3 More U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq

(CBS/AP)  Three U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi woman translator were killed Saturday in separate incidents, as the country's largest Sunni party appealed to authorities to end the siege of Sunni villages northeast of Baghdad.

Also Saturday, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware said that he was pessimistic about Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ability to reach out to Sunni Arabs and curb sectarian violence after meeting with the prime minister in Baghdad.

The three Americans were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and died in fighting in the western province of Anbar, the U.S. military said in a statement. They were the first U.S. fatalities reported in Iraq since Tuesday and the eighth so far this month.

Iraqi police said the translator, whose name was not released, was killed in a drive-by shooting in southwestern Baghdad. She worked as an interpreter for the Americans but was off-duty at the time of the shooting, police Capt. Maithem Abdul-Razaq said.

Interpreters and others working for the Americans have long been targeted by insurgents for "collaborating" with "occupation forces."

In a statement Saturday, the Iraqi Islamic Party said U.S. and Iraqi troops had surrounded 15 mostly Sunni villages in near Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, making it difficult for civilians to move in the area.

The statement called on Iraqi and U.S. forces to allow food and medicine to enter the villages and compensate farmers for damage to their crops.

Meanwhile, Biden, along with Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island who is also at the talks, said Nouri al-Maliki assured them his new government will reach out to Sunni Arabs and crack down on Shiite militias believed responsible for much of the sectarian violence.

But Biden said Saturday that he was pessimistic about the Shiite leader's abilities to do so.

Biden also said he was unconvinced of al-Maliki's dedication to fixing the problem of troubled Sunni-Shiite relations amid rising sectarian tensions.

"I'm not sure how much running room he has. I'm not even sure how much running room he wants," Biden said in a telephone conference call after making his seventh visit to Iraq.

Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a U.S. presidential hopeful, held talks with al-Maliki, as well as the ministers of interior and defense.

He was accompanied by Sen. Jack Reed who said U.S. troops could begin leaving the country as early as this year.

"The prime minister indicated that it is feasible to begin to redeploy a small portion of our troops, perhaps this year," Reed, D-R.I., said. "That is based upon the training of the Iraqi security forces."

"It's time to suggest, to show the Iraqi forces that they have to do the job and to confirm the fact that they have made progress," Reed said later. "The feeling is, as long as we're there to be the failsafe, they won't take the initiative."

Al-Maliki said shortly after taking office he hoped to take over security for all of Iraqi's 18 provinces within 18 months, or by the end of 2007.

Biden told reporters earlier that he was reassured that al-Maliki "appears to be prepared to take concerted action against militias and he is opened to the insurgents, those in the insurgency who have not committed serious crimes against humanity actually to be brought into the political process."

Shiite militias have been blamed for much of the violence that increased sharply following the Feb. 22 bombing of a holy Shiite shrine in the central city of Samarra.

Reed said that after meetings with military officials, the senators believe that "the major deficiency remains the question of leadership on the senior level and the ability of the government to support troops in the field."

He said that the wear-and-tear on the U.S. military was showing, despite their "incredible" service. For example, he said, the military is flying aircraft "way over" the regularly allotted hours for the aircraft during peacetime.

"There's a fear that at some point the patience of the Iraqi people will be sapped," he said.

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