Iraq's PM in US as attacks in Baghdad up 40%
Iraq-USA, Politics, 7/26/2006

White House spokesman Tony Snow was asked today that "In Iraq right now, there are -- of fatwas being issued, banning women from driving, or being seen out alone; you've got women being stoned for wearing make-up and professional women being murdered. And in his speech this morning, al-Maliki praised the high status of women in Iraq. Would you acknowledge that, in fact, the status of women in Iraq is perilous right now?"

Snow said "I don't know that it would be perilous because that would assume that the things that you talk about are, in fact, universal. But I will go back to what the Prime Minister did say, because he acknowledges that -- he says that it's important to acknowledge the rights chartered in the constitution will also help consolidate the role of women in public life and help them play a greater role in public life. It is clear that he thinks that there still is the importance of having a greater role. But I'm not going to try to do a full human rights analysis. It is clear that Prime Minister Maliki is devoted to the cause of the rights of women. And I would redirect to Iraqi officials specific questions about fatwas. A, I don't know anything about them, and, B, I think it's their job to respond."

A 40 percent increase in attacks and bombings in the first half of the current month in Iraq's capital has forced the US army to revise a security plan it had drawn up for the Iraqi government.

General Scott Kolsen from fourth infantry brigade of US army deployed in Iraq admitted complete failure of the plan.

He said "The increase in terrorist attacks in Baghdad proved that the plan has encountered with complete failure," and that US army is now contemplating a contingency plan for redeployment of 127,000 troops in Baghdad.

He said US troops which were deployed in other parts of Iraq will be called in for improving security of Iraqi capital.

US President George W. Bush and visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced plans to enhance security forces in Baghdad in an effort to stem the growing violence in the Iraqi capital.

"Our strategy is to remain on the offense," Bush said during a White House press conference after his July 25 meeting with the Iraqi prime minister. "Under the prime minister's leadership, coalition and Iraqi leaders are modifying their operational concept to bring greater security to the Iraqi capital."

Al-Maliki's plan calls for a redeployment of coalition forces from other locations in Iraq to Baghdad where they will join an enhanced Iraqi police contingent to patrol neighborhoods and ensure an effective Iraqi security presence.

"This plan will involve embedding more US military police with Iraqi police units to make them more effective," Bush said. He said that this deployment would "better reflect the current conditions on the ground in Iraq."

The new security plan also calls for coalition forces to provide greater firepower and protection equipment to the Iraqi forces.

"We have agreed that building the security and military institutions in Iraq in terms of numbers, equipment, firearms and as quickly as possible represents the fundamental base in order to stabilize the country and to have security and defeat terrorism," al-Maliki said.

The new plan comes just six weeks after the Iraqi prime minister launched Operation Together Forward, which sought to pacify the capital by increasing the number of checkpoints and security patrols and by imposing nighttime curfews. To date, however, those measures have failed to rein in the violence.

Bush explained that the new plan shows flexibility on the part of the Iraqi government and coalition forces in confronting a fluid situation on the ground.

"Conditions change inside a country... and the question is, are we going to be facile enough to change with them -- will we be nimble enough?... And the answer is yes, we will," he said.

Bush said the increased number of forces in the capital would make it possible to hold kidnappers and murderers to account. According to press reports, Baghdad has seen a sharp rise in abductions and murders in recent months.

Al-Maliki said that curbing religious violence is the most important element of his security plan. He said Iraqi religious and political leaders have joined him in condemning those who are trying to foment a civil war.

"The government responsibility is to protect all Iraqis regardless of their ethnic or religious background," he said.

The prime minister also briefed the president on his national reconciliation plan aimed at drawing opposition forces into the political process.

Bush said there has been important progress elsewhere in Iraq that has been overshadowed by the violence in Baghdad. He pointed to the recent handover of Muthanna province to Iraqi civilian control as an example of that progress.

Bush said he and the prime minister had agreed to establish a joint committee to oversee the transfer of security responsibilities to the Iraqi government in other provinces as well.

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  Top Iraqi leaders ready to ask the US to leave   (7/24/2006)

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