BAGHDAD, 12 September 2003 — The US ground forces commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, called on the American people yesterday to gird themselves for the long haul, warning that the worldwide war launched after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks would be a long one.

“It was clear then as it is clear today that ... this was a long war that we would have to embark on, that it would be a tough war because of the insidious nature of terrorism, that we would have to make some sacrifices, we as the US military and we as the US people,” Sanchez told a Baghdad news conference.

“That feeling has reinforced as I have spent my time here in Iraq. It is clear to me that this is the next battleground in this global war on terrorism that we have now embarked on for the past two years and it will continue for some time.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the American people are committed to winning this war,” he said as US troops around the country, designated by Washington as the “central front” in its war against terrorism, held commemorations to mark Sept. 11.

Asked whether there was any connection between ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the mastermind of the 9 11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden, Sanchez said: “It is very possible.

“That was the fundamental assumption we had as we came in here and that is what we are going on.

“We are looking for any terrorist element that is operating here as we are looking for Saddam.”

Sanchez said the anniversary broadcast of an appeal from Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network for a holy war against US troops in Iraq might spark intensified attacks.

“Clearly it could stir up some additional activity,” he said.

“We have had terrorist attacks against the coalition, the international community and the people of Iraq. We are heightening our awareness every day.”

“It is a very difficult issue,” he said. “All the international community have to focus on eliminating that threat here in the country.”

The US general said a massive car bomb blast which rocked the northern city of Arbil on Tuesday night was a terrorist attack that was believed to have targeted Americans.

“This was another terrorist attack that occurred up in Arbil,” he said. “It is more than likely that the Americans were the target.”

Sanchez that “according to our best estimates”, three Iraqis were killed in the blast as well as the suicide bomber. More than 40 were injured along with six Americans.

US defense officials said the Americans included four military intelligence officials engaged in “sensitive” work in Arbil.

The general denied feeling any frustration over the coalition’s failure to capture Saddam.

“Would it help if Saddam Hussein were captured? Of course it would,” he acknowledged. But it is not a reason for us to be disappointed about what is happening in this country. We have to be optimistic.

“In Baghdad you are talking a city of almost six million people, so I am not surprised he can hide.”

Sanchez also said coalition ground forces will investigate the detention of two reporters from the Arabic satellite television Al-Jazeera, but insisted their arrests were justified.

Asked by an Al-Jazeera correspondent whether the arrests -- the eighth involving the television’s journalists here since the war -- amounted to “harassment,” Sanchez said: “There is an investigation ongoing.”

But he insisted: “There was justification to hold these two reporters based on their comments.”

Atwar Bahjat, a female correpondent for the Qatar-based satellite network, and a colleague were released earlier yesterday after spending the night in a US military holding camp at Baghdad airport.

The television said they had been detained while covering a bomb attack in the Al-Ghazzaliyah district of the capital.

It charged that Bahjat’s glasses and microphone had been scattered on the ground during her arrest Wednesday night, which had been made “in a violent way.”