WORLD / Middle East
Iraq PM urges start to Baghdad crackdown
(AP)
Updated: 2007-02-07 10:11
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki complained Tuesday the
long-awaited Baghdad security operation was off to a slow start and
warned that insurgents are taking advantage of the delay to kill as many
people as possible.
An Iraqi army soldier mans a machine gun as he controls traffic on a
vehicle checkpoint near Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Iraq,
Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007. [AP]
But he also reassured Iraqis that security forces will live up to their
responsibilities.
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The statement came as new checkpoints were erected and increased vehicle
inspections and foot patrols were reported in some neighborhoods -
providing the main evidence so far that US and Iraqi forces were gearing
up for a major neighborhood-to-neighborhood sweep to quell sectarian
violence in the city of 6 million.
Underscoring the dangers as the US augments its force by 21,500 as part
of the plan, the US military announced the deaths of two more troops,
including a soldier who was killed Tuesday by small arms fire at a
security post southwest of Baghdad, and a Marine who died Monday in Anbar
province, west of the capital.
At least 51 Iraqis also were killed or found dead around the country,
including eight slain by two car bombs in Baghdad.
"The operations will unite us and we will take action soon, God willing,
even though I believe we've been very late and this delay has started to
give a negative message," al-Maliki said in a meeting with military
commanders shown on state TV. "I hope that more efforts will be exerted
and more speed exerted in carrying out and achieving all the preparations
to start the operations."
Al-Maliki urged his commanders to step up efforts to complete the
preparations for the security plan, saying the delays had allowed
insurgents to step up attacks that have killed hundreds in recent weeks.
"I say again, we have talked much about the operations, and while the
Iraqis are waiting and waiting, the terrorists in turn have raised the
level of the bombing operations and started killing people in mass
numbers," the prime minister told his commanders, urging them to step up
efforts to complete the preparations. "Our slogan should be 'rest is
prohibited, especially for military men, and day and night should merge
in working to achieve victory.'"
"We should carry out the operation in good time and should not delay,
because the delay will be used against us by the enemies ... and those
who are afraid of them," he added.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the increase in US forces in Iraq is
"not the last chance" to succeed and conceded he was considering what
steps to take if the buildup fails.
"I would be irresponsible if I weren't thinking about what the
alternatives might be," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Gates said the operation was to have started Monday. "It's probably going
to slip a few days, and it's probably going to be a rolling
implementation," he said.
In other violence, Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled bodies of 33
people - 19 in Baghdad - apparent victims of sectarian death squads.
The Shiite-led Iraqi government has pledged to go after the mainly Shiite
militias largely blamed for such killings as well as Sunni insurgents
suspected in most of the bombings, including a suicide attack on a
Baghdad food market Saturday that killed at least 137 people.
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