Maliki: Iraqi forces need more time

Maliki: Iraqi forces need more time
Not ready to take over security from U.S. military

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told lawmakers Monday that Iraqi forces were not ready to take over security from the U.S. military across the country.

"There have been tangible improvements in security in the recent period in Baghdad and the provinces but it is not enough," he told parliament.

"Despite the security improvement, we still need more efforts and time in order for our armed forces to be able to take over security in all Iraqi provinces from the multinational forces that helped us in a great way in fighting terrorism and outlaws."

Al-Maliki commented hours before the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and top U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus were to appear before Congress to deliver reports on Iraq's progress amid a debate over calls to start bringing American troops home.

The two Americans were widely expected to maintain that this year's troop buildup has reduced violent attacks in Baghdad and argue for more time to restore security.

Al-Maliki said that violence had dropped 75 percent in the Baghdad area since the U.S. began pouring in additional troops at the start of the year. He gave no figures.

"The key to reconstruction, economic development and improving peoples' standard of living is security," he said.

Still, attacks in the capital have picked up in recent days in the run-up to the report and as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan nears, a time when violence usually spikes higher.

On Monday, U.S. and Iraqi troops backed by helicopters killed three civilians in the Shiite slum of Sadr City in a pre-dawn raid on the home of a suspected militia leader, police and residents said.

round forces searched four houses but failed to find the suspect, U.S. spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl said. He identified the suspect only as a "a criminal militia special group commander," a term associated with splinter factions of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.

Meanwhile, a bomb blew up around noon near the Shiite Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding six others, police said.

The U.S. command also announced that a U.S. soldier, whose patrol in the Kirkuk area was hit with rockets on Sunday, had died from injuries sustained in the attack.

Amid the violence, al-Maliki was called before parliament to give his own assessment of the security situation in Iraq. Despite intense U.S. pressure to move ahead with 18 benchmark laws - including one that will allow for the reintegration of members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party into political life and another on oil revenue sharing - none have yet been taken up by parliament for discussion.

The so-called de-Baathification draft law was finally presented by al-Maliki's Cabinet to parliament on Monday, and the legislature scheduled discussion to begin on it next week, said Wissam al-Zubaidi, an adviser to deputy parliament speaker Khaled al-Attiyah.

Though his government has been widely criticized for failing to bridge sectarian divides, al-Maliki insisted that progress had been made.

"We have achieved success in preventing Iraq from going into sectarian war and I am fully confident that national reconciliation is our only way that takes Iraq into safety," al-Maliki said.

In the U.S. raid on Sadr City, troops came under fire while moving into the search area and as they departed and fired back, Bleichwehl said.

Al-Sadr late last month declared a "freeze" on his Mahdi Army's activities so that the militia could regroup, but the U.S. has said breakaway factions over which al-Sadr has no control have continued to fight.

"Coalition forces returned proportional and precise fire on the enemy while being engaged..." Bleichwehl said in an e-mailed response to questions. "The unit sustained no casualties and there are no reports of civilian casualties."

But residents showed Associated Press Television News the coffins of the people they said were killed in the raid - a woman and her two daughters. Residents lifted the blanket from inside one of the simple wood coffins to show the bodies of two little girls lying next to each other.

A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, confirmed the woman and two girls were killed in the firefight.

"Neither the government protects us nor does Bush defend us," lamented resident Abu Ali. "What shall we do?"

In the Sunni city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi troops got into a fierce firefight with suspected al-Qaida in Iraq fighters in a morning assault. Twelve of the insurgents were killed and three U.S. soldiers were wounded, the military said in a statement.

U.S. and Iraqi forces came under heavy from insurgents inside buildings while clearing the area, the military said.

The ground forces returned fire, while AH-64 Apache helicopters provided support from the air.

Three al-Qaida suspects also were detained, while a fourth person at the scene was identified as a hostage being held for ransom.

The injured soldiers were taken to Balad Air Base for treatment and were all in stable condition, the U.S. military said.