Iraqi Government Reassigns Top Commanders in Basra

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Iraqi government said yesterday that it was reassigning the top military and police commanders in the southern city of Basra, three weeks after a crackdown on Shiite militias there that was widely criticized as a poorly planned offensive that failed to disarm the fighters.

Iraqi officials said the military commander, Lieutenant General Mohan al-Furaiji, and the police chief, Major General Jalil Khalaf, were not forced out of their positions. Both commanders were being promoted from their Basra posts, which were always meant to be temporary, the officials said.

But some Basra politicians said the moves were likely punishment for the botched execution of a campaign ordered last month by Prime Minister al-Maliki against militias, particularly the Mahdi Army of the anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The crackdown, which left hundreds dead, did not result in a decisive victory for either side.

"It seems that the government wants to blame its failure on somebody," the spokesman for the al-Sadr office in Basra, Ali al-Suaidi, said. "It is not good for the government to change its commanders in such conditions and circumstances, but this indicates the bad planning of the government."

The two commanders said they were dispatched from their posts in the Defense Ministry last year to spend three months working to improve the situation in Basra, an oil-rich city that has been dominated by gangs and militias. Their contracts were then extended for another three months, a period that ended on April 15.

"We did not let down the government in carrying out our duty in the last crackdown and we have carried out a lot of difficult tasks and liberated a lot of areas in Basra from the control of the Mahdi Army," Mr. Khalaf said in an interview. "The Iraqi government is totally satisfied with our performance in Basra, and we will take higher positions in Baghdad."

Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, a military spokesman, said: "The two have done a great job and their efforts were highly appreciated by the commander in chief." He said General Mohammad Jawad will be the new Basra military commander and Major Genera Adel Dahham will become police chief. Mr. Furaiji said he would return to his job as a senior adviser to the Defense minister; Mr. Khalaf would not say what his new post would be.

[Also yesterday, the White House defended its $108 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to be upbraided by senators in both parties for taking a hard line against efforts to add money for domestic programs, the Associated Press reported.

At a sometimes combative Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, the White House budget director, Jim Nussle, chided lawmakers for a "sky-is-the-limit mind-set" regarding "the desire of some in Congress to load up this troop funding bill with tens of billions in additional spending."

Democrats and Republicans alike questioned why American taxpayers should provide an additional $2.9 billion for reconstruction efforts in Iraq at the same time the Iraqi government's coffers are overflowing with revenues because of record oil prices.