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Petraeus Says Boost in Troops May Be Needed Past Summer
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who took command a month ago, said 2,200 military police will be arriving in Baghdad in a few months to support the 21,500 additional troops being sent to Iraq.
(Pool Photo By Chris Hondros Via Associated Press)
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He said he and Odierno had discussed troop levels Thursday morning, "and right now we do not see other requests looming out there." Petraeus added: "We're some months from starting -- from saying, 'Okay, let's continue at this level or determine what else we might do.' "
U.S. and Iraqi officials say they believe militia and insurgent leaders have left Baghdad to avoid the temporary troop increase. Petraeus said commanders are watching areas outside the capital where many insurgents are believed to have traveled.
"The belt areas obviously have to get attention, and that includes portions of Diyala province," he said. "Those areas over which we have concerns will see additional forces flowing into them."
Petraeus also said Thursday that military efforts need to be coupled with political reforms, including the absorption of what he termed "reconcilable" outlaw groups into society.
U.S. and Iraqi officials are "trying to determine over time who are the irreconcilables and who are the reconcilables," Petraeus said. "What the government is trying to do, what those supporting the government are trying to do, are to split the irreconcilables from the reconcilables and to make the reconcilables part of the solution rather than a continuing part of a problem, and then dealing with the irreconcilables differently."
Petraeus, who left Iraq nearly a year and a half ago at the close of a previous tour, said he was struck by the bad shape of some neighborhoods in the capital.
"I must tell you that I was taken aback by what I saw in driving around," he said, listing several sectors of the city that were once heavily populated by Sunnis or that were home to people of both sects. "When I left 17 months ago now, there certainly was not the kind of emptiness in some of the neighborhoods of Baghdad."
The general also said he spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki about an attack on a prison Tuesday night in Mosul during which 140 inmates fled, among them many suspected Sunni insurgents.
"He is very concerned about it," Petraeus said. "He has directed an investigation into it."
The Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni insurgent group, asserted responsibility for the attack.
Petraeus also highlighted the need to expand Iraq's correctional system, which is already crowded, in light of an expected increase in detentions as the security plan gets further underway.
"Iraq has a very, very small capacity in that regard," Petraeus said, adding that short-term and long-term detention facilities are being prepared to take in more inmates. Tens of thousands of people have been detained in recent years by U.S. and Iraqi officials. Few cases go before a judge.
Ricks reported from Washington.
