Baghdad: Prolonged political turmoil and
worsened security in Iraq after the March 7 parliamentary
elections would not prevent the United States from sticking to
its troop withdrawal schedule, according to US Ambassador to
Baghdad Christopher Hill.
"I do not believe that there is any reason to change the
security timetable that has been set out by President (Barack)
Obama," Hill told Kyodo News in an interview at the US Embassy
here on Sunday.
With one month to go before election day, there are
worries that rising tension over the barring of candidates
accused of being loyalists to the late Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein's Baathist government could lead to violence. The move
is widely seen as targeting Sunni candidates, though
Shiites are also on the blacklist.
Hill said the issue of how to deal with the hundreds of
purged candidates with ties to the banned party of the former
leadership is "first of all (to be) solved by Iraqis".
But he suggested that even if political turmoil erupts
into violence, the withdrawal schedule would remain intact.
"We will live up to every provision of security
agreement," he said,referring to a security agreement signed
by Washington and Baghdad last year under which all but 50,000
troops are to leave the country by the end of August.
PTI
First Published: Monday, February 08, 2010, 20:53