Success is dependent on Iraqi commitment
WASHINGTON — President Bush's new plan to stabilize Iraq relies on these main elements to succeed: the addition of more than 20,000 U.S. troops, plus the commitment of more Iraqi security forces and a newly energized Iraqi government.
Bush and his aides say they are confident that putting more American troops on the streets of Baghdad can help turn Iraq around.
What they don't know, officials add, is whether the Iraqi government will do its part.
The new plan will be a test of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki -- a Shiite Muslim -- and if he fails, some officials suggest, the United States may look for a different leader as its partner in Iraq.
"There's a lot of skepticism" about Maliki, a senior official said, speaking on condition of anonymity when discussing the White House's internal deliberations.
"Is this a government that is really a unity government, or is it a government
For months, Maliki has told Bush and other U.S. officials what they wanted to hear: that he would share political power with moderate Sunni Arabs as well as with his Shiite supporters; that he would commit more Iraqi government troops to the battle for Baghdad; that he would crack down on sectarian militias, including those loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, whose party is in Maliki's government.
But Maliki has failed to deliver on most of these fronts, prompting Bush and his aides to debate, in private, whether Maliki was capable of stabilizing his fracturing country -- even as the president has publicly expressed confidence in the prime minister.
As a result, a large part of Bush's speech was devoted not to explaining why he was sending more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, but to publicly warning Maliki that this may be his last chance to succeed with American support.
"I have made it clear to the prime minister and Iraq's other leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended," Bush said in his nationally televised speech Wednesday -- the first time he has used that phrase.
He continued: "If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people -- and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people. Now is the time to act."
Maliki's job at stake?
Officials declined to say what the administration will do if Maliki does not deliver on his promises this time, or if Iraqi security forces fall short in their performance in the field.
