World

Tension Ebbs At Iraq Flashpoints

April 16, 2004 / 8:24 AM EDT / CBS/AP

An Iraqi leader said he saw "flexibility" on the side of an anti-American cleric amid diplomatic efforts to end a standoff with U.S. troops in one of the holiest Shiite cities.

U.S. commanders said they expect to soon rotate some of the troops surrounding Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, a sign that imminent combat was not expected.

Elsewhere, U.S. AC-130 Spectre gunships were in action before dawn Friday over Fallujah, the site of fierce fighting that has left hundreds of Iraqis dead, raking militant hideouts with machine gun fire. Hospital officials tell CBS News Reporter Lisa Barron that 15 people were killed. Militants also fired mortar shells at U.S. positions overnight.

But U.S. military and civilian officials planned to meet Friday with leaders from Fallujah, U.S. officials said, the first report of direct negotiations between Americans and city representatives since the siege began 12 days ago.

Until now, a U.S.-allied Iraqi leaders have been holding talks with city representatives trying to find an end to the violence.

Meanwhile, Denmark's Foreign Ministry said a Danish businessman was believed kidnapped, while a Sunni leader said a Chinese citizen was released.

In other developments:

An American civilian was abducted from a hotel by kidnappers disguised as policemen, the Basra police chief said.

Meeting at the White House, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are looking to show a united front on Iraq, hoping to boost public support and bolster a wobbly military coalition.

CBS News foreign affairs Analyst Pamela Falk reports that after a late-night meeting with Blair, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan "appeared more confident that a new U.N. Security Council resolution would clear the way for a transition government and an international military presence in Iraq."

Mr. Bush secretly ordered a war plan drawn up against Iraq less than two months after U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan and was so worried the decision would cause a furor he did not tell everyone on his national security team, says a new book on his Iraq policy. (The book, by Bob Woodward, is published by a company owned by Viacom, which also owns CBS.)

The Bush administration is viewing positively a U.N. envoy's plan for a caretaker government to succeed the U.S. administration in Iraq.

The government envisioned by Lakhdar Brahimi would be led by a prime minister, and there also would be a president as head of state and two vice presidents. Also, a conference would be called after the June 30 end of the U.S. occupation to create a consultative assembly that would have no legislative powers.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said it was premature for the administration to endorse the outline. The New York Times reported in Friday editions, however, that the administration had accepted the outlines of the proposal.

Brahimi has warned that security must be improved greatly for elections to be held early next year.

Violence has spiked in recent weeks as U.S. troops battled a Shiite militia in southern cities and Sunni gunmen in Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

U.S. commanders have vowed to "kill or capture" the militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, but have so far limited their actions to small skirmishes on the outskirts of Najaf.

Iranian envoy Hossein Sadeghi was in Najaf Friday, but representatives of al-Sadr said the envoy had no meetings with the anti-American cleric. Sadeghi's visit was arranged by Britain and appeared to have the approval of the United States, reflecting an eagerness to find a solution that would avert a U.S. assault on the city.

Shiite Governing Council member Ibrahim al-Jaafari said he saw "flexibility from al-Sadr's side" and called on the Americans to show "similar flexibility."

While bitter enemies, both Iran and the U.S. want to avoid a U.S. attack on Najaf, site of the holiest Shiite site — the Imam Ali Shrine, only yards away from the office where al-Sadr is located, surrounded by armed gunmen.

Some 2,500 U.S. troops are ringing the city. But U.S. Maj. Neal O'Brien said the units at Najaf "will not complete this operation" and will likely be replaced by other troops — a rotation that suggests that an assault on the city is not imminent.

Al-Sadr on Monday withdrew his militiamen from police stations they had occupied in Najaf, Kufa and Karbala last week — meeting a key U.S. demand.

Negotiations now appeared focused on dissolving the al-Mahdi Army — a demand al-Sadr has refused — and how to deal with al-Sadr himself. U.S. officials want him put to trial on charges he was involved in the assassination last year of a rival Shiite cleric.

Meanwhile, Iraq's top U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer, was involved in "multiple channels" to try to negotiate an end to the standoff in the south and in Fallujah, said U.S. Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

But Myers warned there was a limit as to how long the U.S. Marines can wait. "At some point somebody has to make a decision on what we're going to do, and we certainly can't rule out the use of force there again," he told a news conference.

A U.S. soldier was killed Wednesday in the central city of Samarra, north of Fallujah — raising to 88 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in April, the deadliest month so far for the Americans in Iraq.

As of Thursday, April 15, 687 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he did not expect so many recent American casualties.

"I certainly would not have estimated that we would have had the number of individuals lost that we have had lost in the last week," Rumsfeld said in answer to questions at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Rumsfeld announced that about 20,000 troops will stay in Iraq longer than they had been told to help quell the violence.