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Nine troops killed in Iraq; Maliki appeals for time

Iraq's armed services aren't ready to serve alone, the leader says.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 11, 2007

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military reported the deaths of nine soldiers Monday - including seven killed in a vehicle accident - and Iraq's prime minister said the nation's armed forces were not ready to fight without American help.

The statements - more Pentagon death notices and appeals for more time from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - echoed some of the key struggles in Washington as lawmakers began long-awaited hearings on U.S. strategies in Iraq.

Among the core issues is whether Iraq's leadership is moving fast enough at political reconciliation and assuming security responsibilities while U.S. troop deaths have risen to at least 3,772 in the 41/2-year war.

Maliki told Iraq's Parliament that the American military is still needed despite what he described as a sharp drop in violence in the Baghdad area since President Bush ordered nearly 30,000 extra troops to Iraq this year.

"We still need more efforts and time in order for our armed forces to be able to take over security in all Iraqi provinces from the multinational forces that helped us a great deal in fighting terrorism and outlaws," Maliki said just hours before U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the top commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, began their statements on Capitol Hill.

Petraeus said he envisions gradually scaling back the U.S. troop strength in Iraq to about 130,000 by next summer - roughly the number before the U.S. surge earlier this year.

In western Baghdad, seven U.S. soldiers were killed in a vehicle accident that also claimed the lives of two detainees, the military said. Eleven soldiers from Multinational Division-Baghdad and one detainee were also injured in the west Baghdad accident, the military said without giving further details.

A U.S. spokesman, Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, said all the victims were traveling in the same vehicle.

Another U.S. soldier was killed and two were injured when their vehicle overturned east of the capital, the military said in a statement. The military also said a soldier died Sunday of wounds suffered in fighting near Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

Maliki, a Shiite, said violence had dropped 75 percent in the Baghdad area since stepped-up military operations began in the capital Feb. 14 - although he offered no detailed figures.

He also said his government had kept the country from descending into all-out Sunni-Shiite civil war after the wave of sectarian bloodletting last year.

In his address to Parliament, Maliki said his Cabinet had finalized a draft bill to allow thousands of former Saddam Hussein supporters to serve in government posts - a major demand of the Sunnis and one of the 18 benchmarks demanded by Washington.

[Last modified September 11, 2007, 01:19:35]