Iraqis starkly divided on future after US report

BAGHDAD, Sep 11 (Reuters) Iraqis were starkly divided today after a progress report by the two senior US officials in Iraq, some calling for a total withdrawal of US forces and others saying such a move would lead to disaster.

''The report was convincing ... it will give the opportunity for the Iraqi forces to prevail over security and law,'' said Ahmed Hamid, a civil servant from Ramadi in Anbar province, where US forces have claimed success after teaming with local Sunni Arab tribal leaders to fight al Qaeda.

General David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Iraq, recommended in testimony to the US Congress on Monday that US troop levels be cut by about 30,000 by next July.

Some Iraqis feared their own security forces were not ready to take over from US troops. Others said true progress could be made only once all US forces had gone.

''I only know one thing, which is that the solution for the political, security and economic situation is the complete withdrawal of US forces,'' said Raad Sabir, a retired teacher from the northern oil-producing city of Kirkuk.

''They are the reason behind all the things that have happened to us.'' Many Iraqis stayed up late to watch live television broadcasts from Washington.

Petraeus and ambassador Ryan Crocker told the Democrat-controlled Congress they saw some progress and defended President George W Bush's strategy in a conflict that has killed almost 3,800 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

''The report showed the opposite of reality, it showed the security situation in Iraq as if it was stable and they controlled militias and that they defeated sectarian strife,'' said Mohammed Tariq, a Sunni Arab food store owner in Kirkuk.

VIOLENCE EBBS The capital remained largely quiet today. Violence has ebbed in some parts of Iraq but attacks continue, and a suicide truck bomber killed 10 people in northern Iraq yesterday.

Some Iraqis feared the cut of 30,000 troops, about the same number deployed under Bush's ''surge'' strategy, would be an invitation for Shi'ite militias, Sunni Arab insurgents and al Qaeda fighters to wait before resuming attacks.

''The decision to pull out has ... a positive impact on the government in order to speed its work on political reforms,'' said Hussein Kadhim, a 37-year-old Shi'ite teacher in Baghdad.

''But it is also negative because it would give a sign for the militias and to al Qaeda to keep a low profile until the pull-out of the US troops.'' Bush's strategy was designed to buy time for Iraq's fractured, Shi'ite-led coalition government to meet a series of political benchmarks aimed at promoting national reconciliation.

While Petraeus noted some security improvements, political progress towards reconciliation has been more modest.

Sceptical Iraqis said that what progress there had been was illusory and labelled the report a public relations exercise.

''This reconciliation will come to its end when the first group of troops pull out of Iraq,'' said Sameer Khalid, a Sunni Arab shop owner in Baghdad.

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