BAGHDAD, 19 October 2006 — American military casualties in Iraq were mounting dramatically amid reports yesterday that allies of US President George W. Bush are pushing him for a new exit strategy. Meanwhile, US troops were ordered by Iraq’s prime minister to free a detained Shiite militant, in more evidence of the political wrangling undermining their mission to halt a wave of sectarian violence.
The US military said at least 10 soldiers were killed Tuesday — including four in a single roadside bomb attack on their vehicle — as the toll for the first half of the month hit 67, or almost four per day. US spokesmen say the casualty surge is partly to be blamed on a spike in violence during the holy month of Ramadan, but the grim news will pile further pressure on the White House.
In another setback for US plans, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki ordered the release of a leading member of radical cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr’s political organization who had been detained by American troops. Sadr’s movement said Sheikh Mazen Al-Saedi — a party precinct captain in Baghdad who was detained on Monday — had been driven to a Sadrist office by the ministry of the interior.
The US military issued a terse statement, saying simply: “Sheikh Saedi was released at the behest of the government of Iraq this morning. All further questions should be directed to the government of Iraq.” Privately, US officials expressed concern over Maliki’s decision to release a man they believe is responsible for sectarian violence, but the prime minister defended his decision.
“We are now trying to find political solutions for all crises,” Maliki told reporters in the central Iraq city of Najaf after meeting Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the senior Shiite religious leader.
“These solutions will definitely put an end to all arrests and tension. By God’s will, things will go back to normal and no one will be arrested except those who have committed crimes against Iraq and the Iraqis.”
Media reports suggest that a panel of experts set up by Bush will soon recommend he abandon plans to build a secure democracy in Iraq and instead look for an exit strategy.
The BBC said the head of the commission, former secretary of state James Baker, believes Iraq is in “one helluva mess,” three-and-a-half years after a US-led invasion overthrew the regime of Saddam Hussein. Maliki dismissed reports that Washington has issued a two-month deadline for his government to make progress in restoring order.
Maliki also met Sadr in Najaf and both called for an end to the violence. “Iraq is undergoing very difficult circumstances,” Sadr said at their joint news conference. “I call for a rejection of sectarianism, kidnapping, sectarian killing and division. I call for the unity of Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites, to act as one hand in building Iraq and ridding it of the daily bloodletting.”
Meanwhile, witnesses told the ousted Iraqi leader’s genocide trial yesterday Saddam Hussein’s troops drove terrified Kurdish villagers into the desert and gunned them down by the truckload.
Two detainees who escaped after last-minute struggles with the death squads told of stumbling into the night while a full moon shone down on a ghostly landscape dotted with mass graves and bullet-riddled corpses.
