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Baghdad to get U.S. boost

With security worsening in Iraq's capital, President Bush provides assurances and more American troops for the city.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 26, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday a new plan to increase U.S. and Iraqi forces in the besieged capital of Baghdad will help quell rising violence that threatens Iraq's transformation to a self-sustaining democracy.

"Obviously the violence in Baghdad is still terrible and therefore there needs to be more troops," Bush said in a White House news conference with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Bush said improved military conditions outside Baghdad will make it possible to move U.S. military police and other forces to the capital, where an estimated 100 people a day are being killed. The crimes, blamed largely on sectarian death squads, usually go unsolved.

Many of the death squads are believed to be associated with either Sunni or Shiite armed groups, targeting rival sect members as part of a struggle for power.

On Tuesday, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers captured six members of an alleged death squad in Baghdad, though it was not clear whether they were Sunnis or Shiites. Attacks elsewhere in Iraq left at least 34 people dead - including an American soldier assigned to the 43rd Military Police Brigade.

Maliki, on his first trip to the United States since becoming prime minister two months ago, said he and Bush agreed that training and better arming Iraqi forces, particularly in Baghdad, was central to stabilizing the country.

"And, God willing, there will be no civil war in Iraq," Maliki said.

Bush said that Maliki asked for more military equipment from the United States and had recommended increasing U.S. and Iraqi forces patrolling Baghdad neighborhoods. "And we're going to do that," Bush said.

The president did not say how many U.S. troops would be moved from other parts of Iraq, but Pentagon officials have suggested several thousands troops would be moved to Baghdad, including some now based in Kuwait. About two weeks ago, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that the number of Iraqi and U.S. troops in Baghdad had recently grown from 40,000 to 55,000. There are roughly 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

Asked if the tense situation in Baghdad would alter the equation for an eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces, Bush said troop level decisions will still be based on recommendations from military commanders in the field.

"Conditions change inside a country," Bush said. "Will we be able to deal with the circumstances on the ground? And the answer is, yes, we will."

Bush and Maliki met privately before the news conference to discuss strategy, then continued talks over lunch with a larger group that included Cabinet members and aides.

Maliki was clear in stating that "he does not want American troops to leave his country until his government can protect the Iraqi people," Bush said. "And I assured him that America will not abandon the Iraqi people."

Under the plan to beef up security in Baghdad, forces would comb neighborhoods to establish a police presence, "giving some reassurance to the population there that, in a way, the sheriff has arrived," Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.

Bush complimented Maliki for his courage and perseverance in the face of sectarian violence. Attacks have sapped political support for the war, in the United States and Iraq.

Maliki said the most important element of a security program is to curb religious violence.

U.S. officials believe control of Baghdad - the political, cultural and economic hub - will determine the future of Iraq.

[Last modified July 26, 2006, 01:37:38]