Prashant Rao
Agence France Presse
BAGHDAD: Muslim clerics slammed Iraqi authorities in their Friday prayer sermons over massive bombings last week, as a top US general warned that he expected insurgents to plan more spectacular attacks.
Among Baghdad’s critics was Sheikh Abdel-Mehdi al-Karbalai, a representative of Iraq’s top Shiite religious leader, who called for a review of security measures in the capital.
Sunday’s twin suicide bombings, targeting government offices in central Baghdad, killed 153 people and left more than 500 wounded, the deadliest attacks in the country in more than two years.
“With insurgents having repeated the same bombings, with the same style and in the same secure area, we have to review the security plan that has been implemented in Baghdad,” Karbalai said, referring to similar attacks on other ministries in August that killed around 100 people.
“I demand immediate and urgent checks for the reasons that led to the bombings,” said the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Security remains tight in Baghdad, with several roads closed off, and stringent checks at multiple checkpoints across the capital.
More than 60 members of the Iraqi security forces have been arrested in connection with the attacks, and the prime minister and his interior and defense ministers are to face questions in parliament.
Baghdad’s Governor Salah Abdel-Razzaq has called for Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani and Baghdad Operations Command chief Lieutenant General Abboud Qanbar to be sacked over the attacks, which have been claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq, a group linked to Al-Qaeda.
US Major General John D. Johnson, the deputy commander of US operations in Iraq, warned in an interview with AFP that American and Iraqi security forces expected insurgents to plan more massive attacks like Sunday’s.
“I think we can’t rule out some of these groups’ desires to conduct a large attack because they’re able to garner a lot of media attention and it’s an attempt on their part to be relevant … and an attempt to intimidate the people,” he said.
Asked whether he expected insurgents to attempt more such bombings, he replied: “I can’t speak for what it is that they want to try to do, these are the kinds of things that we expect them to attempt to do.”
Johnson added that while he expected the security situation to stabilize by the middle of next year, politically motivated violence aimed at influencing the shape of the next government was a concern.
The latest bombings came just a day after Iraqi Army chief Lieutenant General Ali Ghaidan Majeed warned of an increase in violence in the run-up to the general election.
Johnson said that he believed there was a risk of more violence not only before the vote, but also after it as the various factions in the new parliament thrash out a new government line-up.
“Certainly, we are looking at that as a possibility, and working with our Iraqi counterparts to make sure that they are the best prepared they can be in the event that that’s what happen,” he said.
“So if it happens, it certainly won’t catch us by surprise.
“There is a likelihood that those who want Iraq not to progress into the future, who don’t want political solutions to the issues that the Iraqis face, will try to use violence to disrupt that … in the run-up to the election, and after the election.
“They will know that the election is a very important point, but that the seating of the government after the election is equally important.”
The number of attacks in Iraq, and the overall death toll, is sharply down on a year ago, but spectacular bombings continue to exact a high loss of life.
The number killed in last Sunday’s bombings was almost as high as the death toll for the whole of September.
Iraqi poll delay could stall US pullout
Lara Jakes
Associated Press
WASHINGTON: US troops could leave Iraq later than currently planned if the fragile nation’s elections are delayed, the Defense Department said Thursday.
Military commanders have said they want to keep the 117,000 soldiers now in Iraq in place for around two months after the scheduled January 16 elections to ensure security during the government transition.
But with a political deadlock in Baghdad over how to register voters in the northern oil-rich Kirkuk Province the balloting could be delayed.
“That’s why we are hanging on to as large a force as we can in Iraq,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
“Obviously, we’ll make judgments and assessments based upon how far it’s delayed and whether or not we need to retain this certain force level for longer,” he added.
Under a January 1 security agreement, the US will withdraw all its troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.
President Barack Obama also has set an August 31, 2010, deadline to end US combat missions in Iraq, in part by sending home all but 50,000 soldiers.
But Sunday’s bombings at government ministries in Baghdad, which killed 155 people, underscore the security threats and vulnerability in a nation where some US officials have declared the war is all but over.
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