Re: Baghdad security plan 'failing'

["Petem" <petem001@xxxxxxxxx>]

here we go again....


"Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx> a écrit dans le message de news:
7dSdnUiWzcGk06XYnZ2dnUVZ_tWdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> The US military has said a security initiative aimed at reducing violence
> in Baghdad has failed to meet expectations and is being reviewed. Military
> spokesman Maj. Gen William Caldwell said there had been a "disheartening"
> 22% rise in attacks in Baghdad since the end of last month. His comments
> came as a wave of bombings across Iraq killed at least 41 people.
>
> President George W Bush has said the surge in Iraq may be equivalent to
> the US experience in the Vietnam War. Mr. Bush acknowledged that the
> escalation of violence "could be" comparable to the 1968 Tet Offensive
> against US troops, which helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam
> War. But, speaking on ABC News, Mr. Bush denied that the rising number of
> Iraqi and US military deaths in Iraq meant the campaign there was failing.
>
> Deadly month
>
> Launched in June, Operation Together Forward is a joint US and Iraqi
> security drive in which thousands of extra troops have been deployed in
> Baghdad. The operation was seen as key to asserting the authority of the
> Iraqi government over all of the capital and eventually the rest of the
> country, paving the way for the withdrawal of US forces. But Gen Caldwell
> said attacks on US troops and Iraqi forces in Baghdad has risen
> significantly in the first three weeks of the Muslim holy month of
> Ramadan, which began in the last week of September.
>
> "Operation Together Forward has made a difference in the focus areas but
> it has not met our overall expectations of sustaining a reduction in...
> violence," he said. Gen Caldwell said 73 US soldiers had been killed so
> far in October, which was heading towards becoming the deadliest month for
> US forces in Iraq for two years.
>
> The senior US commander in Iraq, Gen George Casey, has now ordered a
> review of the strategy. The gloomy assessment by the US military will add
> to growing pressure on the Bush administration for some shift in strategy
> in Iraq, says the BBC's James Westhead in Washington.
>
> But the White House dismissed reports that it was preparing for a change
> of course, with spokesman Tony Snow describing them as a "bunch of hooey".
>
> Curfew
>
> The US comments came on another day of violence in Iraq. In Mosul in the
> north there were six separate suicide bomb attacks on Thursday alone. In
> the deadliest attack, an explosives-laden fuel lorry blew up at a police
> station in the city. Civilians bore the brunt of the attack, as many of
> the casualties were motorists waiting to buy fuel at a nearby petrol
> station.
>
> Shortly after the blast, insurgents fired mortars and small arms and
> triggered more explosions in Mosul, killing at least three more people.
> The violence prompted authorities to impose a six-hour curfew until calm
> was restored.
>
> Correspondents say Mosul has witnessed a recent escalation of violence,
> with Sunni Arab insurgents battling US troops and the Shia-led government
> in Baghdad. Attackers also struck in Kirkuk, killing 12 more people and
> wounding 70 when a car bomber targeted a crowded bank. The blast tore
> though a crowd of soldiers who had gathered there to collect their
> salaries.
>
> Elsewhere, at least 10 people were killed when a roadside bomb ripped
> through the Shia market town of Khalis. Meanwhile, police in Baghdad said
> at least two officers and two passers-by were killed in the south of the
> city after a double roadside bomb attack on a police patrol.
>
>
>