Top official warns of Iraq collapse if U.S. leaves

updated 2:29 p.m. ET July 9, 2007

BAGHDAD - Iraq’s foreign minister warned on Monday that a quick American military withdrawal from the country could lead to a full-scale civil war, the collapse of the government and spillover conflicts across the region.

The White House said President Bush is not contemplating withdrawing forces from Iraq now despite an erosion of support among Republicans for his war policy.

But the administration also tried to lower expectations about a report due next Sunday on whether the Iraqi government is meeting political, economic and security benchmarks that Bush set in January when he announced a buildup of 21,500 U.S. combat forces.

U.S. forces now are waging offensives in and around Baghdad aimed at uprooting militants and bringing calm to the capital.

But attacks in Baghdad on Monday killed 13 people, and prominent Shiite and Sunni politicians called on civilians to take up arms to defend themselves after a weekend of violence, including one of the deadliest attacks of the four-year Iraqi conflict, claimed more than 220 lives.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraqis “understand the huge pressure that will increase more and more in the United States” ahead of the progress report by the U.S. ambassador and top commander in Iraq.

“We have held discussion with members of Congress and explained to them the dangers of a quick pullout and leaving a security vacuum,” Zebari said. “The dangers could be a civil war, dividing the country, regional wars and the collapse of the state.”

“In our estimations, until Iraqi forces are ready, there is a responsibility on the United States to stand with the (government) as the forces are being built,” he said.

White House looking for long-term progress
White House press secretary Tony Snow said that all of the additional troops had just gotten in place and it would be unrealistic to expect major progress now.

“You are not going to expect all the benchmarks to be met at the beginning of something,” Snow said. “You are hoping that you are going to be able to see progress in terms of meeting benchmarks from that beginning stage to what you see in two months.”

But at the same time, he said that Sept. 15 is not “the drop dead date” by which everything should be completed.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates shortened a planned trip this week so he would be in Washington to attend meetings on the progress report for Congress.

Zebari, a Kurd from northern Iraq, also said Turkey has massed 140,000 soldiers at Iraq’s northern border, where the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, has bases and launches attacks on Turkish forces.

“Turkey’s fears are legitimate but such things can be discussed,” Zebari said. “The perfect solution is the withdrawal of the Turkish forces from the borders.”

The Iraqis calls for the arming of civilians to fight insurgents reflected the growing frustration with Iraqi security forces’ inability to prevent extremists’ attacks — like Saturday’s devastating suicide truck bombing in the Shiite town of Armili, north of Baghdad, that killed more than 160 people, according to the latest toll from police and officials.

On Sunday, Armili residents shouted insults at the governor of Salahuddin province, Hamad Hmoud Shagti, and the provincial police chief as they visited for funerals of the victims in the town with longtime tensions between Shiites and Sunnis, police and other officials said.

Shagti had detained the Armili police chief and put him under investigation for security failures. Shagti told The Associated Press that 250 new police were sent to Armili — a town of 26,000 that one lawmaker said had only 30 policemen before the attack.

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