A U.S. general said on Thursday guerrillas were only a
"sporadic threat" in Iraq as a surge of violence by insurgents in the volatile
Sunni triangle region around Baghdad killed nine people.
The daughter and
mother of Najia Adam Shabu, who was killed when unidentified assailants
opened fire on a minibus in which she was traveling in Fallujah, Iraq ,
bury her at a cemetery in Baghdad Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004.
[AP]
Two American soldiers were among those
killed in three separate attacks, the most deadly of which was an ambush on a
bus carrying Iraqi women home from work at a military base west of the capital.
Four women were killed and six hurt in the bus attack on Wednesday in
Falluja, a hotbed of resistance 30 miles west of Baghdad. On Thursday two
policeman and a civilian were killed in an attack on an Iraqi police post near
the town.
The American soldiers were killed in a mortar attack on a military base near
Baquba, north of Baghdad, late on Wednesday.
Army Major-General Raymond Odierno, who commands the 4th Infantry Division
which is based in Tikrit in the heart of the Sunni triangle, said the Iraqi
resistance forces have been "brought to their knees."
Odierno, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon by video conference, said they
"are still a threat, but a fractured sporadic threat with the leadership
destabilized, finances interdicted and no hope of the Baathists return to
power."
"I believe within six months, I think you're going to see some normalcy," he
added.
Odierno said the number of guerrilla attacks against U.S. forces have
declined significantly since peaking in November.
But security in Iraq remains precarious. On Sunday, at least 25 people were
killed in a suicide car bomb attack at the headquarters of the U.S.-led
administration in Baghdad.
On Thursday, a Spanish Civil Guard police commander was shot in the head and
seriously wounded in an operation against "members of a terrorist group," and
two people were killed by rocket-propelled grenades at an office of the Iraqi
Communist Party in Baghdad.
Since the United States invaded Iraq in March to topple Saddam Hussein, 505
U.S. soldiers have died in the country, 349 of them in combat.
IRAQI ANGER
The growing number of civilian deaths is stoking bitter resentment as U.S.
troops struggle to improve security before an American plan to hand over power
to Iraqis by July 1.
"Look what the Americans do. Look at all these bullet holes. All of this talk
about elections and stability is empty," said Musa Ali, staring at the damage
inflicted by U.S. troops after they shot dead two civilians in the flashpoint
town of Falluja.
Facing a mounting death toll and spiralling financial costs of occupation,
Washington wants to hand back sovereignty to an Iraqi government some four
months before the U.S. presidential election.
But the U.S. plan has been criticized by Iraq's most revered Shi'ite Muslim
cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, because it does not allow for direct elections
until 2005.
The United Nations is considering sending a team to Iraq to investigate
whether earlier elections are possible, a move Washington hopes will soothe
anger over its political road map.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviser on Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi,
held talks with senior White House officials on Thursday. U.S. officials are
pressing him to lead the U.N. team in Iraq, but so far he has resisted the role.
A spokesman for the U.S. administration in Iraq said there were doubts
whether fair elections could be organized in the time available.
"It's difficult, based on the analysis we have received, that direct
elections can be legitimate in such a short period of time," said Dan Senor,
referring to the time left to appoint a transitional assembly that will name a
government.
Allies of Sistani have said he would respect the U.N. recommendations,
although near-daily demonstrations for direct elections by his followers might
take on a life of their own.
A senior U.N. official said in New York the world body basically agreed with
the Bush administration. "There is a perception that early elections tend to
favor extremists rather than the moderates," he said.
DEBT LIFELINE
A financial wreck after three wars in 15 years and years of sanctions, Iraq
was handed a financial lifeline on Thursday when the World Bank said indications
were most of its foreign debt of US$120 billion would be written off.
The United States sees relieving Iraq of its debt as key to reviving the
oil-rich country's economy and Washington's special envoy James Baker has
visited Europe, Japan, China and the Middle East in search of ways to reduce the
burden.
"I talked to him the other day. It looks as though most of the players are
prepared to consider a write-off of 66 2/3 (per cent) of the debt," World Bank
President James Wolfensohn told CNBC television in the Swiss ski resort of
Davos, where the World Economic Forum is holding its annual meeting.
