[Peace-discuss] time to get out

[Ricky Baldwin]

Iraqi police may have coordinated attacks
By Jim Krane, AP writer, November 29, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq - There is no evidence that al-Qaida
terrorists have taken part in the long string of
attacks on U.S. or Iraqi targets, but some
U.S.-trained Iraqi police appear to have coordinated
some of those assaults, the top U.S. military official
in Iraq (news - web sites) said Saturday.

U.S. military officials are concerned that some
attacks on Americans have been coordinated by a few of
the numerous Iraqi civilians hired by the U.S.
military, who may glean intelligence on troop
movements and travels of high-ranking officers, Lt.
Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters at the Baghdad
Convention Center. 

"Clearly those are concerns we have. We try to do the
vetting (of Iraqi employees) as close as we can," he
said. "There have been instances when police were
coordinating attacks against the coalition and against
the people." 

He said the insurgency was becoming particularly
bloody for Iraqi civilians. Guerrillas launched more
than 150 attacks on Iraqi civilian and police targets,
killing scores during the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan, which ended last week. 

Sanchez also said the United States is boosting the
number of infantrymen in Iraq and moving from a force
based on tanks and heavy armored vehicles to one
specializing in urban raids. 

A new phase in the Iraq war, known as Iraqi Freedom
II, would begin as current forces are rotated out of
Iraq and replaced by new units, including several
thousand U.S. Marines, Sanchez said. 

"We are going to change the composition of our
forces," Sanchez said. "We'll have more infantry.
We're moving to a more mobile force, one that has the
right blend of light and heavy." 

Sanchez said he saw no need for an overall increase in
U.S. forces in Iraq, and the number of troops would
decrease as transportation, logistics and
communications personnel are sent home. 

The general said some support troops are being
replaced by civilian contractors, in the case of
transportation and logistics. The military also is
starting to use commercial sources for communications,
he said, thus allowing more soldiers to depart. 

Washington currently has 130,000 troops in Iraq. 

The Department of Defense (news - web sites) had
announced this month that the total number of U.S.
troops in Iraq would drop to about 105,000 after troop
rotations that start in January are completed in May.
But the additional marines appear to bump up that
total to 110,000. 

"There's no way we're going to put this mission at
risk in terms of combat power," Sanchez said,
explaining the need for the marines, whose normal
tasks tend toward invasions, not occupation duties. 

"What we're in search of is a very mobile, very
flexible, lethal force that can accomplish its
mission. Those terms are dictated by the enemy." 



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