U.S. commander says force not enough to succeed in Iraq

March 8, 2007

By LAUREN FRAYER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Military force alone is not sufficient to end the violence in Iraq and political talks must eventually include some militant groups now opposing the U.S.-backed government, the new commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said Thursday.

“This is critical,” Gen. David Petraeus said in his first news conference since taking over command last month. He noted that such political negotiations “will determine in the long run the success of this effort.”

American troops have stepped up efforts to clear and secure major highways around the capital as part of the Baghdad security crackdown, which began last month. The Pentagon has pledged 17,500 combat troops for the capital.

Petraeus said “it was very likely” that additional U.S. forces will be sent to areas outside the capital where militant groups are regrouping, including the Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

The region has become an increasingly important staging ground for groups including al Qaeda in Iraq. Meanwhile, many Sunni extremists apparently have shifted to Diyala to escape the Baghdad clampdown.

Petraeus declined to predict the size of the expected Diyala reinforcements.

He said that “any student of history recognizes there is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency in Iraq.”

“Military action is necessary to help improve security ... but it is not sufficient,” Petraeus said. “A political resolution of various differences ... of various senses that people do not have a stake in the successes of Iraq and so forth — that is crucial. That is what will determine, in the long run, the success of this effort."

U.S. officials, including Petraeus’ predecessor Gen. George W. Casey Jr., have long expressed the opinion that no military solution to the Iraq crisis was possible without a political agreement among all the ethnic and religious factions — including some Sunni insurgents.

However, previous overtures to the insurgents all faltered, apparently because of political opposition within Baghdad or Washington to some of the conditions.

Last year, 11 Sunni insurgent groups working through mediators offered to immediately stop attacks on American-led forces in Iraq if the Shi'ite-led government and Washington set a two-year timetable for withdrawing all coalition forces from the country, according to insurgent and government officials.

The groups did not include several major groups, including the Islamic Army in Iraq, Muhammad’s Army and the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella for eight militant groups including al Qaeda in Iraq.

The Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported last year that U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad met seven times with insurgent representatives in late 2005 and early 2006. But the extremists broke off the contacts in April 2006 after the U.S. side failed to respond to a series of demands.

The United States never confirmed details of the account ,but Khalilzad later said he believed his contacts with Sunni groups had contributed to a temporary decline in U.S. battle deaths, which fell in March 2006 to 31 — their lowest level in two years.

One of Iraq’s most expansive militias — the Mahdi Army of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — appears to have set aside its weapons under intense government pressure to lend support to the Baghdad security plan.

Mahdi militiamen also have allowed Iraqi authorities to try to protect at least a million pilgrims heading to Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad.

Many are making the traditional trek on foot for rituals beginning Friday to mark the end of a 40-day mourning period for Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Hussein’s death in a 7th-Century battle near Karbala cemented the schism between Sunnis and Shi'ites.

The processions have proved to be vulnerable targets, with attacks killing more than 170 people this week.

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