lawmaker and an aide to al-Maliki, said any timetable for American withdrawal should be accompanied by a timetable for training and equipping the Iraqi security forces.

"Pressures are increasing here in Iraq and also in the states for the withdrawal of the multinational forces ... and it seems that keeping these forces here indefinitely won't solve the problems in Iraq," he said. "But it should happen gradually so that Iraqi forces can handle the security tasks."

There was also some disagreement over the terms of proposed timetable legislation. Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman told the Associated Press he agreed to back the measure on the condition it include an accompanying timeline for the buildup of Iraqi forces, but this was not included in the draft, which he called a "deception."

Hassan al-Shimmari, a Shiite who leads the Fadhila party in parliament, also signed the petition and had similar concerns.

"At the time being we can all see that it's not possible for the American troops to leave, and that withdrawing right now would lead to a disaster in Iraq, because the Iraqi security forces are still very weak, and they are still controlled by their sectarian and factional loyalties," Shimmari said.

The violence driven by such sectarian rifts continued on Thursday, as the insurgent group known as the Islamic State of Iraq, a coalition that includes al Qaeda in Iraq, posted an Internet video that purports to show the killing of nine Iraqi police and army officers.

The one-minute video shows the uniformed and blindfolded men kneeling in a row on a patch of dirt as a black-masked gunmen shoots them rapidly in the head one after another, saying "God is great" with each execution. The insurgents apparently demanded the release of prisoners before shooting the men, according to an earlier internet video.

The gruesome scene is similar to the apparent execution of 20 Iraqi soldiers and police on April 19, which the Islamic State of Iraq also claimed was their work.

On Thursday the U.S. military said one Marine had been killed Tuesday during fighting in Anbar province in western Iraq. Two other U.S. soldiers died Thursday from gunshot wounds, one in Baghdad, and the other in Diwaniya, south of the capital.