Will Biden's Iraq trip breathe new life into Iraq's political deadlock?
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No quick fix for Iraq's deadlock
Biden's unannounced visit was partly overlapped with another U. S. congress delegation led by Sen. John McCain, who also set up meetings with Iraqi top leaders.
Unsurprisingly, all the meetings focused on Iraq's current political, security and economic situations. The dense U.S. visits clearly indicate that the U.S. government is running out of patience while the deadline of withdrawal is in sight.
"Biden's letter is clear, in which the United States showed its concern about the delay of forming the next government and urged the two voting front-runners to join each other to form it as fast as possible," said Shiekh.
"However, many deep-rooted problems Iraq is facing cannot be solved overnight, which left not much room for anyone to maneuver. The agreement between main rivals will not be reached in a short time, let alone a speedy formation of government," said the unnamed media man who closely monitors Iraq politics since the U.S. invasion in 2003.
"The two blocs (Maliki and Allawi) contain what was described as snakes and scorpions, referring to some members who are totally not accepted by the others in the other bloc," said Shiekh.
"Maliki has some politicians who were known to Allawi's politicians as corrupts or accused of sectarianism, on the other hand, some politicians in Allawi's bloc known to Maliki's politicians as former Baathists or accused of sectarianism," he added.
"Therefore, Allawi and Maliki have to hold long negotiations to either get rid of those snakes and scorpions or to compromise their presence in the blocs," he said.
Biden's visit for U.S. own sake
Many Iraqis and analysts believe that the U.S. only concern is whether the pullout plan can be launched smoothly, and the alarmingly mounting U.S. army casualties in Afghanistan is the real reason why Americans want a quick exit from Iraq.
"For the Americans, Biden's visit could be a reaction to the critics of the U.S. administration towards its policy in Iraq. Those who see the United States is pursuing cut and run policy from Iraq in order to concentrate on its struggle in Afghanistan especially with approaching of its troops' pullout from Iraq," Professor Shiekh said.
Last year, the U.S. forces pulled out of major Iraqi cities and are now working on formally ending combat operations by Sept. 1 of this year, cutting the U.S. military force from just under 90,000 to 50,000.
The security situation in Iraq is not as optimistic as Biden said upon his arrival in Baghdad. He was welcomed late Sunday by three rounds of mortar landed in the Green Zone where he was in at that time.
U.S troops' withdrawal is still marred by the on-going violence and sporadic attacks staged by terrorists in Iraqi cities, including the capital, leaving most of the Iraqi people remain plagued by rising internal violence and divisions.
