Iraqi Prime Minister Vows New Crackdown on Baghdad Violence
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s prime minister said Saturday that Iraqi forces will lead a new effort – with U.S. help – to wrest control of Baghdad’s neighborhoods from militias and other sectarian killers.
“The Baghdad security plan is now ready, and we will depend on our armed forces to implement it with multinational forces behind them. Field leaders will ask for help from these forces if needed,” Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a speech at the 85th anniversary celebration of the Iraqi army.
Iraqi forces will begin a neighborhood-by-neighborhood assault on militants in the capital this weekend, as a first step in the new White House strategy to contain Sunni insurgents and Shiite death squads, key advisers to the prime minister said.
The first details of the new plan – a fresh bid to pacify the capital – emerged Friday, a day after President Bush and al-Maliki spoke for nearly two hours by video conference. Bush was also expected to detail his vision of a new strategy in the coming days.
It was unknown whether the new effort had begun by Saturday afternoon. There was no evidence of elevated American or Iraqi troop levels on Baghdad’s streets, and there were only routine levels of violence.
