Ambassador Crocker Puts The Leftinistra In Their Proper Place...Obscurity
CROCKER: Mr. Chairman, ranking members, members of the committees, thank you for the opportunity to address you today.
I consider it a privilege and an honor to serve in
I know that a heavy responsibility weighs on my shoulders to provide the country with my best, most honest assessment of the situation in
In doing so, I will not minimize the enormity of the challenges faced by Iraqis, nor the complexity of the situation. At the same time, I intend to demonstrate that it is possible for the
A secure, stable, Democratic Iraq at peace with its neighbors is, in my view, attainable. The cumulative trajectory of political, economic, and diplomatic developments in
There will be no single moment at which we can claim victory. Any turning point will likely only be recognized in retrospect. This is a sober assessment, but it should not be a disheartening one. I have found it helpful during my time in
Our efforts to build the institutions of government were not always successful in the first instance, and tough issues such as slavery, universal suffrage, civil rights and states' rights were resolved only after acrimonious debate and sometimes violence.
Evaluating where Iraqis are today only makes sense in the context of where they have been. Any Iraqi under 40 years of age -- and that is the overwhelming majority of the population -- would have known nothing but the rule of the Baath Party before liberation 4.5 years ago.
Those 35 years were filled with crimes against humanity on every scale. Saddam Hussein ruled without mercy, not hesitating to use lethal force and torture against even those in his inner circle.
His genocidal campaign against the Kurds and savagery toward southern Shia are well known. But he also used violence and intimidation as tools in the complete deconstruction of Iraqi society.
No organization or institution survived that was not linked in some way to regime protection.
He created a pervasive climate of fear in which even family members were afraid to talk to one another.
This is the legacy that Iraqis had as their history when Saddam's statue came down on April 9, 2003. No Nelson Mandela existed to emerge on the national political scene. Anyone with his leadership talents would not have survived.
A new
But rather than be in a period in which old animosities and suspicions were overcome, the past 18 months have further strained Iraqi society. The sectarian violence of 2006 and early 2007 had its seeds in Saddam's social deconstruction and it had dire consequences for the people of
Extensive displacement and widespread sectarian killings by al-Qaida and other extremist groups have gnawed away at the already frayed fabric of Iraqi society and politics. It is no exaggeration to say that
It is against this backdrop that development in Iraqi national politics must be seen. Iraqis are facing some of the most profound political, economic and security challenges imaginable. They're not simply grappling with the issue of who rules
The constitution approved in a referendum in 2005 answered some of these questions in theory, but much remains uncertain in both law and practice.
Some of the more promising political developments at the national level are neither measured in benchmarks, nor visible to those far from
For instance, there is a budding debate about federalism among
No longer is an all-powerful
Similarly, there is a palpable frustration in
Finally, we are seeing Iraqis come to terms with complex issues, not by first providing a national framework, but instead by tackling immediate problems.
One such example is how the central government has accepted over 1,700 young men from the Abu Ghraib area west of
Another example is how the government, without much public fanfare, has contacted thousands of members of the former Iraqi army offering them retirement, return to the military, or public sector employment.
So without the proclamation of a general amnesty, we see provisional immunity being granted, and we see de-Baathification reform in advance of national legislation.
In both instances, the seeds of reconciliation are being planted.
We have come to associate progress on national reconciliation as meaning the passage of key pieces of legislation. There is logic to this, as the legislation we are urging Iraqis to produce does in one way or another have to do with the question of how to share power and resources among Iraq's communities.
This legislation also has to do with the vision of the future Iraqi state. The oil and revenue-sharing laws, for instance, deal with deeper issues than simply whether Iraqis in oil-producing areas are willing to share their wealth with other Iraqis.
What is difficult about these laws is that they take
But, once again, we see that even in the absence of legislation, there is practical action as the central government shares oil revenues through budget allocations on an equitable basis with
In many respects, the debates currently occurring in
With de-Baathification, Iraqis are struggling to come to terms with a vicious past. They are trying to balance fear that the Baath Party would one day return to power with the recognition that many former members of the party are guilty of no crime and joined the organization not to repress others but for personal survival.
With provincial powers, Iraqis are grappling with very serious questions about what the right balance between the center and the periphery is for
In short, we should not be surprised or dismayed that Iraqis have not fully resolved such issues. Rather, we should ask whether the way in which they are approaching these issues gives us a sense of their seriousness and ultimate capability to resolve
Is the collective national leadership of
I do believe that
Prime Minister Maliki and other Iraqi leaders face enormous obstacles in their efforts to govern effectively. I believe they approached the task with a deep sense of commitment and patriotism.
An important part of my assessment was the effort made by the leaders this past summer. After weeks of preparatory work and many days of intensive meetings,
This agreement by no means solves all of
Despite their many differences and perspectives and experiences, they all agreed on language acknowledging the need for a continued presence by the multinational forces in
At the provincial level, political gains have been more pronounced, particularly in the north and west of
In Anbar, as General Petraeus has noted, the progress on the security side has been extraordinary. Six months ago, violence was rampant, our forces were under daily attack and Iraqis were cowering from the intimidation of al-Qaida. But al-Qaida overplayed its hand in Anbar.
