US warns of higher Iraq casualties
Pastor Dale Morgan
US warns of higher Iraq casualties
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From correspondents in Washington
June 22, 2007 07:48am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said US forces face more tough
fighting in Iraq while his top military adviser says the rising level of
violence is the "wrong metric" for judging the surge.
The comments today by Mr Gates and General Peter Pace, the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, came as the US military reported 14 US
soldiers killed in three days of fighting in Iraq.
Gen Pace acknowledged that levels of violence are now higher than they
were before the start of a surge in US forces in January, but both he
and Mr Gates said it was because more troops are moving against
insurgent sanctuaries.
"We certainly hope and pray that that level of casualties will not be
sustained, it will not continue," Mr Gates said. "But they are in the
middle of a battle and we just will have to deal with that."
Today alone, six US soldiers were killed, five of them by a roadside
bomb in northeast Baghdad that also killed an Iraqi interpreter and
three Iraqi civilians.
The latest deaths raised the US death toll for the month to 59. In May,
120 US troops were killed in fighting, the most in a single month since
US and Iraqi troops stormed the insurgent-held city of Fallujah in
November 2004.
Gen Pace said "our enemy is going to want to impact the psyche here in
the United States with regard to the number of significant incidents
that they're able to pull off and the total numbers of the casualties
that they will produce".
"So it is an expectation that this surge is going to result in more
contact and, therefore, more casualties," he said.
Levels of violence are "up a little bit" in June compared to May, he said.
US combat brigades individually are encountering roughly the same number
of attacks as before the surge, between five and seven a day, he said.
But with five additional brigades in Iraq the overall numbers are up.
But, when asked if commanders expect that the offensive now underway
will reduce the violence before a September progress report to Congress,
Gen Pace said, "if you try to define this in terms of level of violence,
you've really put yourself on the wrong metric".
"It isn't about X number today, Y number tomorrow, because the enemy
gets a chance to vote in that. And he will take a look at what you're
measuring and try to defeat that measurement, so to speak," he said.
"The metric really should be for Iraqi citizens: Do they feel better
about their lives today than they did yesterday? And do they think
they're going to feel better about their lives tomorrow than they do today?"
Mr Gates and Gen Pace also defended alliances struck between US forces
and members of Iraqi insurgent groups against Al-Qaeda, even though some
of them may recently have fought US troops.
"After all, it's a strategy that worked extraordinarily well in Al Anbar
province, in terms of working with the local tribes and so on," Mr Gates
said.
"And so I think this is trying to get more of the people who have been
shooting to stop shooting and work with us," he said.
He said it was "really the pathway forward, in terms of accomplishing
our objective and getting them to work with the Iraqi government".
Gen Pace disclosed that in addition to tribal leaders in the western
al-Anbar province, about 130 Sunni sheiks in the Tikrit area have banded
together to fight Al-Qaeda.
He acknowledged the risks of arming such groups.
"But I think the greater risk is in not seizing the opportunities, as
they become available," he said.
In comments published on Sunday by Newsweek magazine, Iraqi Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned that the US tactic was "dangerous because
this will create new militias".
"I believe that the coalition forces do not know the backgrounds of the
tribes," he said, adding that arming such groups "should be under the
control of the (Iraqi) state and we should have guarantees that it will
not turn into a militia".
The press conference was the first time Gen Pace and Mr Gates have
appeared together since the secretary's surprise announcement that the
general would not be nominated for a second term as chairman of the
Joint Chiefs.
Asked whether he had been treated fairly, Gen Pace said it was "an
honour and a privilege" to serve, adding, "I am going to be chairman
until midnight on 30 September".