[NYTr] US Admits Iraqi Resistance Is Getting Better

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via the Houston Chronicle - Jul 26, 2007
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/5000680.html

U.S.: Attackers in Iraq have improved aim

By Hamid Ahmed
Associated Press

Baghdad - The U.S. military has noted a "significant improvement" in the aim
of attackers firing rockets and mortars into the heavily fortified Green
Zone in the past three months that it has linked to training in Iran, a top
commander said today.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top day-to-day U.S. commander in Iraq, also
expressed cautious optimism over a decline in the number of American troops
killed this month. At least 60 U.S. troops have died so far in July after
the death toll topped 100 for the previous three months, according to an
Associated Press tally based on military statements.

Odierno said it appeared that casualties had increased as fresh U.S. forces
expanded operations into militant strongholds as part of the five-month-old
security operation aimed at clamping off violence in the capital, but were
going down as the Americans gained control of the areas.

"We've started to see a slow but gradual reduction in casualties and it
continues in July," he said at a joint news conference with Iraqi military
commander Maj. Gen. Abboud Qanbar. "It's an initial positive sign, but I
would argue we need a bit more time to make an assessment whether it's a
true trend."

Iraqis in Baghdad swept up debris from bloodstained pavement, a day after
two suicide bombings killed at least 50 cheering, dancing, flag-waving
Iraqis celebrating the national soccer team's semifinal victory in the Asian
Cup tournament.

The attacks bore the hallmarks of Sunni militants who have fueled the
violence tearing at the fragile fabric of Iraq for nearly four years. But
these bombings, in parked cars less than an hour apart in separate corners
of Baghdad, appeared designed to gain attention rather than target a
particular sect.

An ice cream parlor was the backdrop for the first attack on Wednesday,
charring the interior of the corner store in the predominantly Sunni Mansour
neighborhood in west Baghdad. At least 30 people were killed and 75 wounded,
according to the Interior Ministry.

The second suicide car bombing took place in the midst of dozens of vehicles
filled with revelers near an Iraqi army checkpoint in the eastern district
of Ghadeer, where an uneasy mix of Sunnis, Shiites and Christians live. At
least 20 people died and nearly 60 were wounded, the ministry said.

The Iraqi commander blamed the bombings on terrorists and Sunni extremists
upset with the unity on display as people of all religious backgrounds
celebrated the win.

"But our people have proved to the world that they are unified no matter
what terrorism does, and it was proven that terrorism has no religion and is
the enemy to all people and the enemy of humankind," Qanbar said.

Violence also struck Iraqi security forces today, with a roadside bomb
targeting a police patrol on the road between Hillah and Diwaniyah, killing
five officers and wounding two as they were on their way home from an
operation with U.S. forces, police said. Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of
Baghdad, has been the site of heavy clashes between U.S.-Iraqi security
forces and Shiite militia fighters.

Odierno said networks continue to smuggle powerful roadside bombs and
mortars across the border from Iran despite Tehran's assertions that it
supports stability in Iraq.

His remarks came two days after the U.S. and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq met
in Baghdad and agreed to establish a security committee to jointly address
the violence amid Washington's allegations that Tehran is fueling the
violence by support Shiite militias. Odierno said the military also believes
training of extremists is being conducted in Iran.

"One of the reasons why we're sitting down with the Iranian government ...
is trying to solve some of these problems," Odierno said at a news
conference in the Green Zone, which is home to the U.S. Embassy and the
Iraqi government headquarters.

"We have seen in the last three months a significant improvement in the
capability of mortarmen and rocketeers to provide accurate fires into the
Green Zone and other places and we think this is directly related to
training that is conducted in Iran," Odierno said. "So we continue to go
after these networks with the Iraqi security forces."

Iran has denied the U.S. allegations about its activities in Iraq.

Attacks against the sprawling complex along the Tigris River in the center
of Baghdad have increased in recent months, adding to the concern over the
safety of key Iraqi and international officials and thousands of U.S.
soldiers and contractors who live and work there.

On July 10, a barrage of more than a dozen mortars or rockets struck the
area, killing at least three people, including an American, and wounding 18.
In a report last month, the United Nations office in Baghdad said the
"threat of indirect fire" - meaning rockets and mortars - into the Green
Zone had increased, adding that the barrages had become "increasingly
concentrated and accurate."

In political developments, Iraq's Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi's office
said the moderate Sunni leader had met with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker on
Wednesday to discuss his political bloc's objections to the leadership of
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"The vice president confirmed that the absence of collective leadership and
actual participation in running the country is one of the obstacles facing
the political process in the country and that stands against reaching
agreements ... on key laws," al-Hashemi's office said in a statement.

The meeting occurred on the same day al-Hashemi's Iraqi Accordance Front,
which includes two hardline partners, suspended membership in the
government, a bid that appeared timed to deepen disenchantment in Washington
with the Shiite prime minister's faltering leadership.

The Iraqi Accordance Front, which has six Cabinet seats and 44 of 275 in
parliament, gave al-Maliki a week to meet its demands or see ministers quit
the 14-month-old government. Al-Maliki faces intense scrutiny in Washington,
where Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Crocker are
required to report to Congress by Sept. 15 on progress in Iraq.

[Associated Press Writer Bushra Juhi in Baghdad contributed to this
report.]