American Forces Refocus Iraq Strategy (& comments by Levin/Hagel)

[Gloria]

1//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates 14/5/2005 07:17 (UAE)

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=164812



AMERICAN FORCES REFOCUS STRATEGY IN IRAQ

By Said Arikat, Special to Gulf News

The writer is an Arab journalist based in Washington



Washington: A recent rise in suicide attacks that has left at least 300 people dead in the last 10 days, has the US commanders rethinking their strategies in Iraq.



Reports suggest the Pentagon is giving higher priority to fighting "foreign and domestic jehadists in Iraq".



(snip)



US officers in Iraq admit that the change may only be a temporary one Sunnis may become more violent if they feel the new political process ignores them but the rise in attacks to 70 a day over the past month is primarily being fuelled by an influx of foreigners, military intelligence suggests.



(SNIP)



Two senior senators, one Democratic and one Republican, said over the weekend that only about one-quarter of the 168,000 Iraqi troops currently being trained are able "or willing" to fight.



The outcome of the political process will also make a difference, one way or another, according to Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.



Levin said if Iraqis fail to write a constitution, elect a new government and develop reliable security forces by early next year, Washington would have to rethink its commitment to Iraq.



Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, agreed.