Troops to stay if violence escalates

Martin Chulov in Baghdad
The Observer, Sunday 26 April 2009

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, made a surprise visit to Baghdad yesterday to reassure Iraqi leaders that the Obama White House would refrain from withdrawing its troops from urban areas if renewed violence continued to worsen.

Clinton's visit, her first since being appointed in January, followed a sharp surge in attacks over the past three days that left as many as 155 dead and prompted fears that recent security gains could unravel.

The attacks, which have mostly taken place in and around Baghdad, have sparked concern that the planned US drawback in July could destabilise areas which the withdrawal was meant to consolidate.

Clinton claimed that the spate of suicide attacks was a response by extremist groups to the nation-building steps taken by the Iraqi government, which have generally led to enhanced security on main roads and in public places and to gradually rising confidence in Iraq as a functional state.

"I think that these suicide bombings are, unfortunately in a tragic way, a signal that the rejectionists fear Iraq is going in the right direction," she told reporters travelling with her. "I think in Iraq there will always be political conflicts, there will always be, as in any society, sides drawn between different factions, but I really believe Iraq as a whole is on the right track."

Clinton previously visited Iraq three times as a senator and campaigned for the US presidency on a platform of withdrawing American troops as soon as possible.

She met the prime minister, Nour al-Maliki, the president, Jalal Talabani, and the foreign minister, Hosyar Zebari, yesterday before briefings with the US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, and senior US embassy staff.

On Friday, Odierno's predecessor, General David Petraeus, told the US Congress that, despite spasms of deadly violence, attacks across Iraq were down from 160 a day during the peak of the sectarian chaos three years ago to 10 to 15 a day now.

He also claimed that four recent suicide bombings had been carried out by Tunisian insurgents who had infiltrated Iraq. The claim marks the first acknowledgment for many months that foreign fighters continue to travel to Iraq. Both Iraqi and US officials had recently maintained that attacks were being carried out by homegrown extremists.

Ahead of her visit, Clinton echoed Maliki's concerns that the make-up of Iraq's new security forces was still sectarian. She said she would press for creation of a non-sectarian force. Earlier this month Barack Obama also made a trip to Iraq to reassure the government of US support.

The US army has committed to pulling its troops back to bases in towns by 1 July, but this would be revised if Iraq asked for more help.

Sayyed Khamenei Accuses US, Israel over Iraq Bombings
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25/04/2009 Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei blamed Israel and the United States on Saturday for persistent violence in Iraq after two suicide attacks left scores of Iranian pilgrims dead.

"The American and Israeli intelligence apparatuses are the number-one accused... for the spread of the poisonous seeds of terrorism in Iraq," Sayyed Khamenei said in a message of condolence to the victims' families broadcast on state television.

"Those evil brains and sinful hands that established this blind, unbridled terrorism in Iraq should know that this fire will end up burning them," the Iranian leader added.

Twenty Iranian pilgrims were among at least 58 people martyred when two women suicide bombers attacked a Shiite shrine in Baghdad on Friday. Some 80 Iranians were among the 125 people wounded. Another 52 Iranian pilgrims were among at least 56 people martyred in a suicide attack on a roadside restaurant in Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad, the previous day.