So we're finally starting to be smart and engage the nationalist groups in discussion and negotiation. Also, Sunni groups have ripped the crap out of Al Queda forces recently.WASHINGTON: The U.S. military is working more aggressively to forge cease-fires with Iraqi militants and quell the violence around Baghdad, judging that 80 percent of enemy combatants are "reconcilable," a top U.S. commander said.
However, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno also warned Thursday that he may not be able to make a full assessment of the situation in Iraq by September, as demanded by lawmakers.
Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters by video conference that he is pressing his military officers to reach out to the tribes, to some small insurgent groups and to religious and political leaders to push them to stop the violence.
"We are talking about cease-fires, and maybe signing some things that say they won't conduct operations against the government of Iraq or against coalition forces," Odierno said from Camp Victory in Baghdad. "We believe a large majority of groups within Iraq are reconcilable and are now interested in engaging with us. But more importantly, they want to engage and become a part of the government of Iraq."
Stemming the violence in and around the capital city is key to giving the Iraqi government time to stabilize and move toward reconciliation with the warring sectarian factions. That would then allow the U.S. to begin withdrawing troops.
Odierno said he believes that about 80 percent of the enemy fighters — including key Sunni insurgent groups and Shiite militia — could be brought into the political process. The remainder, he said, are largely al-Qaida operatives who will have to captured or killed.
He cautioned that the process will be slow. And he repeatedly warned that he may need more time to determine if the military buildup ordered by U.S. President George W. Bush earlier this year has begun to work.
He said he will provide his report in September as required.
"The assessment might be I've seen enough and it's effective, or I've seen enough and it's not going to be effective," said Odierno. "Right now if you asked me, I would tell you I'll probably need a little bit more time to do a true assessment."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was visiting the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, said Thursday that he expects commanders to begin evaluating the buildup by the end of the summer and he will provide an interim report due to Congress in July.
"I don't think the goalposts have changed really at all," he said, when asked about Odierno's comments.
Odierno added that as the final units of the troop buildup move into Iraq, it may take them up to two months to "really get a feel for their sectors, so they truly can have an impact on security and stability in their area."
Complicating matters, he said, is that the enemy knows about the September deadline and is likely to increase the violence during the next few months in an effort to push the U.S. out.
"They understand that if things aren't going well, a recommendation might be made to reduce our force presence here in Iraq," said Odierno. "So in my mind, of course they're going to try to do that."
Noting that May has been a particularly deadly month for U.S. troops — at least 122 have been killed — Odierno said the recent surge in violence may be part of that effort.
One key area is the Diyala province, where commanders are working to boost U.S. troop levels. There, Odierno said, insurgents have had time to build bigger roadside bombs, bury them more deeply, and use them to set up their own security perimeters.
"Some of them have been somewhat effective, which has raised our death toll," said Odierno. "We are working very hard to counter this. ... I have confidence that we'll be able to do that over time. But it's going to be some hard sledding here."
There are currently about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, including some of the final 8,000 in the Bush-ordered buildup that are now moving into their assigned battle spaces. The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit is probably headed to Anbar Province, while the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division will probably be stationed around Baghdad. The 3rd Aviation Combat Brigade is also moving into Iraq.
In other comments, Odierno mapped out some signs of progress he is seeing in Iraq.
He said efforts to engage tribal leaders in Anbar — who have been turning against al-Qaida there — have helped cut violence and draw people to serve in the Iraqi security forces in record numbers. Attacks in Anbar totaled 811 in May 2006, but this month are a bit more than 400. In Ramadi there were 254 attacks in May 2006, compared with 30 this month, he said.
In addition, he said that troops aided by Iraqi tips have uncovered 2,400 weapons caches in Iraq so far this year, including 441 in Baghdad alone. In all of last year they found 2,600 caches, and just 266 in Baghdad.
Odierno said successful operations are often lost in the blur of the latest roadside bomb or bridge explosion. And despite the spike in violence in May, he said the overall number of civilian and sectarian deaths have dropped from their January levels.
"We spent so much time on that (violence), we don't realize that there are many other things going on," he said. "We've made small progress here. We have not made the progress that I think is necessary yet, but I hope over the summer that we will continue to make progress."
