America’s top military and civilian officials in Iraq said today that the Baghdad government has agreed to a timetable for a series of milestones to be pursued in the coming year, including cracking down on Shiite militias, completing a “national compact” between competing political groups, persuading Sunni insurgents to lay down their arms and settling contentious issues like the division of oil revenues.
Alongside these ambitious aims, they also laid out a relatively sober assessment of what Iraq would be even if these goals are met: A country where conflict would continue, but not overwhelm the government.
Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American military commander in Iraq, said that at their current rate of development, in 12 to 18 months the Iraqi security forces “will emerge as the dominant force in Iraq, possibly with some American support.”
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