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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (178370)	11/25/2003 2:09:37 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1579000

<font color=brown>This war, of course, has turned into the nightmare I envisioned last fall, and the reality is much worse than what was imagined. What do you think of this dispute over what should be troop strength on the ground? It seems we are short but the Bushies insist that they have enough. Of course, the problem may be they can't get any more. What do you think? <font color=black> ted *********************************************************** reuters.co.uk Blasts hit Baghdad Tue 25 November, 2003 18:05 By Andrew Marshall BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Loud blasts have echoed across Baghdad after dark and loudspeakers at the headquarters of the U.S.-led administration ordered personnel to take cover as an attack was under way. "Attack. Take cover. This is not a test," the loudspeaker announcements said, as sirens wailed at the coalition compound in one of Saddam Hussein's former palace complexes on the west bank of the Tigris river in central Baghdad. The compound has come under mortar and rocket fire several times this month, prompting intensified U.S. military operations against guerrilla targets in Baghdad. Residents of a central Baghdad neighbourhood near the compound said at least two rockets had landed nearby. A large crater had been blown in the middle of one road, but there were no signs anybody had been wounded. A top U.S. general said earlier on Tuesday that tougher U.S. tactics had halved the number of attacks on his forces in Iraq in the past two weeks, but that assaults on Iraqis had surged. General John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, was speaking a day after Iraq's interim authority submitted a timetable for self-rule and asked the U.N. Security Council for a new resolution that would end the U.S.-led occupation in June. Abizaid said U.S. forces had stepped up operations to counter a rise in insurgent activity over the past 60 days. "These offensive actions in the past two weeks have actually driven down attacks on coalition forces...I would say the attacks are down by about half," he told a news conference. "But unfortunately we have found that attacks against Iraqis have increased," he added. U.S. administrator Paul Bremer predicted more violence. "We have to anticipate that there will continue to be a level of terrorism in this country in the months ahead," he said. HEAVY SECURITY Security on the ground was intense as troops remained on alert for attacks during the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, after weekend killings of U.S. soldiers and two suicide bombings on police stations that killed 17 Iraqis. Bremer and the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council unveiled a plan 10 days ago to restore Iraqi sovereignty in June, reversing earlier U.S. insistence that a new constitution and elections should precede any transfer of power. "The principal reason for this agreement was an effort to reconcile different positions: an Iraqi desire to directly elect delegates to a constitutional convention and the coalition's desire to give Iraqis sovereignty at an early date," Bremer said, adding there would be talks with the Governing Council about security arrangements after sovereignty was returned. "It is our anticipation that the (transitional) Iraqi government...will want to have coalition forces here," he said. In a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Monday, Jalal Talabani, president of the Iraqi council, said a provisional legislative body would be chosen by May 31. This would elect a provisional sovereign government by the end of June. Then "the Coalition Provisional Authority will be dissolved and the occupation...will end", Talabani's letter said. A new Iraqi constitution would be drafted by March 15, 2005, and then presented to Iraqis in a referendum. A new government would be elected by the end of the year, the letter said. U.S. SAYS MORE TROOPS NOT NEEDED Guerrillas fighting the occupation have killed 183 U.S. troops since Washington declared major combat over on May 1, according to the latest Pentagon figures. Washington blames the attacks on insurgents loyal to Saddam and foreign Muslim militants. The United States has about 130,000 troops in Iraq, but some Congressmen say more are needed to curb the insurgency. Abizaid, however, said there were enough troops on the ground. Asked whether U.S.-led forces were facing a coordinated guerrilla campaign, Abizaid said there were a number of cells operating countrywide, mainly in urban areas. "There is some indication of regional coordination between the cells. We haven't really seen what I would call levels of national coordination, although that remains unknown," he said.