House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wants to Strengthen Iraq Intelligence

With the U.S. military scheduled to withdraw forces in Iraq by 2012, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has called on better cooperation between U.S. and Iraqi forces on intelligence sharing matters. Pelosi, who was an outspoken critic of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, noted, "If we are going to have a diminished physical military presence, we have to have a strong intelligence presence." Another concern of all involved is an emergence of al-Qaida in Iraq as U.S. forces continue to draw down.

Former U.S. Commander General David Petraeus recently noted in an interview with Fox news that he thought that al-Qaida "will continue to try to reestablish itself in Iraq" even though the group "appears to have sifted away somewhat" from the area." Pelosi, who also opposed the increase in U.S. troops in Iraq in 2007 that has been largely credited with helping to reduce violence in the country, met and appeared with Iraq’s parliament speaker, Ayad al-Samarraie. The two discussed a number of items affecting Iraqi security and intelligence.

Said al-Samarraie, "We are aware that there are problems, but both the Iraqi government and parliament are trying to make use of the partnership between us the United States in order to solve problems." One concern that has cropped up in Iraq is a demand by various groups for payment of reparations in exchange for damage they claim was done by the previous regime of Saddam Hussein. Iraqi spokesperson Ali Al-Dabbagh, referred to the Iraqi Prime Minister, noted, "Al-Maliki requested the United States protect Iraqi funds and put an end to the demands of other countries which feel they were harmed during the two Gulf wars of the former regime."