Iraq declines offer of US help with reconciliation

By Andrew Quinn

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq on Saturday ruled out foreign involvement in its efforts to reconcile rival factions, just after visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden urged Iraqis to do more to bury grievances and stave off renewed conflict.

Biden, on a three-day visit, offered U.S. help in what he said was a long road ahead in uniting a country deeply split by years of sectarian war and riven by violence.

But Iraq has been forcefully asserting a newfound sovereignty in the week U.S. combat troops pulled out of city centres, a milestone that was feted by flowers and dancing.

"We made it clear that national reconciliation is an Iraqi issue and involvement of a non-Iraqi party won't make it more successful," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

"There is sensitivity in the national reconciliation issue about involving non-Iraqi actors," he told reporters at a meeting in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

Even with 130,000 U.S. troops remaining in Iraq and local forces still reliant on U.S. soldiers for air support and other help, the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been distancing itself from the ongoing U.S. presence.

While many Iraqis credit the U.S. troops for helping to restore order at the height of the sectarian fighting, most want an end to the foreign occupation of their country.

Playing on nationalism served Maliki well in a provincial vote this year, when his call for a strong centralised state helped his allies win throughout the Shi'ite south.