Gen: Baghdad Outskirts "Breeding" Violence

Iraqi Military Official Says Militants Fleeing Security Crackdown Affecting Areas Outside Capital

(CBS/AP)  An Iraqi military spokesman said Sunday that militants fleeing a security crackdown in Baghdad have made areas outside the capital "breeding grounds for violence" after a week of deadly bombings and sectarian attacks.

The most recent strike occurred at 12:15 p.m. Sunday when a bomb struck a popular market in Tuz Khormato, 130 miles north of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding four. It was the second attack in the city in as many days after two Iraqis seeking work were killed in a car bombing on Saturday.

Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi promised the recent attacks would not derail the neighborhood-to-neighborhood sweep that began in Baghdad on Feb. 14.

"We are not going back. We have achieved progress and we are going to continue this progress. We need the cooperation of the Iraq people with the Iraqi security forces. Iraqi people should give more tips about ammunition and weapons caches."

He acknowledged an increase in violence outside Baghdad even as the death toll is down in the capital but said the security crackdown was providing an example of how to fight it.

"The fact that the violence decreased in Baghdad, the terrorists went to the surrounding areas and these areas are breeding grounds for violence ... tribal leaders are carrying operations against them," he said. "The terrorist elements are backed into a corner and we are going to continue to carry out these operations."

U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Mark Fox also expressed confidence in the security sweep, saying half of the U.S. troop reinforcements are in place, but he warned it would not be easy to pacify the capital and asked for patience.

"The effort to exert security in Iraq will take time," Fox said at a joint news conference with al-Moussawi. "Our job will not be accomplished within days or weeks."

"We are going to see more violence in the coming weeks and months," he added.

The comments came after a week in which more than 500 Iraqis were killed in sectarian violence, most in a series of high-profile suicide bombings.

In Other Developments:

The Iraqi Interior Ministry on Saturday raised the death toll in Tuesday's suicide truck bombing against a Shiite market in Tal Afar that was blamed on al Qaeda to 152, which would make it the deadliest single strike since the war started four years ago. That bombing was followed by a shooting rampage against Sunnis that left at least 45 people dead.

Two suicide vests were found unexploded Saturday in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, less than a week after a rocket attack killed two Americans in the vast central area.

Kurdish lawmakers struck back against criticism over the Iraqi government's decision to endorse plans to relocate thousands of Arabs who were moved to the northern city of Kirkuk as part of Saddam Hussein's campaign to force ethnic Kurds out of the oil-rich city, in an effort to undo one of the former dictator's most enduring and hated policies.

In other violence Sunday, two top Sunni officials escaped an assassination attempt in one Baghdad's most restive neighborhoods. Omar Abdul-Sattar of the National Accordance Front, the biggest Sunni parliamentary block with 44 seats, and Omar al-Jubouri, an aide to Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, were targeted by a roadside bomb when their convoy was passing through Yarmouk in western Baghdad, police said. Nobody was killed in the attack, but it came amid a recent rise in violence by suspected Sunni insurgents against members of the minority Islamic sect who are affiliated with the political process.

A British soldier was seriously wounded by small-arms fire Sunday while on patrol in the southern city of Basra, a military spokeswoman said. Some 125 British personnel have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion four years ago. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that Britain will reduce its force in Iraq from 7,100 to 5,500 in the coming months.

A British resident, back in London after nearly five years at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, said his "nightmare is at an end." Bisher al-Rawi, an Iraqi national, has lived with his family in Britain since 1985. He had been at the U.S. prison camp in Cuba since 2002 when he was arrested in Gambia as an alleged al-Qaeda associate. Lawyers claim that after his arrest in 2002, he and a friend ended up in American custody, when they were taken on a rendition flight through Egypt to a CIA facility in Afghanistan, where they were held and interrogated as suspected terrorists in a CIA underground prison close to Kabul before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay. Al-Rawi said prisoners get asked the same questions hundreds of times, and while the allegations "are laughably untrue," he said there is no chance to prove them wrong. "No trial. No fair legal process," he said, in an existence rife with "extreme isolation" and feeling of hopelessness. Britain took an interest in his case after it was disclosed he had helped the British spy agency, MI5. Though freed, al-Rawi said several other British citizens still at Guantanamo have gone on a hunger strike to protest conditions.

© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Add a Comment See all 21 Comments

by mcvet April 1, 2007 12:03 PM EDT

LOL That's how Civil War's are people. You can't control the violence, only move it. We invaded a Nation without any plan, now we see the price for electing an Incompetent LOSER! But I'm sure the Reich will just keep telling us we can win...all the way up to the next election, at which time they can blame the Loss on Democrats. That's all fascist are, today and always, Blame and Excuse. Sieg Heil America

Reply to this comment

by webdepot April 1, 2007 12:05 PM EDT

Duh.... no sh*t, *** Tracy...
But our illustrious commander-in-chief insists our soldiers sit in the middle of it.. We can't get rid of this a$$hole soon enough..

Reply to this comment

by mcvet April 1, 2007 12:13 PM EDT

What amazes me is how Bush just trot's out these Generals every time he get's put on the spot. No, what really amzes me is how a few people keep buying the lies and distortions. The FACT is that these folks have been fighting each other for nearly 2000 years but they are going to smooth things out in a couple of years? Right! If you buy that load of garbage, I have some land to sell you. It's a little wet but you can use a Surge to clean it up as well. LOL

Reply to this comment

by iceman_1960 April 1, 2007 12:15 PM EDT

There will be no victory for America in Iraq.

We just need to get out. The damage is done. There's no going back.

As a famous redneck once said, "You gotta know when to hold, know when to fold em."

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Car bombs and gunfire killed more than two dozen civilians and wounded more than 60 in attacks throughout Iraq on Saturday, officials said.

The attacks came as the Interior Ministry said that more than 1,800 Iraqi civilians died in sectarian and insurgent violence in Iraq in March. There were 226 more civilian deaths in March than in February, the data show."

Reply to this comment

by formrusmcsgt April 1, 2007 12:23 PM EDT

"The effort to exert security in Iraq will take time," Fox said at a joint news conference with al-Moussawi. "Our job will not be accomplished within days or weeks."



...or months or years.

Reply to this comment

by formrusmcsgt April 1, 2007 12:27 PM EDT

No, what really amzes me is how a few people keep buying the lies and distortions.
Posted by MCVet at 09:13 AM : Apr 01, 2007

.....only the self-righteous, the paranoids, and the xenophobes among us, MCVet.

Reply to this comment

by formrusmcsgt April 1, 2007 12:30 PM EDT

U.S. Toll in March Is Twice Iraq Forces

Sunday April 1, 2007 2:31 AM

By STEVEN R. HURST

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. military death toll in March, the first full month of the security crackdown, was nearly twice that of the Iraqi army, which American and Iraqi officials say is taking the leading role in the latest attempt to curb violence in the capital, surrounding cities and Anbar province, according to figures compiled on Saturday.

The Associated Press count of U.S. military deaths for the month was 81, including a soldier who died from non-combat causes Friday. Figures compiled from officials in the Iraqi ministries of Defense, Health and Interior showed the Iraqi military toll was 44.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldla
test/story/0,,-6523961,00.html

Says it all.......

Reply to this comment

by dallison7 April 1, 2007 12:38 PM EDT

I heard a poll quoted on television last night that 75% of registered republicans still support Bush and his war.

What is wrong with these people? Are they just stupid? How can that many people be that dumb?

Reply to this comment

by formrusmcsgt April 1, 2007 12:43 PM EDT

I heard a poll quoted on television last night that 75% of registered republicans still support Bush and his war.

What is wrong with these people? Are they just stupid? How can that many people be that dumb?
Posted by dallison7 at 09:38 AM : Apr 01, 2007

A good indicator of which party the self-righteous, paranoids, and xenophobes gravitate to, don't you think dallison?

These are mental disorders, not stupidity, that fuel the support.

Reply to this comment

by dallison7 April 1, 2007 12:49 PM EDT

These are mental disorders, not stupidity, that fuel the support.
Posted by formrusmcsgt


It is freightening to think there are that many nut-cases walking the streets. I'm going to keep a more careful and protective eye on my grand daughter.

Reply to this comment

by formrusmcsgt April 1, 2007 1:04 PM EDT

a more careful and protective eye on my grand daughter.
Posted by dallison7 at 09:49 AM : Apr 01, 2007

If it's any reassurance dallison, the hard-core mental cases are apparently only about 28-30% of the general population. The other 40% who originally supported the neocon agenda apparently were suffering temporary symptoms.......

Reply to this comment

by grazinggoat April 1, 2007 2:11 PM EDT

Lot of Iraqis seem to be called either Alfred or Albert, such as in Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Mahmoud al-Badri photographer, mentioned in this report... So thye must like Al-Einstein, Al-Hitchcock, Al-Pacino, Al-Banderas, Al-Fettuccini...

Now tell me Al-Qaeda should be Albert or Alfred?
;?)

