BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces vowed Thursday to destroy the "scumbags" attacking them in Iraq (news - web sites) as British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) became the first Western leader to visit the country after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein
Blair's lightning visit to southern Iraq came as the U.S. military, stung by persistent disorder in Baghdad and attacks that have killed six U.S. soldiers since Sunday, reshaped its forces to deal more effectively with the twin threats.
"There are still some regime thugs," said Maj. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division. "They are not significant and are relatively easy to take out," he said, describing them as ill-trained "scumbags."
Blair, who gambled his political career on the Iraq war, brushed aside growing controversy at home over the justification for ousting Saddam as he flew to the southern city of Basra to laud the conduct of his troops.
"When people look back on this time and look back on this conflict, I honestly believe they will see this as one of the defining moments of the century. And you did it," Blair said.
Back in Britain, however, there were new allegations that parliament and the public were duped in the lead-up to the U.S.-led war into believing allegations about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.
Saddam's alleged deadly arsenal was the main justification cited by Blair and President Bush (news - web sites) for going to war.
BBC Radio quoted an unnamed senior British official as saying a dossier compiled by the intelligence services had been altered at the request of Blair's Downing Street office to make it "sexier" by adding a statement that Saddam's weapons could be ready for use within 45 minutes.
Downing Street denied the claim. In Baghdad, Lt. Gen. David McKiernan told a news conference a recent spate of attacks on U.S. troops in central Iraq was the work of diehard Saddam loyalists who had no future.
"That's who is attacking and that is who we will oppose and destroy," he said, adding that the ambushes might have been orchestrated locally but were not a "trend across Iraq."
He said an American soldier had been killed Thursday in an attack on a convoy north of Baghdad, the sixth to die violently since Sunday.
U.S. FORCES RESHAPED
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that U.S. troops may have killed three Iraqi men when their patrol came under fire in a town north of Baghdad Monday.
A local hospital had received three bodies shortly after the patrol returned fire at the occupants of a truck, which then sped off, it said in a statement.
The reshaping of the U.S. forces in Iraq saw the army's 1st Armored Division take over Baghdad from the 3rd Infantry Division Thursday, possibly freeing the latter to tighten security in troubled towns west of the capital.
"We are looking at all options, including sending additional combat power," McKiernan said, referring to Sunni Muslim cities such as Falluja and Ramadi.
A U.S. military spokesman said the number of military police in Baghdad would rise to 4,000 in the first week of June from about 2,500 now. Altogether, 56,000 troops are in the capital, out of a total of 149,000 in Iraq, he said.
Interactive:
Downtown Baghdad
McKiernan said U.S. forces had stepped up patrols in Baghdad, some involving Iraqi police. A ban on possession of automatic and heavy weapons is due to take effect on June 14.
In the latest unrest, townsfolk rioted in Hit, west of Baghdad, Wednesday in protest at what they said were intrusive arms searches by Iraqi police backed by U.S. troops.
McKiernan said he had no details of the incident, in which a police station was set on fire, but said there had been no U.S. casualties. A U.S. helicopter was damaged in the area, but not as a result of hostile action, he said.
"We are not Saddam's men," a resident named Abu Qasim told Reuters correspondent Wafa Amr in Hit Thursday. "Saddam is gone, but we want the (U.S.) occupation to end."
More than 500 Shi'ite Muslims marched in Baghdad to demand the release of religious leaders they said U.S. forces had arrested in Hilla and Najaf, south of the capital.
Some of the protesters distributed a leaflet from the previously unknown "military wing" of al-Hawza, the powerful Shi'ite religious seminary in the shrine city of Najaf.
The leaflet said U.S.-led forces would be targeted by suicide bombers if they carried out further arrests.
Blair's lightning visit to southern Iraq came as the U.S. military, stung by persistent disorder in Baghdad and attacks that have killed six U.S. soldiers since Sunday, reshaped its forces to deal more effectively with the twin threats.
"There are still some regime thugs," said Maj. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division. "They are not significant and are relatively easy to take out," he said, describing them as ill-trained "scumbags."
Blair, who gambled his political career on the Iraq war, brushed aside growing controversy at home over the justification for ousting Saddam as he flew to the southern city of Basra to laud the conduct of his troops.
"When people look back on this time and look back on this conflict, I honestly believe they will see this as one of the defining moments of the century. And you did it," Blair said.
Back in Britain, however, there were new allegations that parliament and the public were duped in the lead-up to the U.S.-led war into believing allegations about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.
Saddam's alleged deadly arsenal was the main justification cited by Blair and President Bush (news - web sites) for going to war.
BBC Radio quoted an unnamed senior British official as saying a dossier compiled by the intelligence services had been altered at the request of Blair's Downing Street office to make it "sexier" by adding a statement that Saddam's weapons could be ready for use within 45 minutes.
Downing Street denied the claim. In Baghdad, Lt. Gen. David McKiernan told a news conference a recent spate of attacks on U.S. troops in central Iraq was the work of diehard Saddam loyalists who had no future.
"That's who is attacking and that is who we will oppose and destroy," he said, adding that the ambushes might have been orchestrated locally but were not a "trend across Iraq."
He said an American soldier had been killed Thursday in an attack on a convoy north of Baghdad, the sixth to die violently since Sunday.
U.S. FORCES RESHAPED
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that U.S. troops may have killed three Iraqi men when their patrol came under fire in a town north of Baghdad Monday.
A local hospital had received three bodies shortly after the patrol returned fire at the occupants of a truck, which then sped off, it said in a statement.
The reshaping of the U.S. forces in Iraq saw the army's 1st Armored Division take over Baghdad from the 3rd Infantry Division Thursday, possibly freeing the latter to tighten security in troubled towns west of the capital.
"We are looking at all options, including sending additional combat power," McKiernan said, referring to Sunni Muslim cities such as Falluja and Ramadi.
A U.S. military spokesman said the number of military police in Baghdad would rise to 4,000 in the first week of June from about 2,500 now. Altogether, 56,000 troops are in the capital, out of a total of 149,000 in Iraq, he said.
Interactive:
Downtown Baghdad
McKiernan said U.S. forces had stepped up patrols in Baghdad, some involving Iraqi police. A ban on possession of automatic and heavy weapons is due to take effect on June 14.
In the latest unrest, townsfolk rioted in Hit, west of Baghdad, Wednesday in protest at what they said were intrusive arms searches by Iraqi police backed by U.S. troops.
McKiernan said he had no details of the incident, in which a police station was set on fire, but said there had been no U.S. casualties. A U.S. helicopter was damaged in the area, but not as a result of hostile action, he said.
"We are not Saddam's men," a resident named Abu Qasim told Reuters correspondent Wafa Amr in Hit Thursday. "Saddam is gone, but we want the (U.S.) occupation to end."
More than 500 Shi'ite Muslims marched in Baghdad to demand the release of religious leaders they said U.S. forces had arrested in Hilla and Najaf, south of the capital.
Some of the protesters distributed a leaflet from the previously unknown "military wing" of al-Hawza, the powerful Shi'ite religious seminary in the shrine city of Najaf.
The leaflet said U.S.-led forces would be targeted by suicide bombers if they carried out further arrests.
