U.S. to Retain Anbar Presence for Now

06/26/2006

RAMADI, Iraq (AP) - An American commander has said U.S. forces likely would remain in the heart of rebellious Anbar province - the most dangerous region of Iraq - until sometime next year, even as the Bush administration on Monday was considering a plan that could cut the American military presence by about half within 18 months.

The central section of Anbar province, which contains the troubled provincial capital of Ramadi, is a haven for the Sunni-led insurgency. Much of Ramadi, Iraq’s largest Sunni Arab city with a population of 400,000, has gone unpatrolled by U.S. forces in recent months.

While two brigades of Iraqi soldiers have recently been introduced to central Anbar province, the U.S. commander of the area said last week that Americans would remain in charge for the foreseeable future. More than 5,000 U.S. forces are based in the area.

“I don’t think by this winter we’ll be quite ready to turn over completely” to Iraqi forces, said Army Col. Sean MacFarland, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division that oversees Ramadi and a stretch of farmland leading eastward for about 30 miles.


MacFarland’s comments were echoed in an interview published Monday in The New York Times with Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, who oversees Marines in the Middle East and Central Asia.

“I see no reductions in American forces in Anbar into next year, at least through next summer, because of the restiveness there,” Sattler was quoted as saying.

“Anbar is going to be one of the last provinces to be stabilized,” Sattler told the Times.

In a glimmer of hope for the region, a key Shiite legislator on Monday said seven Sunni Arab insurgent groups had contacted the government to declare their readiness to join efforts at national reconciliation.

The seven lesser groups, most of them believed populated by former members or backers of Saddam Hussein’s government, military or security agencies, have said they want a truce, Hassan al-Suneid, a lawmaker and member of the political bureau of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party, told The Associated Press.


The contact by the insurgent organizations, which could not be independently verified, would mark an important potential shift and could stand as evidence of a growing divide between Iraqi insurgents and the more brutal and ideological fighters of al-Qaida in Iraq, who are believed to mainly be non-Iraqi Islamic militants.

Al-Maliki was considering a possible meeting with leaders of the groups or contacts through intermediaries, al-Suneid said.

He identified only six of the seven organizations by name, listing them as the 1920 Revolution Brigades, the Mohammed Army, Abtal al-Iraq (Heroes of Iraq), the 9th of April Group, al-Fatah Brigades, and the Brigades of the General Command of the Armed Forces.

The 1920 Revolution Brigades operates primarily in Anbar province. It claims its operations have only been conducted against U.S. forces. They and other insurgents were said to have protected polling places against attacks by other insurgent groups in Anbar province during December parliamentary voting.

The Mohammed Army is made up of former members of Saddam’s Baath Party, members of his elite Republican Guards and former military commanders. It, too, has focused attacks on the U.S. military and played a role in the November 2004 battle for Fallujah.


Al-Maliki unveiled his 24-point national reconciliation initiative Sunday, offering amnesty to insurgents who renounce violence and have not committed terrorist attacks.

“To those who want to rebuild our country, we present an olive branch,” al-Maliki told applauding lawmakers. “And to those who insist on killing and terrorism, we present a fist with the power of law to protect our country and people.”

The much-anticipated plan lacked important details, but issued specific instructions to Iraqi security forces to rapidly take control of the country so U.S. and other foreign troops can leave eventually. It did not include a deadline for their withdrawal.

Al-Maliki said Iraq also must deal with the problem of militias, which are blamed for a surge of sectarian bloodshed that has worsened violence in Iraq - where nearly 40 people have been killed in the last 24 hours.

Hours later, the terrorist umbrella organization that includes al-Qaida in Iraq posted an Internet video showing the purported killing of three of the four Russian Embassy workers kidnapped June 3. A statement said the fourth also was slain.

“God’s verdict has been carried out on the Russian diplomats ... in revenge for the torture, killing and expulsion of our brothers and sisters by the infidel Russian government,” the Mujahedeen Shura Council statement said.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed doubt Monday over the authenticity of the video.

“We saw that footage. ... It is not fresh, it is dated sometime mid-June. ... It also contained a scene of execution of several people, but we are not 100 percent sure that these are our employees,” Lavrov said on REN-TV television.

“Experts possessing the necessary equipment and experience are now studying the footage as thoroughly as possible,” Lavrov said.

The kidnappers had demanded the Kremlin pull its troops out of Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia where separatists have been fighting for independence.

While al-Maliki set no timetable for a U.S. pullout, officials in Washington have reported that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top commander in Iraq, had drafted a plan for drawing down the American presence by two combat brigades in late summer or early autumn.

The New York Times said officials indicated the reduction could involve the 1st Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division, which patrols a swath of west Baghdad, and the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, in troublesome Diyala province.

According to the report, those brigades would not be replaced numerically and their duties would be assumed by U.S. forces from elsewhere in Iraq. The Times said the Casey plan envisioned eventually cutting U.S. forces from the current 14 brigades to five or six by the end of 2007.

Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman in Baghdad, said any reduction in forces would depend on conditions in Iraq and be made in consultation with the Iraqi government.

“Based on ongoing assessments of the conditions on the ground, force levels could go up or down over time in order to meet the evolving requirements for the mission in Iraq,” he told the AP.