Al-Maliki pledges reconciliation in Iraq

Iraq's prime minister said national reconciliation was the key to ending the daily barrage of violence in his country, calling on world leaders to help bring bickering factions together but offering few political solutions of his own.

Nouri al-Maliki told the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that terrorism was threatening to erode any recent successes in reducing sectarian killings and establishing democratic principles in Iraq.

His statements came as a wave of bombings and shootings swept Iraq, killing at least 50 people and raising fears of a new al-Qaida offensive.

"We look at national reconciliation as a life boat, a perpetual peace project and a safe harbor for the political process and the democratic experience," al-Maliki said.

But he said healing is "not the responsibility of the government alone."

"Today we feel optimistic that countries of the region realize the danger of the terrorist attacks against Iraq, that it is not in their interest for Iraq to be weak," he said.

Al-Maliki spoke at the high-level ministerial session during a day of pointed attacks against President Bush, many focusing on the president's Iraq policy.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque accused Bush of flouting international law by illegally occupying Iraq and authorizing torture of detainees. Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, who has been criticized for widespread human rights abuses in his own country, said Bush's "hands drip with the innocent blood of many nationalities."

Scheduled to address the assembly Thursday are Serbian President Boris Tadic and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Al-Maliki has been facing mounting criticism, most notably from U.S. Democrats, for his inability to take advantage of a reduction in Baghdad violence to pass legislation designed to share power among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds and help end the insurgency.

Bush pressed al-Maliki on Tuesday during a meeting in New York to make progress on the key areas of political reconciliation. A national oil law and other initiatives have stalled in the parliament due to factional fighting.

In his speech, however, al-Maliki only briefly noted the proposed oil law, saying his government has completed work on it and was awaiting its approval by parliament.

Al-Maliki did note what he said were many recent successes in Iraq. He cited the calming of regions like Anbar province in the west, a recent drop in sectarian killings and the return of thousands of displaced families to their homes.

"Our armed forces have been adamant in establishing law and order, as well as instilling a sense of respect for the government in many provinces which have diverse religious, sectarian and ethnic affiliations," he said.

Although al-Maliki claimed Anbar as a success, the calming of the province was a result of the efforts of a coalition of Sunni sheiks encouraged by U.S. military officers. Al-Maliki's Shiite government has been cool to the effort, paying it lip service while at the same time only slowly allocating funds for the area _ under strong U.S. pressure.

Sectarian killings are believed to have dropped _ largely through a combination of stepped-up U.S. military activity and a decision by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to freeze his Mahdi militia for six months.

And while there has been some movement of displaced people back to their homes, as al-Maliki claimed, the International Organization of Migration says such moves are often only temporary to check on the status of property.

Nevertheless, al-Maliki championed the emergence of democratic institutions.

He said the country has hundreds of political parties active within 20 political alliances, more than 6,000 civil organizations, hundreds of newspapers and magazines, and 40 local and satellite TV stations.

But terrorists are targeting this "new Iraq," he said.

"Terrorism kills civilians, journalists, actors, thinkers and professionals. It attacks universities, marketplaces and libraries. It blows up mosques and churches and destroys the infrastructure of state institutions," al-Maliki said.

Al-Maliki said Iraq's neighbors share the responsibility in helping to stop the violence, warning "the continued overflow of weapons, money, suicide bombers and the spreading of 'fatwas' inciting hatred and murder will only result in disastrous consequences."

Washington has accused Iran of arming and aiding Shiite militias in Iraq that it says have killed hundreds of American troops with powerful bombs known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs. The U.S. has also accused Iran of training fighters and sending them into Iraq to attack American and Iraqi troops.

Iran disputes those allegations, saying it does not meddle inside Iraq.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who took the spotlight at the U.N. earlier this week, held a series of bilateral meetings on Wednesday and held a meeting with several religious leaders at a church in New York.