Talabani endorses foreign troop presence
Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Iraq's new president Jalal Talabani has restated his support for a continued US and Australian military presence in Iraq, one day after large demonstrations by supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demanded US troops leave the country.
"I think we are in great need to have American and other allied forces in Iraq until we will be able to rebuild our military forces," Mr Talabani said.
Branding Sadr a "criminal" who should be arrested, Mr Talabani said he opposed setting a timetable for the US military's exit from the country.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of Sadr's followers marched through Baghdad chanting "No, no, USA." The protesters also demanded the establishment of a government based on Islamic law when the new government begins rewriting the country's constitution. The protest marked the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad after the US invasion of the country in 2003.
Mr Talabani, an Iraqi Kurd who was elected president on Thursday after lengthy negotiations between ethnic and tribal factions in the Iraqi Parliament, predicted Iraq would be able to reconstitute its armed forces within two years.
However, he suggested that even after that, the country will maintain a close security relationship with the United States. "We will remain in full consultation and coordination, cooperation with our American friends, who came to liberate our country," he said.
Mr Talabani also rebuffed the calls to establish an Islamic state under the new constitution, which he predicted could be completed by the August 15 deadline. Iraq's Governing Council already ruled against an Islamic government, Mr Talabani said, even while recognising Islam as the country's principal religion.
Mr Talabani, who for many years led the Iraqi Kurdish minority's resistance to the regime of deposed president Saddam Hussein, also suggested he did not support an independent state for the Kurds. The Kurds, he said, have accepted becoming part of a federation within the framework of a democratic Iraq.
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14/09/2004
