Iraq’s PM tells U.S. Speaker of the House Armed Forces ready to bear responsibility

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, announced on Saturday that the Iraqi Armed Forces are prepared to bear the responsibility to protect security in the country.   Maliki’s statement was announced during his reception of the visiting U.S. Speaker of the House, John Boehner, in Baghdad on Saturday. Boehner is accompanied by a number of Congress members, including U.S. Secretary of State, Jeffrey Feltman, and the U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad, James Jeffery.   The meeting, a Prime Minister’s office statement pointed out, had also discussed “bilateral relations between the United States and Iraq and the future of the strategic cooperation between the two friendly countries.”   “Prime Minister Maliki also told the U.S. delegation that Iraq looks forward to future cooperation with the United States in the field of armament and training,” the statement added.   The statement quoted Maliki as saying that “the Iraqi Armed Forces and the Security bodies are now capable of shouldering the responsibility to protect security, as well as working on basis of vocation and patriotism.”   “The Iraqi Prime Minister has reiterated the necessity of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in all fields, especially trade, culture and military fields,” the statement said.   It quoted Maliki as having reiterated “the presence of relations of friendship between Iraq and the United States, serving the interest of both friendly peoples, confirming necessity for U.S. support for the new Iraq and its continuation in all fields.”   The statement pointed out that Feltman expressed his country’s wish and keenness to “continue assistance and support for the political process in Iraq and its democratic march.”   SKH (TR)/SR 796