Kerry letter to Bush re: Maliki, and civil war in Iraq

[blm]

July 25, 2006


The Honorable George W. Bush
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As you know, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will be addressing a Joint Session of Congress tomorrow. I write in hopes that you will encourage Prime Minister Maliki to use this as an opportunity to address some important issues that are on the minds of many Americans.

Members of Congress strongly support Prime Minister Maliki in his efforts to end the sectarian violence and bring stability to Iraq, and we share his hope for a better future for his country. I believe that addressing the following issues will only help to build confidence in his government as they embark on the difficult tasks ahead.

1. Hezbollah and Iran. Many are very concerned about comments made by Prime Minister Maliki about the ongoing Israeli initiative against Hezbollah, a terrorist organization which started the current conflict by mounting an attack against Israel. Specifically, Prime Minister Maliki described the Israeli operations in Lebanon and Gaza as “criminal” and called “on the world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression.” This is in notable contrast to comments from other key regional powers, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, which criticized Hezbollah for “unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts.” Given that it is essential to send a clear message that terrorism is never acceptable, and that ending support for terrorist organizations like Hezbollah by countries including Iran is key to winning the war on terror, Prime Minister Maliki should clarify that he condemns Hezbollah for its attack on Israel, and that he believes that Iran should not continue to provide weapons to Hezbollah.

2. Civil War. Prime Minister Maliki acknowledged on Monday that approximately one hundred Iraqis were being killed every day in sectarian violence, yet he maintains that there is no civil war; in fact he said that “Civil war will not happen to Iraq.” Many in Iraq and here in America believe that a civil war is already under way, and would appreciate hearing from Prime Minister Maliki what conditions he believes would rise to the level of a civil war, what exactly his plan is for ending the sectarian violence, and what role he envisions for U.S. troops if the sectarian violence continues to get worse.

3. U.S. Forces in Iraq. Ambassador Khalilzad recently said that he and General Casey had been discussing with the Iraqi government the formation of a joint commission to outline terms and conditions for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and that they planned to sit down with Prime Minister Maliki to establish this joint commission as soon as Ambassador Khalilzad returned to Iraq. When asked Monday how long he thought Iraq would need the assistance of foreign troops, Prime Minister Maliki said "It is definitely not decades, not even years.” Prime Minister Maliki should provide an update on the status of negotiations with this joint commission, and give us his best estimate on when U.S. troop withdrawals could begin, and when he expects this process to be complete.

4. Militias. Prime Minister Maliki was quoted on Monday as saying that "We have reached an agreement in the government that we will have to confront them (the militias) and deal with them.” Given the importance of disbanding these militias, Prime Minister Maliki should let us know exactly what this agreement is, what specifically his plan is for disbanding these militias, including whether it is part of his reconciliation plan, and state definitively that there will be no amnesty for Iraqis who kill U.S. soldiers.

Addressing these issues will help to ensure that the Prime Minister’s visit is as successful and productive as possible. Thank you for your attention to this request.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

[npincus]

1. needs more pictures, words are too small

[blm]

5. Sorry,np, I don't do pics.

;)

[spanone]

9. maybe some crayon drawings to get the monkeys attention.

Some glib jokes to lure him into reading, it's such a bore.

[uppityperson]

2. Thanks for posting this, puts a different light on news report

Wish he'd gone 1 step further and addressed Israel's response too, but good letter. thanks.

[karynnj]

3. I agree - though it would not be pertinent to Maliki

I do think that he should say more on Israel's action in the same respectful, polite way this letter was written. That first point looks like it was very carefully written.

The points on Iraq are very good and we need those answers. (Bush is on TV speaking about Iraq, not considering any of these points or making 1/1000 th as much sense. They are moving more soldiers to Baghdad from other parts of the country to meet the facts on the ground. (ie they need to create their "Kabul") He's talking about progress being made.

[blm]

4. Media is avoiding Iraq news - Kerry is focusing on a key point on Iraq

that no one wants to discuss - CIVIL WAR there.

[blm]

6. Kick for keeping focus on civil war in Iraq.

.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Some good points. Some bad.

"Prime Minister Maliki described the Israeli operations in Lebanon and Gaza as “criminal” and called “on the world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression."

Israel's actions in Lebanon are criminal. I agree with Maliki.

"...state definitively that there will be no amnesty for Iraqis who kill U.S. soldiers."

A very stupid idea.

Other than that, I have little disagreement with Kerry's statement.

[karynnj]

8. On amnesty for killing merican soldiers

Although it could not publicly be said (as it defeats the purpose), while we have soldiers there - an allied government can't have a policy of amnesty on a forward going basis. I know your solution is to immediately get the soldiers out, but Bush won't do that and it can't be done instantaneously anyway.

Looking at past conflicts, there is almost always some amnesty AFTER THE CONFLICT ENDS, because it's neccesary to heal the country. That amnesty will likely also be for those who had killed Iraqis.

On Israel, it comes down to nuance - Israel has been repeatedly attacked, Hezzbollah's goal is to destroy Israel, Israel had a rght to respond. I wish they had tried diplomacy first - but it may be that the US was uninterested and Lebanon had made clear they couldn't or wouldn't restrain Hezzbollah. The ferocity of Israel's attack is clearly unwarranted, unjustified and very likely not even in Israel's long term interest - but compare it to Afghanistan. The fact that Hezzbollah is a terrorist group with terrorist goal (even if they do good things too) makes this situation less black and white than it seems.

Kerry is asking Maliki to also condemn Hezzbollah. This is in line with Kerry's view that ALL states need to condemn terrorism and work together to minimize terrorism as a tool. In other comments, Kerry pretty much said that diplomacy could have prevented this war.