Time for Iraq to be U.S. ally – Abu Resha

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Head of al-Anbar Sahwa (Awakening) council on Monday said that it is now the time for Iraq to become a strategic ally of the U.S., referring that sides which refuse to sign the Iraqi-U.S. pact do not want good for Iraq. “What did Iraq gain from being an ally of the former Soviet Union (USSR)?” Abu Resha said in a TV interview with Al-Arabiya satellite channel. “Sides that refuse to sign the pact do not want good for the country, they only want evil,” he added. “President Bush and other U.S. officials confirmed to me during my last visit to Washington DC that they want to pull out troops from Iraq, after it becomes strong, free and immune to external interventions, especially from Syria and Iran,” he noted. MH (P)/SR 1