Commander: Baghdad Bombing Shows 'Long Way to Go' for Security
Odierno Also Points to 'Steady Progress' Against Baghdad's Rampant Violence

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 13, 2007 1:12 PM

A suicide bombing in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and an attack on a landmark bridge yesterday showed that there is still "a long way to go" in securing the Iraqi capital, a senior U.S. general in Iraq said today, but he also pointed to "steady progress" overall in tamping down the city's rampant violence.

Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multi-National Corps - Iraq, also told Pentagon reporters in a video news conference that the military is not yet sure whether it will need to maintain higher troop levels -- resulting from a current "surge" of reinforcements -- into 2008. He said an initial assessment will be made this summer, probably in July or August, "and we'll make a determination then how long we think we need to maintain the surge."

Odierno, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq after Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, said yesterday's suicide bombing in a cafeteria of Iraq's parliament building "has only strengthened the resolve of the government of Iraq," which held a defiant special session of parliament today to condemn the attack. He said it was not yet known how a suicide bomber penetrated the heavy security in the Green Zone and at the parliament building. Although the bombing is still under investigation, he said, it appears likely that a group linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network carried it out.

An umbrella organization that includes the group known as al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility today for the bombing, which killed one Iraqi lawmaker in addition to the bomber and wounded at least 22 other people, authorities said. A group calling itself Islamic State in Iraq said on a Web site used by Islamic radicals that one of its members "managed to infiltrate into the midst of the apostates of the so-call parliament . . . and God destroyed through him the infidels and apostates," Reuters news agency reported.

The U.S. military today revised downward its initial casualty figures, which had put the death toll from the suicide bombing at eight. "After further research and consultation with government of Iraq officials," the military said, it had determined that only one civilian had been killed.

The dead lawmaker was identified as Mohammed Awad, a moderate member of a small Sunni Muslim party, the National Front for Iraqi Dialogue. Parliament officials said seven of the wounded were also members of the legislature, the Associated Press reported.

"This is undeniably a difficult blow, but it should unify us to confront the evil of terrorism," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, Reuters reported. Saleh, a Kurd, said the attack proved that "terrorism is indiscriminate," noting that it maimed Sunni as well as Shiite Muslims and Arabs as well as Kurds. The insurgency in Iraq is led by members of the Sunni Arab minority, and radical Sunnis in al-Qaeda have sought to foment sectarian violence by targeting Shiites, whom they regard as heretics.

"We are all in one ship. If this ship sinks, we all drown," said Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the speaker of parliament, in a defiant speech opening the special session. "We are a people, and they are a gang. Have you every heard of a gang that has conquered a people in history?"

In the Pentagon news conference, Odierno said the cafeteria attack and a car bombing that brought down a bridge over the Tigris River yesterday "dealt another blow" to the Iraqi people. "It is clear that we still have a long way to go to provide security and stability to the people of Iraq," he said.

Overall, he said "steady progress is being made" in a joint U.S.-Iraqi military operation to secure Baghdad. "But real success is based on sustaining progress over the long term, with eventually Iraqis alone providing security to their people."

Odierno said that "we simply don't know yet" who carried out yesterday's suicide bombing or how the person penetrated security. "Something didn't go right," he said. "There's plenty of defenses there, and they should not be able to penetrate it. But either they figured out a way for us not to detect it or simply somebody didn't do their job, and we have to find out what happened."

He said an investigation being conducted by the Iraqi Interior Ministry with U.S. help "will get to the bottom of it."

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."