Former Iraqi Vice-President Ramadan's execution may lead to more violence in Iraq, although the US did not exert much influence on the sentence, Chinese experts said.

"The fourth anniversary of the Iraq War is not sensitive nor important in Iraq," said Yi Gang, a senior researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

But as sectarian violence persists, it is high time US leaders change their policy of "Iraqis overwhelm Iraqis" into "Iraqis rule Iraqis", said Wang Yushen, a research fellow at the Chinese International Studies and Academic Exchange Fund.

"The United States has failed at a strategic level," said Shi Yinhong, a professor with Renmin University of China.

Shi did not rule out the possibility that US troops would start to withdraw from Iraq soon. However, the current turbulent situation in Iraq still requires the presence of US troops, he said.

Iraq would enter a relatively moderate situation in the future since Bush has partially achieved two key goals in Iraq - stability through deployment of more troops and reconstruction of the Iraqi economy, said Jin Canrong, another professor with Renmin University.

It is merely a political gesture for Democrats to oppose Bush's strategy on Iraq, Jin said. "It is just a political game between the two parties," he said.

(China Daily via agencies March 21, 2007)