Knight Ridder Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The American ambassador to Iraq on Monday warned that the United States won’t support a new Iraqi government that serves sectarian interests and told Iran that Washington won’t tolerate Persian meddling, either.

In his bluntest remarks yet about the need for a national unity government in Iraq, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said that the United States is investing billions of dollars to rebuild the country, but added that “we are not going to invest the resources of the American people to build forces run by people who are sectarian.”

He singled out the Iraqi interior and defense ministries, saying that both must have leaders “who are nonsectarian, broadly accepted and who are not tied to militias.”

Minority Sunni Muslims charge that under Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, Iraq’s Shiite-dominated security forces have targeted Sunnis in unpredictable raids and searches, creating instability and distrust.

In an interview with Knight Ridder, Khalilzad said that the new government’s ministers must be more representative of the entire country.

“It shouldn’t be that two ministries are run on a rightist program or a Shiite program, if there is such a thing, or that two ministries are run on a leftist, or let’s give it some name – Kurdish program, or something – no, there has to be – they should agree on a program, governing from the center,” he said. “The solution to the fundamental problem – which is sectarianism – is unity and institutions that are broadly trusted.”

The ambassador didn’t specify what more the United States could do to compel the Shiite and Kurdish political parties, which dominated Iraq’s Dec. 15 parliamentary election, to set aside their grievances and ambitions and compromise with the Sunnis, who oppressed them under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and form the backbone of today’s violent insurgency.

More than two months after the elections for a permanent parliament, Iraqi leaders are still debating how their government should operate and who should be included in it. Khalilzad has been a key partner to the negotiations, negotiating among different sects and encouraging Iraq’s newly elected leaders to create a coalition government.

“Almost everyone has asked him to get involved. He has credibility,” said Kurdish leader Barham Saleh.

In addition to making it harder for the Bush administration to withdraw significant numbers of American troops from Iraq before this fall’s U.S. congressional elections, continued turmoil could open the door to greater Iranian influence in the country.

Shiite Iran has close ties to some of the Shiite and Kurdish groups that did well in the December elections, and Khalilzad said there’s evidence that Iran is training and arming Shiite militias and providing “indirect help” to Sunni insurgents.

He didn’t say what the United States might do to counter Iran’s influence if Washington withdrew its support from the new Iraqi government.