Iraqi News Biden discussed Budget and Disputed Areas and did not interfere in Accountabilty and

[Bumper64]

Monday, January 25th 2010 1:39 PM

Baghdad, Jan. 25 (AKnews) - The U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad Christopher Hill has announced on Sunday that the visit of Vice-President of the United States Joe Biden did not aim at resolving the de-Baathification case, but he mainly discussed the federal budget and the disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad, as well as oil contracts.

Hill said at a news conference in Baghdad, attended by the Independent National News Agency of Kurdistan (AKnews) that Biden's visit, scheduled previously for November, "was not due to the exclusion of entities and candidates from the upcoming elections. Its purpose was to discuss budget issues and disputed areas between Arabs and Kurds and the two oil rounds to be held this year. "

He added that during his visit and meeting with Iraqi officials, Biden was rather listening to what was said about de-Baathification, did not propose any solution, but encouraged the Iraqi politicians to work together to find one.

Biden arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Friday in a visit during which he stressed after his meeting with senior Iraqi officials that the file of Accountability and Justice was an Iraqi affair and no one had the right to interfere with it, expressing his confidence in the capacity of Iraqi government to solve the de-Baathification problem.

Biden ended his visit on Saturday, which lasted 24 hours and in which he declared his support for "honest and transparent" elections, "credible and accepted by the Iraqis and the world".

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had stated previously that he did not oppose the participation of some Baathists in the forthcoming elections, pointing out that "Saddam's Baath" is the one included in de-Baathification, according to Article VII of the Constitution.

Talking about Chapter VII, Ambassador Hill said : "America will implement the commitment it made in this matter ... that's why Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, who was with the delegation of Biden, stayed to hold consultations with the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in order to exclude Iraq from Chapter VII."

At the local level, a deputy from the Kurdistan Alliance had the same opinion about Biden's visit, saying : "U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden did not intervene in Iraqi laws, in Iraqi constitution, nor in the Accountability and Justice law during his recent visit to Iraq", Mohsen al-Saadun told (AKnews) on Sunday.

"Biden's visit to Iraq came to support the Iraqi-US relations, the security and other agreements, and to follow up the withdrawal of US troops, in addition to other issues such as Iraq's political file and federal constitution", he added.

Saadun believes that "Justice and Accountability Law is an Iraqi constitutional and legal case, and ways to appeal its decisions are obvious and clear... No party, whether from the UN or the United States or even from Iraq, can interfere in the Accountability and Justice affairs "

The Accountability and Justice Commission have submitted earlier to the IHEC the final list of banned candidates with 511 names, including MP Saleh al-Mutlaq, leader of the National Dialogue Front, on charges of belonging to the outlawed Baath party.

aa/Sh. (AKnews)

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/107290

Edited January 26, 2010 by Bumper64