3000 more Iraqi troops needed in Baghdad: US

Washington, Sept 22: US-trained Iraqi soldiers do not want to leave other parts of their country to serve in Baghdad, leaving security efforts in the violent capital short by 3,000 Iraqi troops, a senior US commander said today.

''I would tell you I need more Iraqi security forces,'' US Army Maj Gen James Thurman, the US military commander for Baghdad, told reporters at the Pentagon from Camp Liberty in the Iraqi capital.

Thurman said that six Iraqi army battalions, roughly 500 soldiers each, that he has requested to reinforce Baghdad have not been provided by the Iraqi government. US commanders have said sectarian violence in Baghdad between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims could lead to civil war if left unchecked.

''Some of these battalions, when they were formed, were formed regionally. And some of the soldiers due to the distance did not want to travel into Baghdad,'' Thurman said. ''And the minister of defense (Abdel Qader Jassim) is working with that.'' US commanders have stated that curbing sectarian violence in Baghdad has become the main effort of the 3-1/2-year-old war, more important than the long-running fight against Sunni Arab insurgents in vast Anbar province west of Baghdad.

But only a relatively small portion of the 145,000-strong US force and the 302,000-strong Iraqi government security forces are being devoted to the effort. Thurman said 15,000 US troops, 9,000 Iraqi army soldiers, 12,000 Iraqi national police and 22,000 local police are operating in Baghdad.

Thurman said he was not disappointed by the failure of the Iraqi government to get the requested soldiers to Baghdad, but added the US military was working to make Iraq's army ''more mobile.'' 'COME TO GRIPS' ''So I wouldn't say it's not going well. What I would tell you is, I think, the government is trying to come to grips with the security needs,'' Thurman said.

''Baghdad's security hinges on the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces,'' Thurman added, arguing against putting more US troops in Baghdad.

US government figures stated there currently are 128,000 trained and equipped Iraqi army soldiers. The US general in charge of training efforts has said the Iraqi army will reach its full strength of 137,500 by the end of the year.

In the three years since the United States disbanded the Iraqi military, US trainers have struggled to rebuild it from scratch. But there is continuing concern about the capability and loyalty of Iraqi security forces, including their stomach for combat and worries over links to sectarian militias.

A security crackdown involving US and Iraqi government forces was launched in Baghdad in June to stem killings and kidnappings, but violence continued unabated. The United States in late July ordered more troops into Baghdad after a meeting between President George W Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The mounting body count in Baghdad remains a major concern, Thurman said, adding, ''If there's one thing that I want to lower, it's the amount of murders and senseless killings and the kidnappings.'' He said some death squads roaming Baghdad are linked to illegal militias, and called disarming the militias ''a problem that the government must deal with immediately.'' Thurman acknowledged attacks against US forces in Baghdad are rising, but contended there has been an overall decline in sectarian violence in the capital in the past couple of months.

''I remain optimistic about the positive trends that I see,'' he said.

REUTERS