By Waleed Ibrahim and Mussab Al-Khairalla
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers said on Saturday that Washington should take responsibility for the turmoil in Iraq and stop blaming Baghdad, Iran and Syria.
Frustrated by criticism from the United States over their slow progress towards political goals meant to foster national reconciliation, Iraqi leaders said Washington would be better served by examining its own progress in the unpopular war.
"The Americans always try to pretend the responsibility for cleaning up this mess isn't theirs and tend to shift blame onto Iraq, Iran and Syria for everything that goes wrong," said veteran Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman.
"But they should stop this nonsense and admit that most of the accountability rests on their shoulders," he told Reuters.
On Saturday evening a suicide car bomber killed 10 people and wounded 15 others in southwest Baghdad. Many were queuing outside a bakery to buy bread for the evening Ramadan meal which breaks the day-long fast during the Muslim holy month.
The explosion came two days after U.S. President George W. Bush, announcing plans for a limited withdrawal of around 20,000 U.S. troops by July, said U.S. forces had helped ensure "ordinary life is beginning to return" to Baghdad.
Bush criticized Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, saying it had made limited political progress despite the breathing space offered by this year's "surge" of U.S. troops and the improved security.
In a report ordered by Congress, the White House echoed that criticism on Friday, saying that Iraq's leaders had made satisfactory progress on just nine out of 18 political and security benchmarks and unsatisfactory progress in seven.
It said it could not rate two other targets.
INFIGHTING
Iraqi lawmakers were not impressed.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi lawmakers said on Saturday that Washington should take responsibility for the turmoil in Iraq and stop blaming Baghdad, Iran and Syria.
Frustrated by criticism from the United States over their slow progress towards political goals meant to foster national reconciliation, Iraqi leaders said Washington would be better served by examining its own progress in the unpopular war.
"The Americans always try to pretend the responsibility for cleaning up this mess isn't theirs and tend to shift blame onto Iraq, Iran and Syria for everything that goes wrong," said veteran Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman.
"But they should stop this nonsense and admit that most of the accountability rests on their shoulders," he told Reuters.
On Saturday evening a suicide car bomber killed 10 people and wounded 15 others in southwest Baghdad. Many were queuing outside a bakery to buy bread for the evening Ramadan meal which breaks the day-long fast during the Muslim holy month.
The explosion came two days after U.S. President George W. Bush, announcing plans for a limited withdrawal of around 20,000 U.S. troops by July, said U.S. forces had helped ensure "ordinary life is beginning to return" to Baghdad.
Bush criticized Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, saying it had made limited political progress despite the breathing space offered by this year's "surge" of U.S. troops and the improved security.
In a report ordered by Congress, the White House echoed that criticism on Friday, saying that Iraq's leaders had made satisfactory progress on just nine out of 18 political and security benchmarks and unsatisfactory progress in seven.
It said it could not rate two other targets.
INFIGHTING
Iraqi lawmakers were not impressed.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
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