Petraeus: Iraq Situation Is 'Exceedingly Challenging'

A surge of U.S. troops into Iraq has achieved "some notable successes" in recent months, but the situation remains "exceedingly challenging" as Americans battle a resilient al-Qaeda network capable of spectacular attacks and deal with a fractious Iraqi government composed of political leaders with "narrow agendas," the top U.S. commander in Iraq said today.

Presenting a mixed picture to Pentagon reporters at a news briefing, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus declined to specify how many U.S. troops might need to stay in Iraq in coming years. But he said the U.S. effort "clearly is going to require enormous commitment and commitment over time." He also warned that it "may get harder before it gets easier" and told Americans to be prepared for "more combat action and . . . more casualties" as troops move into new areas.

While al-Qaeda is "probably public enemy number one" in Iraq, Petraeus said, Iran has become increasingly active, providing help to "extremist secret cells" that have targeted U.S. forces. He said a group that carried out a brazen assault on a U.S. post in Karbala in January, killing one American soldier on the spot and four others after abducting them, had links to Iran, although there was no evidence of Iranian involvement or direction in that particular attack.

Petraeus pointed to "heartening" signs that Sunni Muslim Arabs in the western province of Anbar are increasingly "turning against al-Qaeda" and joining the Iraqi security forces to fight against the largely foreign-led group.

He described the development as part of a U.S. effort to "engage with Sunni tribal sheikhs and former insurgent leaders" and to "reach out to moderate members of all sects and ethnic groups to try to drive a wedge between the irreconcilables and the reconcilables." He said the aim is to "help the latter become part of the solution instead of part of the problem."

Petraeus, 54, a 33-year veteran of the Army, told reporters that "the operational environment in Iraq is the most complex and challenging I have ever seen." He said it was much more complicated than when he ended a previous tour there in September 2005, and "vastly more complex" than the situations he saw in Central America, Haiti and the Balkans earlier in his career.

He delivered the briefing as the U.S. Senate was debating a $124 billion emergency war-funding bill that includes provisions for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq starting Oct. 1 this year, with a goal of ending U.S. combat operations there by April 1, 2008. The House narrowly passed the bill last night, defying President Bush's repeated threats to veto it.

Asked to assess the consequences if the United States started pulling back from Baghdad in the fall, Petraeus initially demurred, saying he has "tried to stay clear of the political mine fields of various legislative proposals."

But he then added, "My sense is that there would be an increase in sectarian violence, a resumption of sectarian violence, were the presence of our forces and Iraqi forces, at that time, to be reduced and not to be doing what it is that they are doing right now."

He said the plan to increase U.S. troop strength in Iraq to carry out a joint security operation for Baghdad and reinforce Anbar province came "in response to an increase in sectarian violence" last year. About 30,000 troops, including support personnel, are being deployed to Iraq as part of the plan, and all are expected to be on the ground by mid-June, Petraeus said.

So far, he said, "sectarian murders" in Baghdad have been reduced to about a third of their level in January. He said the killings by Shiite and Sunni sectarian groups are still unacceptably high but that the decrease represents a measure of progress in making Baghdad neighborhoods safer.

In addition to the destructive actions of al-Qaeda, extremist militias and Sunni insurgent groups, other threats to U.S. aims in Iraq come from "political parties with ethno-sectarian interests, limited governmental capacity and corruption," as well as from "exceedingly unhelpful activities by Iran and Syria," Petraeus said.