U.S. military leader optimistic on Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, said in a year-end interview that he believes 2006 will see substantial progress in Iraq because “there are more people trying to hold it together than take it apart.”

Abizaid, who has commanded U.S. Central Command for nearly three years, said on New Year’s Eve that the coming year will bring a sea change as “we go from us being in the lead in the counter-insurgency to the Iraqis being in the lead.”

“The Iraqi security forces have matured relatively quickly, considering that we started at the zero point,” the general said. He added that changing the mindset of an officer corps that was “designed to serve a dictator and serve themselves” to serving the nation will take a generation of work.

U.S. leaders are pinning high hopes that an Iraqi Army splintered by ethnic and religious divisions will prove capable of dealing with a violent insurgency fueled by precisely those same divisions.

Abizaid said he thinks the risk of outright civil war in Iraq is low – “I think it’s possible, but not probable. I don’t see it now. … I think we would see it coming and I don’t see it coming. … I think we can work our way through 2006 in a way that has a good outcome for Iraq.”

Abizaid also said that Iraq has gone through enough politics that “now we are finally at the point where we are going to have a four-year government and that, in and of itself, gives a lot of strength.”