Official Sees Strides Amid Setbacks From Violence

The top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq acknowledged Thursday a recent increase in violence against civilians but said the nation had made “magnificent” progress toward building stability, in large part because of its improved security forces.

A day after Iraq’s president reported that the Baghdad morgue had received 1,091 homicide victims during April, Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said Iraqi authorities had markedly increased police and army patrols and been able to stave off worse carnage because civilians had been delivering a record number of tips about suspected insurgents.

“People want to talk about what the enemy did. But they don’t talk about what the enemy couldn’t do,” Lynch said in his weekly media briefing. “And there is a lot he couldn’t do because of that increased presence.”

Lynch said the last 10 weeks had seen a particularly high number of attacks on civilians, about 80% higher than the level of violence late last year. In the last 24 hours there had been 85 attacks around the nation, he said.

On Thursday, violence again struck a broad geographic and demographic spectrum of Iraqis, taking the lives of four police officers, a judicial investigator in central Baghdad, a Sunni politician near Basra, a schoolteacher on her way to work in Baqubah, a doctor working in his clinic in Mosul and four laborers cleaning a street in western Baghdad.

Much of the increase in violence is believed to be connected to sectarian animosity between the now-dominant Shiite Muslims and the Sunni Arab minority that held sway under President Saddam Hussein, toppled in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

“We are indeed concerned about the increased number of attacks against civilians,” Lynch said.

But he hastened to urge the media and other observers to recognize that progress was being made.

The spokesman, giving his last presentation at the media center in Baghdad at the end of his yearlong tour in Iraq, said Iraqi citizens had become “fed up” with the violence. That resulted in a record 5,855 tips to authorities during April, he said, declaring that 99% of them had led to the capture of insurgents or the seizure of weapons.

Lynch cited a caller who observed an insurgent placing a roadside bomb on a bridge between Baghdad and one of its suburbs last week, a tip that led to removal of the explosive within 25 minutes.

“Twenty-five minutes,” Lynch said. “Amazing.”

Other successful interventions that American forces announced Thursday included the Iraqi police’s seizure of an arms cache a day earlier in the west end of the capital. Found inside a home were 142 land mines, 58 blocks of explosives, 22 rocket-propelled grenades and a launcher, and a host of other items. Three men were arrested.

In Baqubah, meanwhile, Iraqi police and army units arrested three dozen gunmen wearing army uniforms who had kidnapped 10 people. Half the hostages were released, but the rest remained missing.

Lynch credited the growing ranks of the Iraqi police and army with leading such actions. About 120,000 men have been added since the start of 2005, for a total of 254,000 in the two forces, he said. Plans called for the total to grow to 325,000 by year’s end, the general said.

The U.S. military has said many of the new recruits are Sunni Arabs, despite repeated violence and intimidation aimed at preventing members of the sect from working for a fledgling government that is now largely in the hands of Shiites.

The jumble of police and government security forces has created its own mix of confused loyalties, exacerbating divisions, particularly in the capital. Senior Iraqi leaders said this week that they had a plan to unite the various authorities under a single command and uniform. President Jalal Talabani spoke of the plan as if it were a certainty. “Baghdad can be secured in one month,” he said.

But Lynch said the consolidation of forces was only an idea worthy of study. And several Baghdad residents said in interviews that they were skeptical the security forces could quickly be remade.

“I support this plan.... It can be implemented. But it will require longer than one month,” said computer programmer Wameed Adil.

“It is not easy to repair something that has been broken for three years.”

American and Iraqi leaders hope the violence will be quelled with the formation of a new government, but negotiators announced no substantial progress Thursday in naming a Cabinet. Prime Minister-designate Nouri Maliki had said earlier that he hoped to present the names for his government to parliament in time for its next session, scheduled for Sunday.