BAGHDAD, Iraq – The top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq acknowledged Thursday that a much-touted security crackdown by American and Iraqi forces had failed to reduce violence in the Iraqi capital and called the results “disheartening.”
With attacks in Baghdad having increased by 22 percent during the past three weeks, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said military planners might have to go back to the drawing board.
“We’re obviously very concerned about what we’re seeing in the city,” Caldwell said. “We’re taking a lot of time to go back and look at the whole Baghdad security plan. We’re asking ourselves if the conditions under which it was first devised and planned still exist today, or have the conditions changed and therefore a modification to that plan needs to be made.”
Despite the joint operation, launched in June, sectarian violence between Sunni Arabs and Shiites continues unabated, Caldwell said, and insurgents are targeting American troops.
Caldwell said at least 73 U.S. troops have been killed so far this month.
The U.S. military announced the death of a Marine on Thursday and two American soldiers Wednesday.
Seven suicide attackers struck across northern Iraq on Thursday, targeting American and Iraqi troops as well as civilians. The attacks killed at least 20 Iraqis and wounded 80 others. Elsewhere, at least 16 other Iraqis died in various attacks.
Most of the U.S. deaths this month have taken place in the capital, where troops had stepped up patrols as part of Operation Together Forward.
In August, Gen. George Casey ordered the extended deployment of about 4,000 troops from the 172nd Stryker Brigade, moving a total of about 12,000 additional Iraqi and American troops on to the streets to conduct house-to-house searches and disarm Sunni Arab insurgents and Shiite militias.
That month, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the offensive would “go a long ways toward determining the future of Iraq and the future of the Middle East.”
Despite the thousands of heavily armored American troops, the bloodshed has continued unabated
In September alone, the Iraqi Health Ministry reported that more than 2,660 civilians were killed in Baghdad.
Privately, U.S. officers say Shiite militias – some affiliated with Iraqi government security forces – are responsible for most of the attacks against U.S. troops as well as on Sunni civilians. But commanders on the ground often find themselves stymied when going after Shiite militias, especially those affiliated with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose political bloc controls 30 seats in Parliament.
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