WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Democratic Senator Joseph Biden Monday hit out at Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the US embassy in Baghdad, over criticisms of his plan for a federal subdivision of Iraq.
Biden, a 2008 presidential candidate, defended his non-binding plan, which overwhelmingly passed the Senate last week, and asked for a meeting with President George W. Bush to explain it did not amount to partition.
Iraqi officials and the US embassy had condemned the approach, which called for a federation and power to be diffused to the regions, from what critics have branded a disfunctional government in Baghdad.
"For Maliki or Iraqi leaders to suggest we don't have a right to express our opinion, I don't know who the hell they think they are," Biden said.
"The right is that we've expended our blood and treasure in order to back their commitment to their constitution. That's the deal."
In practice, the plan would likely see Iraq's factions vote to separate on ethnic Kurd, Sunni and Shiite lines, but provide for a federal government in Baghdad in charge of border security and oil revenues.
The Iraqi government rejected the plan, sponsored by Biden and a bipartisan group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers, which passed the Senate last week.
"The government and its prime minister reject this vote," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.
"It is the Iraqis who decide these sorts of issues, no one else," Dabbagh said on state-run Al-Iraqiya television.
Biden rejects the idea the plan imposes a political solution on Iraqis, saying it is simply designed to back-up the federal instruments already in the Iraqi constitution.
On Sunday, the US embassy in Baghdad also weighed into the row.
"Attempts to partition or divide Iraq by intimidation, force or other means into three separate states would produce extraordinary suffering and bloodshed."
"Our goal in Iraq remains the same: a united, democratic, federal Iraq that can govern, defend and sustain itself."
But Biden accused diplomats of misrepresenting his plan and said he had sent a copy to the embassy.
"As (US ambassador) Ryan Crocker knows, from extensive discussions with me, this is not partition," Biden said.
"He has no legitimate basis, based upon my conversations with him ... to suggest that what the Senate voted on was partitioning Iraq. He knows better."
Advocates said the Biden plan is the best hope for US troops to leave Iraq without leaving a chaotic, and failed central government behind.
AFP: Senator hits out at Maliki, US embassy
Biden hits out at Maliki
