US on the increased violence in Iraq
Iraq-USA, Politics, 6/6/2006

The US Department Of State spokesman Sean McCormack was asked that "Many, many attacks over the last week or so, a real uptick in sectarian violence. What are your discussions with the Iraqi Government on this? And you and the Secretary and the President have all said that once the new government was in place, you thought that that would curb the sectarian violence. What are your messages to the government?"

McCormack said yesterday "first of all, the government is not yet complete. Prime Minister Maliki is acting as not only prime minister, but minister of interior, minister of defense. I know that there are very active discussions underway right now to fill those positions. We think that that is important. We hope that that, in fact, occurs in the very near future. That will be an important -- send an important signal to the Iraqi people that you have -- that they have a full government working on their behalf and especially in those positions where you would have individuals that are -- would be free from the taint of association with militias. That's what -- we've said that in the past."

McCormack added "In terms of curbing the violence in Iraq, yes, forming the national unity government and having that national unity government work on behalf of the Iraqi people in terms of better services, in terms of better security, it's going to be very important, certainly over the medium and long term, in reducing the levels of violence there. We also have said that it's -- that the levels of violence there, you're not going to -- you know, you're not going to necessarily see a precipitous diminution in the near future. As a matter of fact, as you see, this government stood up and as you see this government start to work on behalf of the Iraqi people, it's very possible that you're going to see an uptick in the level of violence, because the people who are committing these acts of violence, terrorists and insurgents alike, know that an effectively operating Iraqi Government is the greatest threat to them."

McCormack added "So we are working very closely with the Iraqi Government, our coalition forces there, working with Iraqi forces to try to address the security situation. Sectarian violence is certainly an issue. You are seeing much of this and you're seeing the echoes of the divisions that were encouraged and exploited by Saddam Hussein over two decades' worth of rule. But what is encouraging is that throughout this past three years, when the Iraqis have had many, many opportunities -- the Iraqis, as a nation, have had many opportunities to turn away from one another, to turn on one another at massive scales, they have not done so, you saw with the Samara mosque bombing, and in the face of some of these daily attacks which are tragic. They're very sad. The Iraqi people, still, as a nation, have chosen to pull together the tangible evidence and that is the formation of this national unity government, as well as the previous election that resulted in the formation of this government."

McCormack was asked about attributing most of the violence to insurgents "and foreign terrorists, yet, with reports that some of these massacres are being undertaken by Shia death squads." He answered "I would leave it to our -- the coalition force representatives for a better description on the ground of exactly who's responsible for the violence. Certainly, we know that terrorists are responsible. Zarqawi and al-Qaida in Iraq are responsible for much of the spectacular violence that we see there. Certainly, the insurgency, we all know, is present. And you also know that there are criminal gangs that are responsible for many of the acts of kidnapping and violence that you see. Trying to differentiate as to a specific militia or a sectarian militia being responsible for some percentage or kinds of acts of violence, I'm going to leave that to the coalition forces to try to describe those."

He added "we're working with groups across the political spectrum and we have made it very clear that there has to be one gun and one authority in Iraq and that that authority has to be the Iraqi central government run by Prime Minister Maliki. Now, the relationship of that central government to the provincial governments and local governments, that's something that is going to be worked out by the Iraqis themselves. But as for militias – we have made it very clear that you can't have armed groups operating outside the rule of law and that is going to be one of the great challenges of -- for this government, but it's a crucial and important challenge for them to meet if Iraq, over the medium and long term, is going to become a secure, peaceful, stable, and prospering democracy."

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