[NYTr] Iraq suicide attacks again on rise

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Steven L. Robinson - activ-l

LA Times via San Jose Mercury News - Dec 29, 2007
http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_7842565?nclick_check=1

Iraq suicide attacks again on rise

By Tina Susman and Alexandra Zavis
Staff Writers, Los Angeles Times

Baghdad - Although overall violence in Iraq has dropped to levels not
seen consistently since the summer of 2005, suicide bombings appear to
be making a comeback, according to figures released today by the top
U.S. commander in Iraq.

Iraq's leader, meanwhile, flew to London today for what an aide said
was a routine medical checkup. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, who has
faced increasing criticism for presiding over a paralyzed government,
decided to take advantage of the recent ebb in violence to make the
trip and was expected back within days, said Yasin Majeed, a media
advisor.

The number of high-profile bombings, a trademark of Sunni Arab
insurgents, has dropped 60% from a peak of more than 120 in March, Gen.
David Petraeus told reporters. The most noticeable drop was in remotely
detonated car bombs, according to a chart he presented at the briefing.

But suicide attacks using explosive vests and car bombs began to inch
back up in November and December. At least 24 people were killed and as
many as 100 injured in two suicide bombings on Christmas Day.

Despite six months of reduced bloodshed, U.S. commanders have been
cautious about making overly optimistic predictions, noting that
insurgents remain capable of staging major attacks.

"Progress is of course tenuous, and it could be reversed," Petraeus
said.

The U.S. command credits the drop in violence to a 28,500-U.S. troop
buildup, a cease-fire declared by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr
and the decision of tens of thousands of Sunni tribesmen to fight the
extremists they once backed.

Petraeus also noted that Iraq's neighbors were helping to reduce the
flow of foreign fighters into the country and singled out Syria as
having "taken actions that really are quite significant." He was more
cautious about crediting Iran, saying he hoped Tehran lived up to its
promises to curb the flow of weapons, fighters and funding to Iraqi
militants.

Petraeus underscored that the progress achieved in 2007 had created new
challenges, which he said would need to be tackled as U.S. forces draw
down to pre-surge levels in 2008.

Encouraged by the reduced violence, some Iraqis have started trickling
back home in recent months. But Petraeus warned that the government
would need to come up with a strategy to deal with cases in which their
homes had been destroyed or taken over by others.

"These are not situations we can resolve," he said of U.S.-led forces.
"I think this is just going to remain a very, very tough issue for some
time, and it's one that Iraqis, as the security situation continues to
improve, are going to have to come to grips with more and more."

Petraeus reiterated that progress in security had not been matched on
the political front, where leaders of Iraq's main ethnic and sectarian
factions remain deadlocked on key power-sharing laws. Among the
legislation that parliament must consider when it reconvenes Sunday are
laws governing the distribution of oil proceeds and easing employment
restrictions on members of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime.

U.S. and Iraqi officials must also work out what to do with the more
than 70,000 Iraqi volunteers now helping to secure their local areas.

Iraq's Shiite-led government has been slow to embrace the volunteers,
who include former insurgents, fearing that they could turn their guns
against the authorities when U.S. forces are no longer there to
supervise them.

The U.S. military currently pays most of them about $10 a day, but
these are temporary arrangements. With fewer than 25% of the volunteers
expected to qualify to join the official security forces, U.S. and
Iraqi officials are trying to hammer out a job creation and training
program. Both sides have committed $155 million to the process, U.S.
Ambassador Ryan Crocker told reporters recently.

In other developments today, U.S.-led forces killed three suspects and
detained 34 others in operations targeting Sunni insurgents north of
Tikrit, west of Tarmiya and in the northern city of Mosul, the military
said in a statement. Six suspected Shiite militants were detained in
southern Iraq.

Gunmen also shot and killed a policeman riding on a motorbike south of
Baghdad.