Battle For Baghdad On Horizon
The same day that two of the Pentagon's most senior generals admitted to Congress that the recent surge in sectarian violence in Baghdad could throw the country into civil war, it is clear the battered nation's capital is caught in a death spiral, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.
Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East and Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned of violence and U.S. casualties in Iraq as more than 3,700 U.S. soldiers were redeployed to Baghdad.
When the battle for Baghdad begins, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli will lead it as U.S troops will join a combined force of 60,000 Iraqis and Americans in and around the city.
The fight — generically called "Phase Two" — will start as an inner-city police action, focusing on troublesome neighborhoods, rooting out insurgents, death squads and criminals, reports Strassmann in Baghdad.
"I don't know if it's make or break. But it's the closest thing I've had in my almost 20 months over here," Chiarelli said.
In July, nearly 1,200 people were murdered in Baghdad. Scared and angry, some Baghdad neighborhoods are arming themselves, rallying with calls to end the violence.
"You have got to go into these neighborhoods and make them feel not only better, but make them feel that their lives are going to get better," Chiarelli said.
On Capitol Hill Thursday, Abizaid told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "Iraq could move toward civil war" if the violence is not contained.
"I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I have seen it," he said, adding that the top priority in Iraq is to secure the capital, where factional violence has surged in recent weeks despite efforts by the new Iraqi government to stop the fighting.
"I think it's possible that in the period ahead of us in Baghdad that we'll take increased casualties — that's possible," he added.
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the panel, "We do have the possibility of that devolving into civil war." He added that this need not happen and stressed that ultimately it depends on the Iraqis more than on the U.S. military.
"Shiite and Sunni are going to have to love their children more than they hate each other," Pace said, before the tensions can be overcome. "The weight of that must be on the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government."
Abizaid said U.S. forces could see "increased casualties" in Baghdad. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a firm supporter of the war, was clearly not happy, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod.
"What I worry about is we're playing a game of whack-a-mole here," McCain said.
"If [Rumsfeld] doesn't admit right now that there is a civil war and if his military leaders don't admit that they are in a civil war right now, they should all resign right now," said CBS News Military Analyst Ret. Army Col. Mitch Mitchell. "Get someone in there with a bold solution a different approach that can fix this problem. Right now they aren't fixing it."
In other developments:
President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have steadfastly refused to call the situation in Iraq a civil war, although Rumsfeld at a news conference on Wednesday acknowledged that the violence is increasing.
In the latest violence in Iraq, a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded Thursday in the center of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and injuring 29, police said. At least 13 other people were killed or found dead Thursday across the country, including nine bodies found floating in the Tigris River – some of them bound and with bullet wounds in their bodies.
The U.S. commanders' concessions about the threat of civil war came just three months before congressional elections in which Mr. Bush administration policy in Iraq looms as a defining issue. Many voters have tired of the 3-year-old war, which has cost more than 2,500 U.S. lives and more than a quarter billion taxpayer dollars.
Their assessments echoed those in a confidential report from Britain's outgoing ambassador to Iraq. Ambassador William Patey, in a memo to top British officials quoted Thursday by the BBC, said Iraq is sliding toward civil war and is likely to divide eventually along ethnic lines.
Rumsfeld, who testified alongside Abizaid and Pace, did not comment directly on the prospect of civil war but said Iraq's future lay in the hands of Iraqis, beginning with a reconciliation process that has yet to get under way.
"Ultimately the sectarian violence is going to be dealt with by Iraqis," Rumsfeld said.
CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports Rumsfeld was read the riot act by several Democrats — especially Sen. Hillary Clinton, who said he spent years spinning rosy scenarios while presiding over a failed and incompetent policy.
Rumsfeld denied that he had ever "painted a rosy picture" of the situation in Iraq.
Pressed about the prospect of reducing U.S. troop levels in Iraq, Rumsfeld stuck to his usual assertion that it depends on conditions and on the ability of the Iraqi government to suppress sectarian tensions. He said the Pentagon is seeking a careful balance between having too few troops and having too many.
"That's a fair tension there," Rumsfeld said.
President Bush last week approved an increase in the number of U.S. troops in Baghdad as part of a new effort to help Iraqi security forces get a grip on the sectarian tensions.
On Wednesday, sectarian and political violence claimed at least 53 lives, including 11 young soccer players and spectators who died when two bombs exploded in a field in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad. More than 70 people were killed on Tuesday.
According to figures compiled from Iraqi security and health department figures, more than 1,000 civilians, 135 members of security forces and 143 insurgents were killed nationwide in July. In addition, 1,800 civilians were injured.