BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on
Sunday, June 25, presented a 24-point national reconciliation plan to
end violence plaguing the Arab country three years after the US
invasion.
"To those who want to build and reconcile, we
extend our hand with an olive branch to build our nation," Maliki
told parliament, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"To those who insist on aggression, terror and
killing, we will confront them with firmness to protect our
people," he threatened.
Maliki called for the immediate release of
detainees whom authorities have no proof of a crime against them.
He has already approved the release this month of
about 2,500 prisoners held in US and Iraqi prisons, most of them
Sunnis.
The reconciliation plan also eyes compensation for
former detainees and those who were killed by Iraqi and US American
forces.
He also promised a review of the policies of
purging former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party from public
office.
Maliki said a new commission will be set up to
oversee the hoped-for reconciliation process with branches in all of
Iraq's provinces.
His plan is mainly meant to heal rifts between the
Iraqi sects that have been soaring since the 2003 US
invasion-turned-occupation of Iraq.
But the Iraqi premier did not offer any bold
initiatives or concrete plans on how to ease sectarian violence
tearing the country apart.
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Dulaimi welcomed the reconciliation
plan, saying it was a step in the right direction.
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The Iraqi premier said the reconciliation drive,
first floated on June 6, would envisage an amnesty, albeit
conditional.
"The plan is open to all those who want to
enter the political process to build their country and save their
people, as long as they did not commit crimes.
"There will be an amnesty for those who did
not take part in criminal and terrorist acts and war crimes and crimes
against humanity," he said.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who announced his
backing for Maliki's plan, had said an amnesty would be offered for
those who had borne arms against the government provided they rejoin
the political mainstream.
Since taking office in April last year, Kurdish
Talabani has repeatedly called for an amnesty for armed group in the
country.
But his calls have previously gone unheeded because
of opposition from the US military and Shiite hardliners who dominate
parliament.
Militias
The Iraqi premier said he would also deal with the
issue of armed militias, seen the most destabilizing forces in the
country, Reuters reported.
He, however, did not give any details on how he
would disband the militias and only spoke of tackling the problem
through political, economic and security solutions.
Iraqi Sunnis accuse pro-government Shiite militias
of targeting their community, pressing for the disarming of such
militias to help achieve reconciliation in the war-torn country.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has said that
militias, many with strong ties to powerful Shiite leaders and well
entrenched in security and police forces, are killing more Iraqis than
"terrorists," urging Iraqi leaders to rein them in.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a
report issued on Monday, February 27, that only the introduction of
significant changes to the Iraqi "sectarian" constitution
and disbanding government-condoned militias can help ward off a deadly
civil.
No Pullout Timetable
The reconciliation plan gave no timetable for the
withdrawal of US-led occupation forces.
Maliki only said the plan calls for a timetable for
the build-up of the security forces to control the security situation
"so that the role of coalition forces will come to an end."
The prime minister urged the US-led forces to
observe human rights and vowed to try to improve public services in
the country's troubled areas.
Maliki has recently lashed out at the "regular
occurrence" of violence by American troops against Iraqi
civilians.
A total of nine US soldiers have been charges, in
two separate cases, of killing Iraqi civilians, the latest revelation
of cold-blooded killing of innocent civilians in the Arab country.
Last November, US soldiers killed 24 Iraqi
civilians, including seven women and three children, near Haditha as
they had gone on rampage after their patrol was attacked.
An average of one Iraqi civilian every day was
killed by US forces during 2005 in incidents at checkpoints or
roadblocks or alongside convoys, according to statistics compiled by
the US military in Baghdad.
The US army has recently decided to give ethic
training to all its 130,000 troops in the Arab country.
Sunnis Welcome
The reconciliation plan was welcomed by the leaders
of the main blocs in the Iraqi parliament, despite some reservations.
"We welcome and support this initiative,"
Adnan al-Dulaimi, the leader of the Sunni National Accord Front, told
the same parliamentary session.
"We call on all the people of Iraq to support
this initiative because it will be the first step in achieving
security and stability then start building the new Iraq."
The Sunni leader urged Maliki to release all
detainees in US and Iraqi custody and bring to an end provocative
raids and crackdowns on civilian homes.
Before it was presented, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the
Sunni parliamentary speaker, cautioned that it was not a "magic
solution" but an attempt to "mend the cracks" in Iraqi
society.
