Iraqis see reduction in violence amid push against insurgents

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government announced yesterday that it detained nearly 900 suspected militants and set up more than 800 checkpoints in a two-week sweep that appears to have reduced violence in the capital.

Iraqi officials say offensives like Operation Lightning, along with the trial of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein, could help deflate the insurgency waged by Hussein loyalists and Islamic extremists.

More than 840 people have died in the violence since the government was announced April 28, but the daily death toll has fallen slightly in the past three days.

Iraq's first freely elected government in more than 50 years replaced Hussein's regime, which had long suppressed Shi'ite and Kurdish communities in favor of minority Sunni Arabs.

The Sunni fall from power has been considered a major cause of the violence, which persisted late Sunday and early yesterday. Mortar attacks and drive-by shootings killed nine Iraqis and two militants.

The latest figures released from Operation Lightning, which began May 22 in Baghdad, included at least 887 arrests and the establishment around Baghdad of 608 mobile and 194 permanent checkpoints. Also, 38 weapon stores were raided.

The operation is the biggest Iraqi-led offensive since Hussein's ouster two years ago. Before it began, authorities controlled only eight of Baghdad's 23 entrances. Now all are under government control.

Hussein will stand trial on 14 charges, ranging from gassing thousands of Kurds to executing political and religious leaders, and draining ancient marshlands, according to a list obtained yesterday from the special tribunal.

The former dictator is expected to be put on trial within two months. He will probably take the stand behind a bulletproof glass dock in a custom-made courtroom, reportedly being built inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, the base of Iraq's government and home to the US Embassy.

Hussein's lawyers lashed out at plans to start the trial within two months and complained about a lack of access to Hussein and 11 other top members of his toppled regime, who are incarcerated in a US-run facility near Baghdad airport.

Iraqis are desperate for Hussein's trial to start and, more important, to end, said Laith Kuba, spokesman for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. It would, he argued, close the door on an ugly period of Iraq's history.

''The prime minister has picked up many messages from the public, who are saying things like 'why the delay in putting Saddam Hussein on trial,' " Kuba said. ''He [al-Jaafari] has met with the judges and asked: Is there a delay in the process, and where are we on the process?"

If held within two months, the trial would begin in the middle of another milestone in Iraq's post-Hussein reconstruction -- the final stages of drafting a new constitution. The charter must be completed by Aug. 15 and approved in a referendum two months later.

The impact of both events taking place simultaneously remains unclear, but they guarantee intense international attention and could further increase tensions in this volatile country.

In Jordan, Hussein's chief lawyer, Khalil al-Duleimi, criticized Iraq's government for speeding up the trial. ''A fair and just trial needs a period of no less than a year to review all the papers, which are said to weigh 36 tons," he said.

Duleimi also warned the government about publicizing the charges his client will face. ''If Saddam was charged in the absence of his lawyer, this is a violation of Geneva Conventions and international agreements," he said.

In Najaf on Sunday, anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr told the Associated Press in an interview that he would steer clear of Iraqi politics as long as US troops remain in the country, and accused the current government of legitimizing the occupation instead of preparing for its end.

''As long as the occupier is here, I will not interfere in the political process," he said.