Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki today offered an olive branch to Iraqi insurgents waging war against his government and said he would announce a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle within two weeks.
Speaking at a Baghdad conference aimed at speeding up reconciliation among Iraq's warring communities, Maliki said a new US-backed security plan launched in the capital last month would be extended to "every inch" of Iraq.
"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."
Shia 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.
Maliki has pledged to tackle Shia militias as hard as Sunni insurgents, although some Sunni leaders are sceptical. He did not say if any insurgents who stopped fighting would be given an amnesty.
The prime minister is expected to replace under-performing ministers in the reshuffle, which he has promised for months.
In an earlier interview with a pool television camera, Maliki said the changes would be unveiled "either this week or next". He gave no hints about who he would replace in his cabinet, which is mostly made up of members of Shia, ethnic Kurd and Sunni Arab parties.
In early November, Maliki called for a "comprehensive" reshuffle "to send a message to all ministers that they may be replaced if they don't succeed".
He had said then he would not necessarily stick to "quotas" of cabinet posts according to parties' strength in parliament but would appoint those competent for their tasks -- something Iraq badly needs, with its potentially oil-rich economy still in a morass and its ministries accused of rampant corruption.
The nearly three-week old offensive in Baghdad has sharply reduced the number of death squad killings in the capital, although car bombs still explode regularly.
US commanders say it will take months for the plan to produce concrete results. They say the aim of the Baghdad push is to create some "breathing space" to allow politicians to reach a political consensus.
Maliki told the reconciliation meeting today he hoped an international conference being held in Baghdad on March 10 would lay the foundations for increased international and regional cooperation in stabilising Iraq.
He has invited neighbouring countries and world powers to a meeting that could open the way for the United States to talk to Syria and Iran, which Washington says are fuelling violence in Iraq. Both countries deny the accusations.
The United States and Syria have said they would take part, while Iran said it was weighing the invitation. A full ministerial meeting is expected in April, Washington has said.
"This conference will be the basis for other regional dialogue that we hope will lead to international and regional accordance and reconciliation," Maliki said.
No one should lay out the "red carpet" for any state that worked against Iraq's interests, he added.