IRAQI Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki gave an upbeat assessment of the situation in his war-torn country yesterday, but said national forces were not ready to take over from the US military.
'We still need more efforts and time in order for our armed forces to be able to take over security in all Iraqi provinces from the multinational forces that helped us in a great way in fighting terrorism,' he told Parliament.
Mr Maliki made the comment hours before the US ambassador to Iraq, Mr Ryan Crocker, and top US commander David Petraeus were to appear in the US Congress to deliver progress reports on Iraq amid a debate over calls to start bringing American troops home.
Mr Maliki said that violence had dropped 75 per cent in the Baghdad area since the US began pouring in additional troops at the start of the year.
He also said that more than 14,000 fighters linked to Al-Qaeda have turned against violence and joined the Iraqi armed forces.
Presenting a report card to Parliament, Mr Maliki said about 6,000 families had returned to their homes in Baghdad, while 5,941 suspected terrorists had been detained.
Of these, 3,326 had been released, he said.
'Since the launch of the operation, the Iraqi government has restored semi-normal life to parts of Baghdad,' said Mr Maliki.
'The key to reconstruction, economic development and improving people's standard of living is security.'
Still, attacks in the capital, Baghdad, have picked up in recent days in the run-up to the report. Also, violence usually increases during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is approaching.
One resident of Sadr City, where US forces recently came under attack while on a search mission, said civilians are often left helpless.
'Neither the government protects us nor does Bush defend us,' lamented Mr Abu Ali. 'What shall we do?'
Despite intense US pressure to move ahead with 18 benchmark laws - including one that will allow for the reintegration of members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party into political life and another on oil revenue-sharing - none has been taken up by Parliament for discussion yet.
The so-called de-Baathification draft law was finally presented by Mr Maliki's Cabinet to parliament on Monday, and discussion on it is scheduled to begin next week, said Mr Wissam Al-Zubaidi, an adviser to Deputy Parliament Speaker Khaled Al-Attiyah.
Though his government has been widely criticised for failing to bridge sectarian divides, Mr Maliki insisted that progress had been made.
'We have achieved success in preventing Iraq from going into sectarian war and I am fully confident that national reconciliation is our only way that takes Iraq into safety,' he said.
Mr Maliki has come under criticism recently from US lawmakers for a perceived lack of progress in Iraq.
Former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in his first interview since stepping down in November last year, told GQ Magazine that the Baghdad regime 'has not been able to...create an environment hospitable to whatever one wants to call their evolving way of life, a democracy or a representative system, or a freer system. And it's going to take some time and some effort'.
