Iraqi PM announces crackdown on militias, gunmen
Source: Reuters
(Adds total of 71 bodies found on Saturday, paragraph 15) By Alastair Macdonald BAGHDAD, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Iraq's prime minister promised on Saturday a new crackdown on sectarian gunmen who kill hundreds of people a week in Baghdad, but has yet to endorse any proposal from President George W. Bush to send in more American troops. In a pugnacious speech for Army Day, Nuri al-Maliki said a plan was in place for Iraqi forces to crush illegal armed groups "regardless of sect or politics" -- suggesting he may be ready to tackle militias loyal to his fellow Shi'ites, a key demand of Washington and of Saddam Hussein's once dominant Sunni minority. His announcement, along with a defiant response to critics of his decision to hang Saddam a week ago, comes as Bush conducts a major reshuffle of commanders and diplomats in Iraq and prepares to unveil a new strategy next week that officials say may include a proposal to add 20,000 U.S. troops in Baghdad. A U.S. television report said Defense Secretary Robert Gates had recommended a buildup of 10,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, with an option of doubling that to 20,000 by spring. The Pentagon and the White House declined to comment on the report. One of Maliki's Dawa party allies, member of parliament Ali al-Adeeb, said the crackdown would start "soon", though no date was set. He added that Maliki was still considering Bush's idea for more U.S. troops, made in a telephone call on Thursday. U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and General George Casey, both of whom Bush is set to replace, said in a joint statement that U.S. forces were ready to help Maliki in "securing Baghdad". Bush's Democratic opponents, who took control of Congress last week, question the need to increase troop numbers. More than 3,000 Americans have died in Iraq since the 2003 invasion and many voters favour a rapid withdrawal as U.S. forces find themselves increasingly caught in the sectarian crossfire. Adeeb said U.S. troops already in Iraq could simply be switched to Baghdad, as happened in a major crackdown by U.S. and Iraqi forces last summer which briefly reduced the killing rate before appearing to run out of steam. A U.S. military spokesman declined to comment on "future operations". Home to more than one Iraqi in four and with a rich mix of communities, Baghdad has seen heavy bloodshed and an ethnic cleansing of populations over the past year. Many analysts say stopping the rot quickly is vital to prevent all-out civil war for control of the oil-rich state. "There will be no refuge from this plan for anyone who is operating beyond the law, regardless of their sect or their political affiliation," Maliki told Iraqi soldiers gathered on a vast Baghdad parade ground built by Saddam in the 1980s. "We will come down hard on anyone who does not carry out their orders and who does their job according to his political or sectarian background," he added, underlining concern over the loyalties of 300,000 new, U.S.-trained Iraqi troops and police. FIGHTING A major Sunni political group issued a statement condemning "double standards" by Maliki's Shi'ite-dominated government and accusing police and Shi'ite militiamen of launching an attack on the mainly Sunni Haifa Street district of Baghdad on Saturday. Sources at police headquarters and the Interior Ministry said police had found 27 bodies in the area but had come under fire from gunmen when they tried to recover them. Later, state television said the army killed 30 "insurgents" in the area. It was not clear whether or how the incidents were related. In other scattered violence on the last day of the week-long Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday, Baghdad's police chief survived a car bomb attack on his motorcade that killed a bystander. Another 44 bodies, mostly victims of torture and death squads, were found around Baghdad by police in the 24 hours to Saturday evening, a typical total. The United Nations estimated that close to 4,000 civilians died in violence in October. Senior Shi'ite politicians told Reuters last week that the U.S. and Iraqi force planned a limited offensive against the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, blamed by U.S. commanders and many Sunnis for much of the violence. Sadr, whose supporters played a key role in Maliki's appointment as a compromise prime minister in April, denies any such involvement. Maliki has repeatedly rejected criticism that he has not confronted the Mehdi Army before now, saying the Shi'ite armed groups can be tamed through political dialogue. The U.S. military urged Maliki last week to reach out to the disaffected Sunni minority after the sectarian tension generated by his decision to rush through the execution of Saddam before the New Year and by an Internet video showing pro-Sadr officials taunting the former president on the gallows. Possibly responding to fierce criticism of the conduct of the execution on Friday by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who called it "revolting and barbaric", Maliki defended the judicial process and said the government would "review its relations with any country that does not respect the will of the Iraqi people". Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and a former judge are also due to hang, possibly as soon as Sunday, officials say.
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