US Vice President Dick Cheney warned on Monday that deadly violence would plague Iraq for 'some considerable period of time' and that it was up to Iraqis to decide how to tackle sectarian militias.
Asked about Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia, Cheney told CNBC television that US-led forces had dealt with "the chief bad guy," Saddam Hussein, and that it was now up to Iraqis to handle Sadr.
Sadr "obviously speaks for a significant number of Iraqis, has a strong following. But if anything were to be addressed in that area, it's got to be addressed by the Iraqis themselves," Cheney said in the interview.
"The Iraqis are now the sovereign authority inside Iraq. That's their government. It's their responsibility. They'll have to make those judgements and decisions," he said.
The White House released a transcript of the exchange, which came as opposition Democrats used the unpopular war in Iraq as a political weapon in an effort to win control of the US Congress in November 7 elections.
Cheney, who has retreated from his prediction in 2005 that Iraq's deadly insurgency was in its "last throes," said transferring security missions to fledgling Iraqi forces was one of the key "milestones for success."
"There's going to be probably a continued level of violence for some considerable period of time in Iraq. But we have made progress" on the political and security front, the vice president said.
"It's the kind of thing where you have to keep grinding it out day after day after day. It's tough. It's difficult, especially for the young men and women who are prosecuting the war on our behalf. But it's the right thing to do," he said.