US calls for more Iraqi troops

BAGHDAD -- A top US military commander in Iraq called for more Iraqi troops to police troubled areas yesterday, a day in which at least 26 people were killed in attacks on civilians and police across the troubled nation.

Major General Rick Lynch, commander of the Army's 3d Infantry Division, said the Iraqi troop shortage was forcing him and other commanders to recruit residents to police their own neighborhoods.

"We need to add confident, capable Iraqi forces to maintain security," he said. "They are getting better every day, but they are just not enough. There has to be aggressive recruiting to get more Iraqi soldiers and police on the rolls, properly trained and properly equipped."

Last week, the Bush administration delivered its latest status report on the war in Iraq to Congress, which gave Iraqi security forces poor marks. Although the Iraqi government has established joint US-Iraqi security stations and sent more combat troops into the capital, both deemed benchmarks of progress, the report said Iraqi security forces were struggling to meet the equally important benchmarks of working independently and shedding sectarian influences. According to the report, the number of Iraqi soldiers working independently has decreased since January because of the shortage of officers and combat casualties.

General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted last week that the Pentagon's next Iraq strategy review, due in September, might include recommendations for attaching more American troops to Iraqi units as advisers.

Yesterday, Lynch, who oversees troops south of Baghdad and in the southern provinces of Babil, Karbala and Najaf, said he needed to increase Iraqi security forces by one-third, with seven more Iraqi army battalions and five more Iraqi police units to secure the area. An Iraqi army battalion can be made up of 500 to more than 700 soldiers.

Iraq has about 349,000 soldiers and police, according to US Navy Rear Admiral Mark Fox, a military spokesman. At a Sunday news conference in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Fox said that, in addition to the manpower shortage, the Iraqi security forces, particularly police, also are coping with endemic corruption among their ranks, a "shortfall of loyalty."

Lynch stressed that it would be unrealistic to expect Iraq to build up its army and police overnight. He predicted that it would take until the autumn to clear militant sanctuaries in his area of operation, where 15,000 American troops are assigned, and a "significant amount of time" to secure the area. Lynch said he expected to start handing over the area to Iraqi security forces next spring.

Faced with the security forces shortage, the US military has endorsed community watch groups to help fill the gaps.

"We are engaging with local population and asking them to be brought into security. Even if they are not legitimate members of Iraqi security forces, they want to secure their towns, their villages," Lynch said.

Lynch said he was confident that US had made headway since the United States began a buildup of 28,500 troops in February, and that they remained committed to improving Iraqi security forces. "We are not leaving the battle space till we transfer it over to Iraqi security forces," Lynch said.

Yesterday's violence included at least two attacks on Iraqi security forces. Gunmen attacked a group of border guards outside the northern town of Tanjavin, near the Iran border, killing seven guards and injuring one.