Planning error delays US-Iraq military handover

BAGHDAD, Sept 2 (Reuters) A much-anticipated ceremony to transfer operational command from US-led forces to Iraq's new army was postponed today at the last minute amid confusion, a US military spokesman said, citing poor planning.

The event had been hailed by the US military as a big step towards Iraq taking responsibility for security, key to any eventual withdrawal of US forces. US commanders, with 140,000 troops on the ground, would still have a big say.

''There was an error in planning between us and the Iraqi defence minister over the ceremony. This all boils down to a bureaucratic thing,'' said Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson. He said the ceremony had been rescheduled for tomorrow.

Johnson played down suggestions the glitch reflected logistic and communication problems between the two forces. Iraq's Defence Ministry had no immediate comment.

Reporters who had been invited to attend the ceremony in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone were left sitting in a bus for more than one hour as the US military first informed them that the event had been delayed for later in the day and then postponed until tomorrow.

DAILY CASUALTIES The US military, suffering almost daily casualties, has been training Iraq's fledgling military so that it can gradually extract itself from Iraq's increasingly sectarian violence more than three years after the 2003 invasion.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, keen to be seen as ending his government's dependency on US military power, said this week his forces would take control of most of Iraq from foreign troops by the end of the year.

The top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey, who was scheduled to attend the signing of a memorandum outlining the new relationship between US-led forces and Iraq's Ministry of Defence, has said he sees Iraqi forces having control of their own security in the next 12-18 months.

Recent setbacks against Iraq's fledgling army, including the killing of some 20 soldiers this week in clashes with gunmen in the south and the refusal of a 100-strong unit to deploy in violence-torn Baghdad have been played down by US commanders, who have voiced confidence in the capabilities of the Iraqis.

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