Commander: Baghdad Bombing Shows 'Long Way to Go' for Security

Odierno added that progress in security Baghdad is "not about one or two single events; it's about an overall feeling of security you get in your neighborhood. And we're tackling this neighborhood by neighborhood."

He said, "Al-Qaeda wants to make it about one or two events. They want to try to incite chaos."

Asked what he would say to Iraqi lawmakers who pronounced the security plan dead because of yesterday's bombing, Odierno said they were speaking "out of frustration."

"All those statements do are encourage insurgents," he said. "They encourage al-Qaeda. What we have to do is stick hard together, continue to work side by side, again, to provide security to the people. Overall, we are starting to do that, but we are going to have bad days. Frankly, yesterday was a bad day, a very bad day, but we're going to come back from that."

Odierno cited the establishment of "26 joint security stations" and "over 21 combat outposts" across Baghdad, saying the "continuous presence" is making Iraqis feel safer and bringing in more tips.

"We are seeing a drop in sectarian murders in Baghdad, and some displaced families are returning to the city," he said. Since the security operation began two months ago, discoveries of arms caches per week have doubled, and yesterday a joint force disrupted a key cell that provided roadside bombs to both Sunni and Shiite militant groups throughout Iraq, he said.

In the volatile western province of Anbar, long a stronghold of Sunni insurgents and foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaeda, provincial residents "are fighting back and winning," Odierno said. "They've effectively turned back the tide of al-Qaeda, but there will be counterattacks by al-Qaeda."

The general accused Iran of continuing to provide "arms, training and safe haven to terrorists targeting Iraqis and coalition forces." He said a number of caches of Iranian-supplied weapons have been found in the past two weeks, including one with more than 120 "Iranian explosively formed projectiles," deadly armor-piercing weapons known as EFPs that the U.S. military says have been used in roadside bombs targeting its convoys.

He said the U.S. military is trying to determine whether the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is providing support not only to Iraqi Shiite militias but also to Sunni insurgent groups. Shiite clerics hold ultimate power in Iran and have thrown their support behind Shiite political and militant groups in neighboring Iraq.

Asked why Iran would help Sunni insurgents, who have engaged in sectarian strife against Shiites, Odierno said, "I think it's mainly because they want to continue to create chaos in Iraq. They do not want this government potentially to succeed. But additionally, I think they want to try to tie down coalition forces here."