lily
12-19-2006, 12:33 AM
Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16272847/)
Iraq attacks at highest level in two years
Weekly average number close to 1,000, Pentagon report says
NBC News and news services
Updated: 13 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops and Iraqi civilians jumped
sharply in recent months to the highest level since Iraq regained its
sovereignty in June 2004, the Pentagon told Congress on Monday in the latest
indication of that country’s spiraling violence.
In a report issued the same day Robert Gates took over as defense secretary,
the Pentagon said that from mid-August to mid-November, the weekly average
number of attacks increased 22 percent from the previous three months.
At a ceremonial swearing-in attended by President Bush, Gates warned that
failure in Iraq would be a “calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our
credibility and endanger Americans for decades to come.” He said he intended
to go to Iraq soon to get the “unvarnished” advice of U.S. commanders on how
to stabilize the country.
American casualties also rise
According to the Pentagon report, the worst violence from August to November
was in Baghdad and in the western province of Anbar, long the focus of
activity by Sunni insurgents.
U.S. commanders moved several thousand more U.S. troops into Baghdad last
summer in a bid to tamp down the bloodshed. The move worked briefly, but the
violence rebounded.
A bar chart in the Pentagon’s report to Congress gave no exact numbers but
indicated the weekly average had approached 1,000 in the latest period,
compared to about 800 per week from the May-to-August period. Statistics
provided separately by the Pentagon said weekly attacks had averaged 959 in
the latest period.
American casualties, dead and wounded, rose from 19 to 25 per day, up 32
percent in the last three months.
For the first time, Shiite militants were blamed for more murders and
executions than Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida. The report also said Iraqi
police were complicit in the slaughter, allowing Shiite death squads to move
freely and warning them of upcoming U.S. military operations.
Iraqis lose confidence in future
The report said the Iraqi government’s failure to end sectarian violence has
eroded ordinary Iraqis’ confidence in their future. That conclusion reflects
some of the Bush administration’s doubt about the ability of Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki to make the hard decisions U.S. officials insist are needed
to quell the violence.
“The failure of the government to implement concrete actions in these areas
has contributed to a situation in which, as of October 2006, there were more
Iraqis who expressed a lack of confidence in their government’s ability to
improve the situation than there were in July 2006,” it said, calling for
urgent action in Baghdad.
Issued just hours after Gates took the oath of office to replace Donald H.
Rumsfeld, and amid an effort by the Bush administration to find a new war
strategy, the report made no mention of a timetable for ending U.S. military
involvement.
It said that as security conditions permit and the Iraqi army and police
become more capable, U.S. forces will move out of the cities, reduce the
number of bases from which they operate and conduct fewer visible patrols.
That has been the basic strategy for some time, but it has not been fully
implemented because of the explosion in sectarian killings this year and
disappointments in the pace of developing Iraqi security forces.
The development of an Iraqi army and police is making progress, the report
said, but much remains to be done.
It said, for example, that the goal of training and equipping an Iraqi army
of about 137,000 soldiers is 98 percent completed, although it also noted
that far fewer troops are actually available for duty on any given day due
to absenteeism, casualties, desertions and leaves of absence.
Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the plans and strategy chief for the Joint Chiefs,
told reporters Monday that of the approximately 322,000 Iraqi troops and
police now trained and equipped, only about 280,000 are available for duty.
Iraq attacks at highest level in two years
Weekly average number close to 1,000, Pentagon report says
NBC News and news services
Updated: 13 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops and Iraqi civilians jumped
sharply in recent months to the highest level since Iraq regained its
sovereignty in June 2004, the Pentagon told Congress on Monday in the latest
indication of that country’s spiraling violence.
In a report issued the same day Robert Gates took over as defense secretary,
the Pentagon said that from mid-August to mid-November, the weekly average
number of attacks increased 22 percent from the previous three months.
At a ceremonial swearing-in attended by President Bush, Gates warned that
failure in Iraq would be a “calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our
credibility and endanger Americans for decades to come.” He said he intended
to go to Iraq soon to get the “unvarnished” advice of U.S. commanders on how
to stabilize the country.
American casualties also rise
According to the Pentagon report, the worst violence from August to November
was in Baghdad and in the western province of Anbar, long the focus of
activity by Sunni insurgents.
U.S. commanders moved several thousand more U.S. troops into Baghdad last
summer in a bid to tamp down the bloodshed. The move worked briefly, but the
violence rebounded.
A bar chart in the Pentagon’s report to Congress gave no exact numbers but
indicated the weekly average had approached 1,000 in the latest period,
compared to about 800 per week from the May-to-August period. Statistics
provided separately by the Pentagon said weekly attacks had averaged 959 in
the latest period.
American casualties, dead and wounded, rose from 19 to 25 per day, up 32
percent in the last three months.
For the first time, Shiite militants were blamed for more murders and
executions than Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida. The report also said Iraqi
police were complicit in the slaughter, allowing Shiite death squads to move
freely and warning them of upcoming U.S. military operations.
Iraqis lose confidence in future
The report said the Iraqi government’s failure to end sectarian violence has
eroded ordinary Iraqis’ confidence in their future. That conclusion reflects
some of the Bush administration’s doubt about the ability of Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki to make the hard decisions U.S. officials insist are needed
to quell the violence.
“The failure of the government to implement concrete actions in these areas
has contributed to a situation in which, as of October 2006, there were more
Iraqis who expressed a lack of confidence in their government’s ability to
improve the situation than there were in July 2006,” it said, calling for
urgent action in Baghdad.
Issued just hours after Gates took the oath of office to replace Donald H.
Rumsfeld, and amid an effort by the Bush administration to find a new war
strategy, the report made no mention of a timetable for ending U.S. military
involvement.
It said that as security conditions permit and the Iraqi army and police
become more capable, U.S. forces will move out of the cities, reduce the
number of bases from which they operate and conduct fewer visible patrols.
That has been the basic strategy for some time, but it has not been fully
implemented because of the explosion in sectarian killings this year and
disappointments in the pace of developing Iraqi security forces.
The development of an Iraqi army and police is making progress, the report
said, but much remains to be done.
It said, for example, that the goal of training and equipping an Iraqi army
of about 137,000 soldiers is 98 percent completed, although it also noted
that far fewer troops are actually available for duty on any given day due
to absenteeism, casualties, desertions and leaves of absence.
Lt. Gen. John Sattler, the plans and strategy chief for the Joint Chiefs,
told reporters Monday that of the approximately 322,000 Iraqi troops and
police now trained and equipped, only about 280,000 are available for duty.