Post by Moses on Apr 6, 2005 17:32:29 GMT -5
Wed 6 Apr 2005
US troops hinder Iraq's stabilisation claims MPs' report[/size]
ANDREW MARSHALL AND ED JOHNSON
EXCESSIVE use of force by United States troops in Iraq has antagonised Iraqi civilians and made the process of rebuilding the country more difficult, a British parliamentary committee said in a report published yesterday.
The House of Commons foreign affairs committee said the slow pace of reconstruction had fuelled the insurgency, and suggested Iraq had replaced Afghanistan as a training ground for international terrorists.
"Excessive use by the US forces of overwhelming firepower has also been counterproductive, provoking antagonism toward the coalition among ordinary Iraqis," the report said, echoing the concerns of British officials.
Some have privately complained that the US military is too heavy-handed in Iraq, compared with British soldiers, who often patrol on foot and in berets instead of helmets in an effort to win the trust of Iraqis.
The report was published as militants continued a campaign of violence and terror that has undermined efforts to rebuild the country in the wake of the invasion more than two years ago.
The US military yesterday said dozens of insurgents fought American and Iraqi troops in a fierce battle in remote marshlands east of Baghdad, killing two US troops and an Iraqi soldier before being driven away.
The battle erupted on Monday afternoon when two Iraqi army battalions were carrying out a "cordon and search operation" in the easterly Diyala province, the military said in a statement.
"The mission to search for weapons cache sites in the area uncovered dozens of terrorists and a firefight ensued."
Around 100 US troops with Bradley fighting vehicles moved in to back up the Iraqi forces, and called in air support. The area was still being searched yesterday, the US army said.
Recent weeks have seen a number of large-scale engagements between US troops and guerrillas - an unusual development as insurgents generally favour hit-and-run attacks.
On Saturday, more than 40 US soldiers and 12 prisoners were wounded when insurgents attacked Abu Ghraib jail west of Baghdad with suicide bombs, mortars and small-arms fire. The battle raged for around an hour.
In other violence yesterday a US soldier was killed and four were wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
Roadside bombs also killed four civilians in Salman Pak and two policemen in the southern city of Basra, police said. A car bomb in south-west Baghdad killed an Iraqi civilian.
In Hilla, south of Baghdad, a local government official was assassinated, police said, and a tribal chief was shot dead in the town of Baquba north-east of the capital.
The commander of a special armoured unit of the Iraqi army, Brigadier General Jalal Mohammed Saleh, was kidnapped in Baghdad late on Monday. Insurgents have kidnapped several leading officials and military officers, and often kill them and post footage of their deaths on the internet.
This article:
news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=361512005