IRAQ: Iraq's newly-appointed ambassador has said his government respects and counts on Irish neutrality.
"In Iraq, we very much respect Irish neutrality and we count on it as well," said Dr Salah Al-Shaikhly. "Your neutrality has been one of the pillars of Irish diplomacy. We always look at the Irish as neutral people who can help."
Dr Al-Shaikhly, who as ambassador to Britain with responsibility for Ireland becomes Iraq's first diplomatic representative in Ireland in 15 years, was speaking to The Irish Times after presenting his credentials to President McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday.
Declining to be drawn on Minister for Transport Martin Cullen's presence at an event in New York to welcome US troops returning from Iraq last week, the ambassador said he had nonetheless told Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern that Iraq valued Irish neutrality.
"I have just told the Foreign Minister that we very much count on Ireland's neutrality and we look forward to Ireland playing a role in the development of Iraq. In the past, you have been a great partner in our development in the 1970s."
Dr Al-Shaikhly, who was part of a loose coalition of opponents to Saddam Hussein's regime for some 15 years before the US-led invasion in 2003, said he was concerned at recent reports that billions of dollars donated towards Iraq's reconstruction was unaccounted for. Part of the problem, he said, was the structure of the initial Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) under the direction of Paul Bremer.
"It would definitely concern me. I can say it in no uncertain terms; when there is no accountability, you expect this kind of thing to happen. First of all, we had no banking system, we had no infrastructure to take care of this. And for six months through the entire presence of the CPA, there was no government as such. The government was under Bremer, and he oversaw the entire expenditure programme."
While he disagreed with former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi's contention that Iraq was in a state of civil war, Dr Al-Shaikhly advised the US government against setting a date for the formal withdrawal of its troops from the country.
"To set a date is artificial. If we say 2007, and supposing we don't need them in 2006, what do we do. Wait? These troops are there because the United Nations said so. They're there because there is a UN mandate. The Americans and the British are doing a great job, and we definitely need their presence," he said.
"Once they're finished, I don't think they'll want to stay, and I don't think we'll want them to stay. They're not enjoying themselves; they have a job to do, and when it's finished they're going to go. I don't think they'll stay a day longer than they're needed."