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New commander optimistic as he takes the helm

By WASHINGTON POST
Published February 11, 2007

BAGHDAD - Gen. David Petraeus, assuming his position as the new U.S. military commander in Iraq, said Saturday that the "rucksack of responsibility" was too heavy to carry alone there and that without cooperation between Iraqi and U.S. forces, "Iraq will be doomed to continued violence and civil strife."

During a handover ceremony below the crystal chandelier and marble columns in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces, Petraeus characterized the challenges facing Iraq as daunting but said "these tasks are achievable, this mission is doable." Promoted to the rank of full four-star general, Petraeus will lead a growing U.S. force of more than 130,000 troops in Iraq in an attempt to contain the sectarian killing, especially in violence-racked Baghdad.

"The situation in Iraq is exceedingly challenging, the stakes are very high, the way ahead will be hard and undoubtedly there will be many tough days," Petraeus said in a five-and-a-half minute address to a gathering of Iraqi and U.S. generals, ambassadors and other officers and dignitaries at Camp Victory on the western outskirts of Baghdad. "However, hard is not hopeless."

Petraeus, 54, a Princeton-educated military man who previously served as the commander of the 101st Airborne Division in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, and also led the U.S. military effort to train Iraqi soldiers, succeeds Gen. George Casey, who will return to Washington as U.S. Army chief of staff after serving two-and-a-half years in the top position here. Casey has been criticized for riding the inchoate Iraqi security forces too hard toward self-sufficiency. Petraeus, an expert in counter-insurgency tactics, is expected to rely on a more visible U.S. presence, sending troops to live on smaller outposts within embattled Iraqi neighborhoods.

During the brief but formal handover ceremony, an Army band with the 1st Cavalry Division played the Iraqi and U.S. national anthems, and Army Gen. John Abizaid, the outgoing Central Command chief, passed a military flag to Petraeus.

Car bombs kill at least 14 people in Baghdad

At least two car bombs exploded Saturday in Baghdad, killing at least 14 people, Iraqi police said. The first bomb struck outside a bakery in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada, killing seven people and wounding 13, said Brig. Abdulla Hassoun of the Interior Ministry.

A second bomb in a parked car exploded outside a government communication center in Khamliyah, in eastern Baghdad, killing seven people and injuring nine, said Maj. Abdul Aziz Abdul Kareem of the Interior Ministry.

Military says troops killed civilian driver

The U.S. military confirmed Saturday that U.S. forces at Camp Anaconda, the huge air base north of Baghdad, shot and killed a civilian contract truck driver.

Melissa Norcross, a spokeswoman for KBR, a contracting subsidiary of Halliburton that was formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, said the shooting was under investigation.

Norcross said the company was not releasing the name of the dead driver or a second person in the truck who was wounded.

3 U.S. soldiers killed in bomb blast

Three U.S. soldiers died Friday when explosives detonated inside a building in Diyala province north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement Saturday.

The three soldiers were hunting for a weapons cache in the building at the time of the blast, the statement said. Four other soldiers were wounded in the explosion.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

[Last modified February 11, 2007, 01:42:14]