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BAGHDAD - Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki today told insurgents fighting his US-backed government to accept an olive branch or face a security crackdown that will cover "every inch" of Iraq.
The US military said it would set up a security outpost in the Shi'ite militia stronghold of Sadr City "in the very near future" in what will be a test of Iraqi and US determination to tackle the most politically sensitive area of Baghdad.
US and Iraqi forces conducted patrols in Sadr City today but a large-scale push promised by American commanders has yet to happen. The district is a bastion of the Mehdi Army of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a key Maliki ally.
Maliki also said he might announce a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle within two weeks. He is expected to replace under-performing ministers in a revamp he has promised for months.
Speaking at a conference aimed at speeding up reconciliation among Iraq's warring factions, Maliki said political consensus could be achieved only if Iraq was stable.
Maliki has been pleased with the early results of a U.S.- backed security crackdown in Baghdad called Operation Imposing Law. The offensive has reduced sectarian death squad killings although car bombings are still common.
"We do not need to implement security measures except against those who reject the language of reconciliation and dialogue, those who insist on restoring the past," Maliki said, in a reference to Sunni Arab insurgents loyal to Saddam Hussein.
"We present in our hand a green olive branch, and in the other hand we present the law ... Operation Imposing Law started in Baghdad, it will cover every inch of Iraq."
Shi'ite officials have said his government could collapse if the crackdown fails to put a brake on sectarian violence that threatens to plunge Iraq into full-scale civil war.
Taking on militias
Maliki has pledged to tackle Shi'ite militias as vigorously as Sunni insurgents, although some Sunni leaders are sceptical and accuse him of being half-hearted in attempts to placate minority Sunni Arabs who were dominant under Saddam.
The prime minister did not say if insurgents who stopped fighting would be given an amnesty.
An Iraqi police source said security forces were beginning to set up checkpoints around the edge of Sadr City.
How the plan is implemented in Sadr City is being closely watched as a test of Maliki's will to be even-handed.
"Today the coalition forces with Iraqi forces went into Sadr City," the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, told CNN.
"The mayor of Sadr City welcomed the coalition forces today and promised to cooperate with them."
US military spokesman Captain Curtis Kellogg said a Joint Security Station with Iraqi and US forces would be established in Sadr City soon.
"The plans are in the works to have that in there in the very near future so we have some people working in and out of there," he said.
- REUTERS
