Iraq hopes pact will see US shift from guns to butter

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh hopes the United States will shift its priorities from security to post-war reconstruction as its forces prepare to move out of Iraq. "There should be no more concentration on the military issues, it should be moved to new areas, which is the economy," he told a foreign news agency, after the cabinet on Sunday approved a military pact that would see US troops withdraw by the end of 2011. "I think what the Americans have to do now is attract the investor, to bring the investor, and the Iraqi government would have to help them to start the reconstruction here," he said in an interview at his Baghdad residence.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt