BAGHDAD, Iraq – Visiting Iraq after the bloodiest month for U.S. forces since the invasion, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld received an upbeat assessment of the security situation from U.S. commanders, who cited a recent sudden drop in insurgent attacks and a series of intelligence successes.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, head of U.S.-led forces in Iraq, attributed the sharp reduction – from an average of nearly 40 attacks a day in mid-November to fewer than 20 now – to intensified assaults on suspected loyalists of the ousted president, Saddam Hussein. This, in turn, has encouraged Iraqi informants to come forward with valuable tips, Sanchez said.
Rumsfeld noted the improved situation with approval, but he added, “I think it’s too early to say it’s a trend.”
During his 12 hours in Iraq, Rumsfeld stopped in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk, chatted with troops, met with Iraqi officials and consulted with civilian occupation authorities. It was his third trip to Iraq this year.
One of the main objectives of the trip, a senior aide said, was to assess the Iraqi security forces, whose numbers have soared in recent months from zero in June to more than 140,000 at present. Ranging from police and building guards to army soldiers and border patrolmen, these home-grown forces are at the center of the Bush administration’s strategy for ceding security responsibilities as quickly as possible to Iraqis and withdrawing U.S. troops.
Rumsfeld focused especially on the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. With 11,000 members so far, the corps constitutes one of the smaller elements in the Iraqi force. But it has become a favorite of U.S. commanders because its units, after receiving several weeks of basic military training, are attached to U.S. forces, providing critical language skills and insights into Iraqi culture.
In Baghdad, Rumsfeld visited a camp used to train the corps. And in Kirkuk, he met a group of corpsmen attached to the 173rd Airborne Division, telling them that Pentagon officials had “given a great deal of thought” to setting up the corps and that U.S. troops have “a high degree of confidence” in them.
While in Kirkuk, Rumsfeld received a generally encouraging briefing from Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, whose 32,000 troops are responsible for an area north of Baghdad to Kirkuk and east to the Iranian border, where much of the anti-U.S. violence has been concentrated.
Odierno reported that U.S. troops have made substantial progress in defending against hidden explosive devices, one of the primary causes of troop casualties. By stepping up night patrols and using aerial surveillance to spot suspicious digging, he said, U.S. forces have been able to discover about 75 percent of the devices before they go off, up from 10 percent to 15 percent initially.
The general also said the percentage of attempted attacks that result in damage to U.S. or coalition forces has declined to 5 percent. And he expressed confidence that much of the border with Iran – a goods smuggling and terrorist infiltration route – is now under control, thanks in large part to a 1,200-strong force of Iraqi border patrolmen.
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