And Anbaris began to reject its successes, be they beheading school children or cutting off people's fingers as punishment for smoking.
Recognizing that the coalition would help reject al-Qaida, the tribes began to fight with us, not against us. The landscape in Anbar is dramatically different as a result. Tribal representatives are on the provincial council which is now meeting regularly to find ways of restoring services, developing the economy, and executing a provincial budget. These leaders are looking for help to rebuild their cities and they're talking of attracting investment.
CROCKER: Such scenes are also unfolding in parts of Diyala and
The world should note that, when al-Qaida began implementing the twisted version of the caliphate in
Shia extremists are also facing rejection. Recent attacks by elements of the Iranian-backed Jaish al-Mahdi on the worshippers in the holy city of
Unlike our states, Iraqi provinces have little ability to generate funds through taxation, making them dependent on the central government for resources. The growing ability of the provinces to design and execute budgets and the readiness of the central government to resource them are success stories.
On Sept. 5, for example,
The support of the central government is also needed to maintain hard-won security through the rapid expansion of locally generated police. And the government of
In some places, war damage is being cleared and buildings repaired, roads and sewers built, and commerce energized.
The IMF estimates that economic growth will exceed 6 percent for 2007. Iraqi ministries and provincial councils have made substantial progress this year in utilizing
The 2007 governmental budget allocated $10 billion, nearly one-third of
The latest data show that the national ministries and provincial councils have proceeded to commit these funds at more than twice the rate of last year.
Doing the best are the provincial authorities and, in the process, gaining experience with making plans and decisions and running fair tenders.
In so doing, they are stimulating local business development and providing employment.
Over time we expect the experience with more responsive local authorities will change Iraqi attitudes toward their elected leaders and of the provinces toward
At two conferences in
Overall, however, the Iraqi economy is performing significantly under potential. Insecurity in many parts of the countryside raises transport costs and especially affects manufacturing and agriculture. Electricity supply has improved in many parts of the country, but it remains woefully inadequate in
Many neighborhoods in the city receive only two hours a day or less from the national grid, although power supplies for essential services such as water pumping stations or hospitals are much better. The minister of electricity said last week that it would take $25 billion through 2016 to meet demand requirements, but that by investing the $2 billion a year the ministry is now receiving from the government's budget, as well as private investment in power generation now permitted by law, that goal could be met.
We are deploying our assistance funds to make a difference to ordinary Iraqis and to support our political objectives. Military units are using Commanders' Emergency Response -- CERF -- Funds to ensure that residents see a difference when neighborhood violence declines.
USAID community stabilization funds provide tens of thousands of jobs throughout the country. With the recent apportionment of 2007 supplemental funds, we are putting quick response funds, QRF, in the hands of our provincial reconstruction team leaders to help build communities and institutions in post-kinetic environments.
Vocational training and micro-finance programs are supporting nascent private businesses. And in
On the diplomatic level, there is expanding international and regional engagement with
The work of the international compact with
Later this month, the Iraqi prime minister and the U.N. secretary general will chair a ministerial level meeting in
Many of the
An ambassadorial-level meeting just took place in
While claiming to support
In doing so, the Iranian government seems to ignore the risks that an unstable
As we look ahead, we must acknowledge that 2006 was a bad year in
The changes to our strategy last January, the surge, have helped change the dynamics in
Our population security measures have made it much harder for terrorists to conduct attacks. We have given Iraqis the time and space to reflect on what sort of country they want.
Most Iraqis genuinely accept
Enormous challenges remain. Iraqis still struggle with fundamental questions about how to share power, accept their differences, and overcome their past.
Whether
Our country has given a great deal in blood and treasure to stabilize the situation in
I cannot guarantee success in
I am certain that abandoning or drastically curtailing our efforts will bring failure, and the consequences of such a failure must be clearly understood by us all.
An
Undoubtedly,
In such an environment, the gains made against al-Qaida and other extremist groups could easily evaporate, and they could establish strongholds to be used as safe havens for regional and international operations.
Our current course is hard. The alternatives are far worse.
Every strategy requires recalibration as time goes on. This is particularly true in an environment like
As chief of mission in
I believe that, thanks to the support of Congress, we have an appropriate civilian posture in
Over the coming year, we will continue to increase our civilian efforts outside of
In support of these efforts, we will be seeking additional economic assistance, including additional quick-response funds for capacity building. We will also seek support for two significant proposals that hold the prospect of creating permanent jobs for thousands of Iraqis.
One would be the establishment of an Iraqi-American enterprise fund, modeled on our successful fund in
The second would be a large-scale operations and maintenance facility based on our highway trust fund. On a cost-sharing basis, such a fund would train Iraqis to budget for and maintain important public sector infrastructure, such as power plants, dams and roads.
Over time, the cost-sharing would phase down and out, leaving behind well-trained professionals and instilling the habits of preventive maintenance.
We will continue our efforts to assist Iraqis in the pursuit of national reconciliation while recognizing that progress on this front may come in many forms and must ultimately be done by Iraqis themselves.
We will seek additional ways to neutralize regional interference and enhance regional and international support.
And we will help Iraqis consolidate the positive developments at local levels and connect them with the national government.
Finally, I expect we will invest much effort in developing the strategic partnership between the
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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