US rethink on Iraq tactics
General Sanchez admits Iraqi dignity may have been bruised
US military leaders in Iraq appear to be considering a change of strategy as two American soldiers were killed and others injured in the most recent attacks on US troops.
The commander of the US-led forces in Iraq General Ricardo Sanchez has suggested his troops' "iron-fisted" approach to hunting Iraqi suspects was alienating the wider Iraqi public and provoking retaliation.
On Thursday, two US soldiers were reported to have been injured in a firefight in central Baghdad less than 24 hours after two soldiers were killed in a gun battle in the city.
There are also reports that Iraqi resistance groups have quadrupled the bounty for killing an American soldier - a sign another US commander says shows desperation among the guerrilla fighters.
The cycle of strikes against US forces and ongoing American raids and arrests in the hunt for ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his loyalists continues on an almost daily basis.
Captures
In an interview in the New York Times, General Sanchez said the scale of raids in Iraq would now be reduced because they damaged Iraqis' dignity and self-respect and prompted some to acts of revenge.
"When you take a father in front of his family and put a bag over his head and put him on the ground, you have had a significant adverse effect on his dignity and respect in the eyes of his family," he said.
We created in this culture some Iraqis that then had to act because of their value systems against us in terms of revenge, possibly because there were casualties on their side
General Ricardo Sanchez
General Sanchez said the new military approach would concentrate more on co-operation with Iraqi political and religious leaders in an attempt to improve intelligence so that future searches could be more precisely targeted.
US forces say that on Wednesday night they captured a suspected leader of Saddam Hussein's loyalist militia and two army generals in the former president's home town of Tikrit.
The man is suspected of forming organised cells and paying armed guerrilla fighters to attack coalition forces in the area.
Nearly 400 US troops used Apache attack helicopters, tanks and armoured vehicles to seal off Tikrit, before charging into a local hotel and detaining the men.
Another 40 men - many of whom were labourers - were temporarily held and later released with a warning that they would be hunted down and killed if they fought against Iraq's new governing council.
Desperate bounty
The US commander in the region, Major General Ray Odierno, appeared to take a more bullish line than General Sanchez.
US raids have caused bad feeling
He said an aggressive US policy was bearing fruit and fewer Iraqis were willing to take the risk of facing up to the Americans.
"The word is the price has quadrupled for doing attacks on US forces," he told a reporters in Tikrit.
Rates a few weeks ago were about $250 for an attack and $1,000 for a "successful" one, he said.
"I see these somewhat as desperate acts," he said.
General Odierno added that he did not believe the attacks were being coordinated by Saddam, who has a $25m US bounty on his head.
The latest attacks bring to 55 the number of US soldiers killed by hostile fire since the war in Iraq was declared largely over on 1 May.
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