Top US Diplomat in Iraq Warns Against Unconditional Withdrawal
By VOA News
19 July 2007
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The top U.S. diplomat in Iraq has warned against American troops leaving Iraq without conditions for their pull-out.
Ambassador Ryan Crocker said if he could use one word to sum up the atmosphere in Iraq it would be ‘fear.’
Crocker testified Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that an unconditional withdrawal could lead to a spike in sectarian violence.
Speaking via a video link from Baghdad, he also cautioned that such a pull-out would create a vacuum where al-Qaida and Iran would have more room to operate. The United States has accused Iran of supporting Shi’ite insurgents in Iraq.
The U.S. diplomat said the situation in Iraq is complex and that a major problem is sectarianism in the Iraqi forces, most notably, he said, in the national police. He said the Iraqi government is aware of the sectarianism and has taken action, but he said that clearly more must be done.
During a speech in the U.S. state of Tennessee Thursday, President Bush said the United States will succeed in Iraq as long as the U.S. does not lose its nerve.
Wednesday, the U.S. Senate fell several votes short of the 60 votes needed to move forward with legislation calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by next April.