Levin: Iraq plan offers 'ray of hope' to end sectarian bloodshed

[ECH1969]

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said Tuesday that a plan endorsed by Iraq's prime minister to stop sectarian killings offers a "ray of hope" but it's still uncertain whether it will help stop the bloodshed.

"While there is a ray of hope because there is an announcement, nonetheless we have to be very, very cautious to see whether it leads to anything concrete," Levin said in a conference call with reporters from Israel. "At least it's a bit of optimism that we leave with."

The plan announced by al-Maliki's government Monday night would try to resolve conflicts between the different factions by giving every party a voice in how security forces operate against violence on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood level. Local committees will be formed in every Baghdad district to discuss security efforts.

Levin said he was optimistic that the parties were talking, but he called it a "tenuous step." He said it "does not include ways militias will be dismantled, and that's absolutely the key to ending the sectarian violence, particularly within Baghdad."

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