LinkIraqi gunmen kill Qaeda's Fallujah leader
Paul Schemm
AFP
June 2, 2007
BAGHDAD -- UPDATED: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a local Al Qaeda leader in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah Saturday, police said, as fighting between rival Sunni factions undermined the insurgency.
The apparent assassination of the militant kingpin came as the US military announced that marines and Iraqi security forces had killed seven Al Qaeda fighters in a gunbattle during an assault which led to a truck bomb factory being destroyed.
Both incidents appeared to be linked to increased cooperation between Sunni factions, once sympathetic to the Iraqi resistance, and the US military, which is encouraging nationalist factions to fight Al Qaeda.
Colonel Tareq Al Dulaimi, a senior police intelligence officer with close ties to Anbar Province's pro-US tribal coalition, confirmed reports that Muwaffaq Al Jugheifi had been killed but did not identify the attackers.
Dulaimi described the slain Al Qaeda leader as an Iraqi from Fallujah.
A police captain, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Militants riding in two civilian cars opened fire on Al Jugheifi and his group Saturday morning as they left the Abu Ayyub Al Ansari mosque."
"I can confirm that we know of Muwaffaq, he is known to be behind numerous crimes, including kidnapping," Major Jeff Pool, spokesman for Fallujah's US marines, said, without confirming his death.
Fallujah is currently at the center of a large-scale security operation in which Iraqi police and tribal levies, backed by US forces, are attempting to drive Al Qaeda's Islamist militants out of the town.
Saturday's killing came after the Anbar Salvation Council, the armed wing of the province's tribal coalition, announced that it was sending plainclothes "secret police" to Baghdad to kill Al Qaeda leaders.
The council, whose fighters include thousands of former insurgents, has fallen out with Al Qaeda and thrown its lot in with US forces. It has sent gunmen to join the Iraqi police and pro-US tribal levies.
Earlier this week, fighting erupted in west Baghdad between nationalist Sunni militants and Al Qaeda, triggering fierce street battles.
Also Saturday, Iraqi police and soldiers and US marines killed seven Al Qaeda militants in the attack on a Fallujah truck bomb factory.
Acting on a tip from a local source, the joint assault squad stormed the workshop shortly after sunrise, triggering a two-hour gunbattle with a force of militants, some of them wearing suicide bomb vests.
One of the bomb vests exploded when marines from the 6th Marine Regiment opened fire on five suspected Al Qaeda members fleeing the scene, a statement from the US military in Fallujah said.
In all, seven suspects were killed and eight were captured. There were no Iraqi or coalition casualties, and two trucks rigged as suicide bombs were destroyed in controlled explosions, the statement added.
Meanwhile, Pool reported another operation in the northeast of the lawless city, where marines and Iraqi security forces closed off a district, searched for militants and recruited local men into another levy.
"The operation cleared the section of the city of known insurgents and the combined force installed barriers to limit access," he said.
"Police recruited from among the community a neighborhood watch to screen those wanting to enter."
Three children were also reported killed Friday, when a US tank opened fire on men believed to be installing a roadside bomb on a highway just south of the city. The men escaped and three children were later found dead at the scene.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, the western neighborhood of Amiriyah was relatively quiet for a second day following two days of fierce clashes between Al Qaeda, rival nationalist insurgent groups, tribal forces, and US forces.
Residents described Wednesday and Thursday's fighting as an effort to rid the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of some unwelcome Qaeda fighters.
The fighting mirrors the situation in western Iraq where Sunni armed groups, who were formerly largely opposed to the US-led occupation, are turning against Al Qaeda and its pan-Islamist ambitions.
US forces have recently confirmed that they are actively seeking to work with what they dub "reconcilable" nationalist insurgent movements, which are mostly led by ex-military officers and Baathists.
In a sign of alarm at this development, Al Qaeda issued an Internet statement calling on insurgent groups to cease their internecine clashes and decreed that "participation in sedition was illegal."
North of the capital, police accused Al Qaeda of blowing up a key highway bridge on the road to the northern oil hub of Kirkuk.
"Gunmen bombed this strategic and important bridge and caused a great deal of damage, cutting the road between Kirkuk and Baghdad," said Colonel Abbas Mohammed Amin, chief of police in Tuz Khurmatu.
The 500-metre Sarha bridge crosses the Al Adham river, a seasonal waterway that flows out of the remote Himreen hills, an insurgent hotbed around 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Baghdad.
Finally some good news.