Reply to this comment

by d3125 April 1, 2007 2:17 PM EDT

America has already lost the war in Iraq and these security crack downs are just a political game. If America had the chance to win the war, it had more than 4 yrs to do so. Those bunch of American criminals who are deployed in iraq as American millitary can never win this war. What can be more humiliating for a so called superpower with the best weapons and army in the world, which cannot fight with a few lightly armed inexperienced Iraqi freedom fighters. Americans will be kicked out of Iraq with humiliation, just like what happened to them in Vietnam and Somalia.

Reply to this comment

by actornaught April 1, 2007 3:12 PM EDT

d3, your 'freedom fighters' kill innocent women and children and men. are moslems proud to aspire that only moslems should kill moslems, or is it just you?

Reply to this comment

by gramto7 April 1, 2007 3:14 PM EDT

Those bunch of American criminals who are deployed in iraq as American millitary can never win this war
Posted by d3125

The troops in Iraq are not the criminals... The criminals are the CIC and his cronies in Washington D.C.!!!

Reply to this comment

by bigsk8fan April 1, 2007 5:03 PM EDT

Isn't this the same Iraq where McCain things are going so well? I guess we just can't get a clear picture of a rosy Iraq.

Reply to this comment

by erinye_fury April 1, 2007 6:28 PM EDT

Whack a mole. Down in Baghdad, up elsewhere.

Reply to this comment

by omega39-2009 April 1, 2007 7:02 PM EDT

Isn't this general listening to John McCain, everything is coming up roses in Iraq.

Reply to this comment

by bluestardad April 1, 2007 10:16 PM EDT

Hey did McCain go anywhere in these towns?

Reply to this comment

by randalds April 1, 2007 10:53 PM EDT

Surge accomplished? I renew my nomination of Bush as King of Iraq. He can take that as*skisser McCain with him. I see Condi as Queen (legally recognized as Bush's main squeeze at last) and Dic*ky Cheney as head dungeon master. He can also drag along all of his chicken-hawk supporters on this blog as court jesters, fools and clowns.

Reply to this comment

by firststate April 2, 2007 5:11 AM EDT

When will this administration or its subsidiary, the government of Iraq run out of lies? There are only so many corners to turn, insurgents' backs to be broken, and final throes to observe.

I'll believe that Baghdad is safe when Georgey, Dickey and Condeliar stroll down the streets of Baghdad like Dorothy, along a yellow brick road bought with the misplaced $10 Billion, accompanied by Georgey the scarecrow and Dickey the tin man. Since the scarecrow and tin man have both shown such great personal cowardice, the cowardly lion would just be redundant. They have worked together to summon the nerve required to place other people's lives at the same risk they worked so hard to avoid themselves.

Their walk would be a win-win situation. If their stroll ends safely, the job is done and our troops can come home.

Reply to this comment

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[mcvet]

LOL That's how Civil War's are people. You can't control the violence, only move it. We invaded a Nation without any plan, now we see the price for electing an Incompetent LOSER! But I'm sure the Reich will just keep telling us we can win...all the way up to the next election, at which time they can blame the Loss on Democrats. That's all fascist are, today and always, Blame and Excuse. Sieg Heil America

[webdepot]

Duh.... no sh*t, *** Tracy...
But our illustrious commander-in-chief insists our soldiers sit in the middle of it.. We can't get rid of this a$$hole soon enough..

[mcvet]

What amazes me is how Bush just trot's out these Generals every time he get's put on the spot. No, what really amzes me is how a few people keep buying the lies and distortions. The FACT is that these folks have been fighting each other for nearly 2000 years but they are going to smooth things out in a couple of years? Right! If you buy that load of garbage, I have some land to sell you. It's a little wet but you can use a Surge to clean it up as well. LOL

[iceman_1960]

There will be no victory for America in Iraq.

We just need to get out. The damage is done. There's no going back.

As a famous redneck once said, "You gotta know when to hold, know when to fold em."

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Car bombs and gunfire killed more than two dozen civilians and wounded more than 60 in attacks throughout Iraq on Saturday, officials said.

The attacks came as the Interior Ministry said that more than 1,800 Iraqi civilians died in sectarian and insurgent violence in Iraq in March. There were 226 more civilian deaths in March than in February, the data show."

[formrusmcsgt]

"The effort to exert security in Iraq will take time," Fox said at a joint news conference with al-Moussawi. "Our job will not be accomplished within days or weeks."



...or months or years.

[formrusmcsgt]

No, what really amzes me is how a few people keep buying the lies and distortions.
Posted by MCVet at 09:13 AM : Apr 01, 2007

.....only the self-righteous, the paranoids, and the xenophobes among us, MCVet.

