Center

US troops turn over Najaf to Iraqis

(AP)
Updated: 2006-12-21 07:47

Police then steered shiny new cruisers and motorcycles with ribbons and flowers stuck to their windshields around a track ringing the soccer field, which was still littered with fur and discarded frog legs.

"Our soldiers do a lot of things, but I've never seen them do anything like that," said Maj. Gen. Kurt Cichowski, who attended the ceremony.

US forces closed their major outpost in the region in September, as the 8th Iraqi Army Division and 6,900 police officers assumed greater responsibility in the province.

American forces will remain on standby in the area in case violence erupts again.

"Every province is important," Cichowski said. "There's 15 to go and we hope we can accomplish that by the end of 2007."

Critics charge that handing over control here was easy because Najaf is overwhelming Shiite and has not faced the same level of sectarian violence as religiously mixed areas like Baghdad.

They have also expressed concern that, with the Americans scaling back, the province could become a key staging ground for Shiite militias with strong ties to soldiers in the largely Shiite army.

"There were the same kind of concerns in Muthana and Dhi Qar and they've done very well," Cichowski countered.

Lt. Gen. Nasier Abadi, deputy chief of staff of the Iraqi Army, acknowledged that militia groups hold sway among many soldiers, but said "they can be weeded out."

Abadi, a veteran of Saddam's army, said the handover was "important for Iraq because up until now, everybody thinks that the coalition is doing the governing, so now Iraqis need to take over the responsibility."

He said his troops lack basic equipment such as aircraft and tanks that will prevent them from handling security in all of Iraq. But he said that he expects U.S.-led forces to provide key equipment throughout next year.

Najaf is home to the iconic Imam Ali shrine, where Shiites believe the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad is buried. Millions make pilgrimages to the city annually, and Shiites from across Iraq come to bury their dead in the huge cemetery.

The city of Najaf endured heavy fighting in 2004 between the US Army and militiamen loyal to radical anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and parts of Najaf lie in ruins. Some violence now is aimed at Shiite pilgrims.

After meeting with President Bush last month in Jordan, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the two leaders agreed on the need to speed up the Iraqi takeover of security responsibilities.

However, even with US troops leading the battle, the Pentagon reported Monday that attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops and Iraqi civilians jumped sharply in recent months to the highest level since Iraq regained its sovereignty in June 2004.

Also Wednesday, a US military statement reported the capture of a senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader during a raid by coalition troops in the northern city of Mosul. It said the suspect served as al-Qaida's military chief in Mosul in 2005 and then took up the same job in western Baghdad. The military did not name the detainee.