No military solution to Iraq - U.S. chief
March 8, 2007
- No military solution to violence without political action, says U.S. commander
- General David Petraeus says no immediate need to request more U.S. troops
- Petreaus gives first news conference in Iraq since taking command last month
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Reuters) -- U.S. and Iraqi security forces cannot solve the problem of violence in Iraq without political action and reconciliation with some militant groups, the U.S. commander in Iraq said on Thursday.
General David Petraeus, in his first news conference in Baghdad since he took command last month, also said he saw no immediate need to request more U.S. troops, but reinforcements already requested would likely stay "well beyond the summer."
"There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq," Petraeus said.
"Military action is necessary to help improve security ... but it is not sufficient."
He said political progress would require talking to and reconciling with "some of those who have felt the new Iraq did not have a place for them."
He said a key challenge for the Shiite-led government of Nuri al-Maliki was to identify those militant groups who were "reconcilable" and to bring them into the political process.
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