[formrusmcsgt]

U.S. Toll in March Is Twice Iraq Forces

Sunday April 1, 2007 2:31 AM

By STEVEN R. HURST

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - The U.S. military death toll in March, the first full month of the security crackdown, was nearly twice that of the Iraqi army, which American and Iraqi officials say is taking the leading role in the latest attempt to curb violence in the capital, surrounding cities and Anbar province, according to figures compiled on Saturday.

The Associated Press count of U.S. military deaths for the month was 81, including a soldier who died from non-combat causes Friday. Figures compiled from officials in the Iraqi ministries of Defense, Health and Interior showed the Iraqi military toll was 44.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldla
test/story/0,,-6523961,00.html

Says it all.......

[dallison7]

I heard a poll quoted on television last night that 75% of registered republicans still support Bush and his war.

What is wrong with these people? Are they just stupid? How can that many people be that dumb?

[formrusmcsgt]

I heard a poll quoted on television last night that 75% of registered republicans still support Bush and his war.

What is wrong with these people? Are they just stupid? How can that many people be that dumb?
Posted by dallison7 at 09:38 AM : Apr 01, 2007

A good indicator of which party the self-righteous, paranoids, and xenophobes gravitate to, don't you think dallison?

These are mental disorders, not stupidity, that fuel the support.

[dallison7]

These are mental disorders, not stupidity, that fuel the support.
Posted by formrusmcsgt


It is freightening to think there are that many nut-cases walking the streets. I'm going to keep a more careful and protective eye on my grand daughter.

[formrusmcsgt]

a more careful and protective eye on my grand daughter.
Posted by dallison7 at 09:49 AM : Apr 01, 2007

If it's any reassurance dallison, the hard-core mental cases are apparently only about 28-30% of the general population. The other 40% who originally supported the neocon agenda apparently were suffering temporary symptoms.......

[grazinggoat]

Lot of Iraqis seem to be called either Alfred or Albert, such as in Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Mahmoud al-Badri photographer, mentioned in this report... So thye must like Al-Einstein, Al-Hitchcock, Al-Pacino, Al-Banderas, Al-Fettuccini...

Now tell me Al-Qaeda should be Albert or Alfred?
;?)

[d3125]

America has already lost the war in Iraq and these security crack downs are just a political game. If America had the chance to win the war, it had more than 4 yrs to do so. Those bunch of American criminals who are deployed in iraq as American millitary can never win this war. What can be more humiliating for a so called superpower with the best weapons and army in the world, which cannot fight with a few lightly armed inexperienced Iraqi freedom fighters. Americans will be kicked out of Iraq with humiliation, just like what happened to them in Vietnam and Somalia.

[actornaught]

d3, your 'freedom fighters' kill innocent women and children and men. are moslems proud to aspire that only moslems should kill moslems, or is it just you?

[gramto7]

Those bunch of American criminals who are deployed in iraq as American millitary can never win this war
Posted by d3125

The troops in Iraq are not the criminals... The criminals are the CIC and his cronies in Washington D.C.!!!

[bigsk8fan]

Isn't this the same Iraq where McCain things are going so well? I guess we just can't get a clear picture of a rosy Iraq.

[erinye_fury]

Whack a mole. Down in Baghdad, up elsewhere.

[omega39-2009]

Isn't this general listening to John McCain, everything is coming up roses in Iraq.

[bluestardad]

Hey did McCain go anywhere in these towns?

[randalds]

Surge accomplished? I renew my nomination of Bush as King of Iraq. He can take that as*skisser McCain with him. I see Condi as Queen (legally recognized as Bush's main squeeze at last) and Dic*ky Cheney as head dungeon master. He can also drag along all of his chicken-hawk supporters on this blog as court jesters, fools and clowns.

[firststate]

When will this administration or its subsidiary, the government of Iraq run out of lies? There are only so many corners to turn, insurgents' backs to be broken, and final throes to observe.

I'll believe that Baghdad is safe when Georgey, Dickey and Condeliar stroll down the streets of Baghdad like Dorothy, along a yellow brick road bought with the misplaced $10 Billion, accompanied by Georgey the scarecrow and Dickey the tin man. Since the scarecrow and tin man have both shown such great personal cowardice, the cowardly lion would just be redundant. They have worked together to summon the nerve required to place other people's lives at the same risk they worked so hard to avoid themselves.

Their walk would be a win-win situation. If their stroll ends safely, the job is done and our troops can come home.