Deadliest month for US in Iraq
The number of American troops killed in Iraq in October reached the highest
monthly total in a year Thursday after four Marines and a sailor died of wounds
suffered while fighting in the same Sunni insurgent stronghold.
The US military said 96 US troops have died so far in October, the most in
one month since October 2005, when the same number was killed. The spike in
deaths has been a major factor behind rising anti-war sentiment in the United
States, fueling calls for President Bush to change tactics.
The deadliest month for US forces in Iraq was November 2004, when military
offenses primarily in the then-insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, 40 miles west
of Baghdad, left 137 troops dead, 126 of them in combat. In January 2005, 107 US
troops were killed.
Polls show a majority of Americans are opposed to Bush's handling of Iraq,
and at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, he indicated he shared the
public's frustration even as he pushed back against calls for troop withdrawals.
"I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq," Bush
said. "I'm not satisfied either."
Gen. William B. Caldwell, the US military spokesman, said there had been a
marked decrease in violence in Baghdad since the end of Ramadan, the Muslim
month of fasting, earlier this week.
Caldwell said violence has in the past tended to spike during that month,
then fall off. He also said it was possible increased US patrols and roadblocks
in the search of a missing American soldier could be having an effect.
"Everyone is asking this very same question ... whether this is occurring
naturally or is it due to the fact that we in fact established and are
conducting these additional operations," he said.
US Ambassador Zalmay
Khalilzad announced in Baghdad on Tuesday that Iraqi leaders had agreed that by
the end of the year, they will have a plan that roughly lays out the times by
which they want certain things accomplished.
The next day, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rejected Khalilzad's
announcement and said his government had not agreed to anything. President Bush
responded that al-Maliki was correct in saying mandates could not be imposed on
Iraq, but said the United States would not have unlimited patience.
"You ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it's
complicated, it's difficult," Rumsfeld said regarding deadlines. "Honorable
people are working on these things together. There isn't any daylight between
them."
On Thursday, veteran US diplomat David Satterfield told foreign reporters in
Washington that "there is not a significant disagreement" with al-Maliki. "No
one is imposing benchmarks," said Satterfield, who is Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice's coordinator for Iraq.
In fact, he said, the timelines, which apply also to economic progress, were
worked out over a long period of discussions with Iraqi officials and they
essentially are Iraqi benchmarks.
Echoing the tone used by President Bush on Wednesday, Rumsfeld also said it
is "an enormously challenging process to defeat the terrorists" in Iraq. Bush
had expressed disappointment with the progress in the war.
In other comments, Rumsfeld said the US is considering whether it should
speed up money planned for recruiting, training and equipping Iraqi security
forces. Officials have said training Iraqis to take over security is key to
withdrawing US and other coalition forces.
Since 2004, the US government has earmarked $11.3 billion for assistance to
the Iraqi security forces.
"We intend to increase their budgets" as well as their capabilities, Rumsfeld
said, and officials will help make the improvements more quickly. He did not
cite any figures, however.
His press secretary, Eric Ruff, said a review of their needs is under way.
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