US-Iraqi troops out in force for Baghdad sweep
Source: Reuters
(Recasts) By Dean Yates and Ibon Villelabeitia BAGHDAD, Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces set up new checkpoints and stepped up joint patrols in Baghdad on Wednesday, for the first time showing war-weary residents that a long-promised offensive against militants was under way. The U.S. military said anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who leads a militia that Washington calls the greatest threat to Iraqi security, had left the country and was in Iran. The cleric's aides denied Sadr had fled. The United States also backed away from a senior U.S. defence official's comments implicating Iran's government in arming Iraqi militants, insisting it was not trying to "hype" evidence of Iranian weapons being used in Iraq. Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a crowd in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala that he was determined to restore security to Baghdad, which insurgents and militias have turned into the world's most dangerous city. "There is no excuse for those who have been warned ... We will impose the law by force on those who want to continue with rebellion," Maliki said. Witnesses said U.S.-Iraqi patrols cordoned off areas in the Sunni neighbourhood of Adhamiya, an area often the target of mortar attacks. Iraqi forces searched houses, they said. In central Baghdad, roads and bridges were clogged with traffic as new checkpoints were thrown up, cars searched and weapons confiscated under a crackdown that Maliki has named "Operation Imposing Law". As night fell, fighter jets roared across the sky. U.S. military officials say the offensive, seen as a final attempt to prevent all-out sectarian civil war, is in its early stages and will take months to peak. Previous attempts to halt carnage in the capital have failed and critics see the latest plan as too little, too late. Asked about conflicting reports over the whereabouts of Sadr, U.S. military spokesman Major-General William Caldwell told a news conference in Baghdad: "All indications are in fact that he is in Iran and he left last month." He said U.S. forces were "tracking Moqtada al-Sadr very closely". Several Sadr aides rejected suggestions the cleric had left to escape the crackdown, saying he was still in Iraq and keeping a low profile in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf. Caldwell declined to speculate on why Sadr might have gone to neighbouring Shi'ite Iran, which the United States accuses of fanning sectarian violence in Iraq. Iran denies the charges. The influential firebrand led his Mehdi Army militia in two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004. Washington has asked Maliki to disarm the militia, but the prime minister relies on Sadr for political support. BUSH ON IRAN ROLE Caldwell said while there was cause for optimism about the Baghdad security plan, war-weary Iraqis needed to be patient. American and Iraqi troop reinforcements would not be completely in place until late May, he said. In Washington, President George W. Bush said he did not know if Iran's leaders had ordered members of a group called the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guards to provide roadside bombs, or improvised explosive devices, to militias in Iraq. A senior U.S. military analyst, at an off-the-record briefing by three officials in Baghdad on Sunday, indicated the "highest levels" of Iran's government were involved in arming Iraqi militants with weapons used to kill American soldiers. "What we do know is that the Quds Force was instrumental in providing these deadly IEDs to networks inside of Iraq," Bush said. "What we don't know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran ordered the Quds Force to do what they did." Caldwell was repeatedly asked at the Baghdad news conference if he wanted to rescind the comments made by the analyst. "We were not trying to hype this up. We wanted to present physical evidence ... that we know is being manufactured in Iran and is making its way into Iraq," he said, adding the aim had been to show proof of Iranian weapons being smuggled into Iraq. Given the criticism that has dogged Bush over the handling of intelligence leading up to the Iraq war in 2003, U.S. officials had been careful in preparing the dossier to support claims that Iran was meddling in Iraq. Tensions are already high between the arch foes over Tehran's nuclear plans. (Additional reporting by Ross Colvin, Mariam Karouny, Aseel Kami and Mussab Al-Khairalla in Baghdad, Khaled Farhan in Najaf)
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