A US commander has warned that the level of violence in Iraq is likely to increase - not decrease - after sovereignty is returned to Iraqis in a week.
Marine General Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said insurgents were likely to step up attacks against US troops and Iraqi civilians as the country moves towards installing a permanent representative government in elections next year. "We should expect more violence, not less, in the immediate weeks ahead," General Pace said at an often contentious hearing of the House Armed Services Committee.
For months, top US officials have said that violence was likely to level off or even decrease after the June 30 transfer of sovereignty as insurgents view their goal of derailing the political process as unattainable.
General Pace's comments indicate that the US Government is recalibrating its assessment of the strategy and capabilities of the insurgency.
Shortly after ousted dictator Saddam Hussein was captured in December, some US commanders in Iraq predicted that the insurgency would lose steam, yet 2004 has seen some of the bloodiest months for US troops in Iraq.
General Pace and Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who also spoke to the committee on Tuesday, testified that while Iraqi security forces were expanding rapidly, they would require the backing of a significant number of US and coalition forces for the foreseeable future.
Mr Wolfowitz, who recently returned from a trip to Iraq, testified that there were signs of progress but said that he could not predict exactly how long foreign troops would need to remain. It would depend, he said, on when Iraqis would be able to assume security responsibility.
"I can't tell you how long that's going to take," he said. "It's dangerous. I remember when people were up here eight years ago saying we'd be in Bosnia only for a year. We are finally about to end the Bosnia mission - what is it? - eight years later. This is a vastly more important mission for our national security, and it's important to stay and finish it."
The US army, which is carrying most of the fighting burden in Iraq, has drawn up detailed plans for maintaining more than 140,000 troops there until January 2007, a senior army official said.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell was last night set to swear in John Negroponte as Washington's new ambassador to Iraq.
- Los Angeles Times
Marine General Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said insurgents were likely to step up attacks against US troops and Iraqi civilians as the country moves towards installing a permanent representative government in elections next year. "We should expect more violence, not less, in the immediate weeks ahead," General Pace said at an often contentious hearing of the House Armed Services Committee.
For months, top US officials have said that violence was likely to level off or even decrease after the June 30 transfer of sovereignty as insurgents view their goal of derailing the political process as unattainable.
General Pace's comments indicate that the US Government is recalibrating its assessment of the strategy and capabilities of the insurgency.
Shortly after ousted dictator Saddam Hussein was captured in December, some US commanders in Iraq predicted that the insurgency would lose steam, yet 2004 has seen some of the bloodiest months for US troops in Iraq.
General Pace and Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who also spoke to the committee on Tuesday, testified that while Iraqi security forces were expanding rapidly, they would require the backing of a significant number of US and coalition forces for the foreseeable future.
Mr Wolfowitz, who recently returned from a trip to Iraq, testified that there were signs of progress but said that he could not predict exactly how long foreign troops would need to remain. It would depend, he said, on when Iraqis would be able to assume security responsibility.
"I can't tell you how long that's going to take," he said. "It's dangerous. I remember when people were up here eight years ago saying we'd be in Bosnia only for a year. We are finally about to end the Bosnia mission - what is it? - eight years later. This is a vastly more important mission for our national security, and it's important to stay and finish it."
The US army, which is carrying most of the fighting burden in Iraq, has drawn up detailed plans for maintaining more than 140,000 troops there until January 2007, a senior army official said.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell was last night set to swear in John Negroponte as Washington's new ambassador to Iraq.
- Los Angeles Times
