Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told Iraqis on Tuesday their own soldiers and police are up to the job as US occupation forces ended a combat role after seven years of fighting that has cost thousands of lives.
A major troop pullout over past months has left less than 50,000 US soldiers in Iraq while a simultaneous surge in car bombings and shootings, many targeting local security forces, has raised security concerns.
US President Barack Obama was to mark the symbolic end of combat operations in a speech from the Oval Office at 0000 GMT (3 am on Wednesday for Baghdadis), after visiting a base in Texas where he was to meet returned Iraq veterans. He was also expected to speak by telephone with former president George W. Bush who, backed by key ally Britain, took the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003.
In advance of Obama's speech, Maliki said on state television that Iraq was a "sovereign and independent" state and he was confident the last US forces would leave the country as planned at the end of 2011. "I reassure you that the Iraqi security forces are capable of taking full responsibility," Maliki said. "Unfortunately we are facing a campaign of doubt."
US Vice President Joe Biden landed in Baghdad on Monday night to mark the American military's change of mission from combat to training and advisory tasks for Iraqi forces, starting from Wednesday. He was due to meet President Jalal Talabani, Maliki and the former premier and March 7 election winner Iyad Allawi as well as other top politicians throughout Tuesday.
Tony Blinken, Biden's National Security Adviser, said the current caretaker administration in Baghdad was not a "durable solution." "There is some growing sense of urgency that government formation move forward, and certainly the vice president is going to urge the leaders to bring this process to a conclusion," Blinken told reporters.
Source: http://islamonline.com
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
America and its core values compatible with Islam: US imam
DUBAI (AFP) - America and its core principles are compatible with Islam, the US imam behind a controversial initiative to build an Islamic centre near the site of the 9/11 attacks said Tuesday in Dubai.
"The American way of thinking, the American construct, is extremely co-congruent with the Islamic worldview," Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said at the Dubai School of Government
.
His visit to the United Arab Emirates is the last leg of a US State Department-sponsored trip that has already taken him to Bahrain and Qatar.
The aim of the visit was for Abdul Rauf to "talk about Muslim life in America" and his "work promoting inter-faith dialogue," according to a statement by the US embassy in Abu Dhabi announcing the visit.
The plan to build the Islamic centre that is to include a prayer space, near the site of the World Trade Center that was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, has fueled a political furore in the United States.
Proponents say the centre would be a platform for promoting inter-faith dialogue and tolerance. Opponents, some of whom have termed the centre the "Ground Zero mosque," say it is insensitive to build it near the site of the attacks.
Planners say the centre will include an area for prayer, sports facilities, theatre and restaurant, and would be open to the public.
Construction of the centre, a 100-million-dollar (79-million-euro), 13-storey glass-and-metal building to be built on private property, has been approved by city officials.
Abdul Rauf has been the imam of a mosque twelve blocks from "Ground Zero" for the past 27 years, according to the website of the Cordoba Initiative, an organisation promoting inter-faith dialogue and understanding, which he founded.
Source: http://www.islamtribune.com
"The American way of thinking, the American construct, is extremely co-congruent with the Islamic worldview," Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said at the Dubai School of Government
.
His visit to the United Arab Emirates is the last leg of a US State Department-sponsored trip that has already taken him to Bahrain and Qatar.
The aim of the visit was for Abdul Rauf to "talk about Muslim life in America" and his "work promoting inter-faith dialogue," according to a statement by the US embassy in Abu Dhabi announcing the visit.
The plan to build the Islamic centre that is to include a prayer space, near the site of the World Trade Center that was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, has fueled a political furore in the United States.
Proponents say the centre would be a platform for promoting inter-faith dialogue and tolerance. Opponents, some of whom have termed the centre the "Ground Zero mosque," say it is insensitive to build it near the site of the attacks.
Planners say the centre will include an area for prayer, sports facilities, theatre and restaurant, and would be open to the public.
Construction of the centre, a 100-million-dollar (79-million-euro), 13-storey glass-and-metal building to be built on private property, has been approved by city officials.
Abdul Rauf has been the imam of a mosque twelve blocks from "Ground Zero" for the past 27 years, according to the website of the Cordoba Initiative, an organisation promoting inter-faith dialogue and understanding, which he founded.
Source: http://www.islamtribune.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)