0
BAGHDAD, Aug 26: “Peace” in Iraq has been more deadly than the war to oust Saddam Hussein, the Pentagon admitted on Tuesday.
More US troops have lost their lives in Iraq since President George Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May 1 than in the fighting that toppled Saddam, the Pentagon’s official tally showed.
The grim casualty figures emerged as Mr Bush prepared to give a major speech in the Missouri city of St Louis to answer critics who have called for more troops to be sent to the troubled country.
Not all troops have been killed in combat. Since May 1, 62 have lost their lives to hostile fire compared to 116 combat deaths before May 1. The other deaths have been due to accidents and medical conditions unrelated to combat.
But the psychologically significant milestone comes amid growing criticism from both Republicans and opposition Democrats of the Bush administration’s failure to get a grip on what has become an unnervingly bloody post-war occupation.
HOMEWARD BOUND: Dozens of troops of the Third Battalion Seventh Marines began the long journey home via Kuwait City on Tuesday after their commander relinquished control of the holy city of Karbala to a detachment of Bulgarian troops.
Bulgarian forces under Polish command will be responsible for security in the region south of Baghdad.
The marines’ pullout from Karbala comes as debate rages in the United States on whether or not to send more troops into the increasingly restive country.
On Monday US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Washington was ready to send more soldiers “in a minute” if its top commander in the region asked for them.
But Central Command chief General John Abizaid has not requested them, said Mr Rumsfeld, and a US congressional delegation in Baghdad said it was likely to recommend to Congress that no more troops were needed.
Washington was meanwhile said to be rethinking plans to press ahead with a new UN resolution that would expand the mandate of the international stabilization force in Iraq after meeting fierce resistance from opponents of the war.
The negative reactions — mainly from anti-war UN Security Council members France, Russia and Germany — revolve around US insistence that it not cede any control over the command of the stabilization force, said officials in Washington.
Also on the diplomatic front, the Arab League asked its members on Tuesday whether they would allow the interim Iraqi Governing Council to take part in upcoming meetings, which would mean a de facto recognition of the US-appointed body.
A delegation from the council is currently on a so-far fruitless tour of the Middle East to try to persuade reluctant Arab states to formally recognize it.
Recriminations continued on Tuesday over the attempt on the life of leading Shia leader Grand Ayatollah Seyed Mohammed Said al-Hakim, with the leader of Iran blaming the coalition for the attack.
“The occupation troops (are) responsible for the growing instability in Iraq” where three people were killed Sunday in the blast at the home of Hakim, President Mohammad Khatami said.
Meanwhile, a week after the devastating suicide bomb blast at the UN headquarters in Baghdad, an official with the world body said the attack that killed 23 people was “deeply embarrassing” to coalition claims it was maintaining security.
Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the UN’s Development Programme, said the attack “undermines coalition claims to be establishing effective law and order in the country and undermines its claim that things are going the right way.”—AFP
