Iraq blames US for attacks

2004-03-03 19:32

Baghdad - The US-led coalition in Iraq is under fire from angry Iraqis who blame their occupiers for failing to keep the peace almost a year after ridding the country of Saddam Hussein.

And officials warn the violence may rise as Iraq continues along the road to democracy, with US overseer Paul Bremer due to transfer sovereignty on June 30.

Many people in Baghdad and Karbala, where a series of co-ordinated blasts on Tuesday killed more than 180 people and injured hundreds of others, blamed the United States for failing to protect them.

"The Americans are the cause of all the trouble and I want them to leave," declared Khalil Ismail, a 35-year-old decorator in the Iraqi capital.

"It is true that there are some terrorists who want to create trouble but they will fail. Iraqi people can secure a stable future on their own," he said.

Following Iraq's deadliest day of violence since the fall of Saddam, senior Shi'ite Muslim clerics, whose followers make up more than 60% of the population, also pointed the finger at the United States.

"We hold the occupying forces responsible for being unwilling to control the borders of Iraq and stop intruders," said a statement from the office of the country's leading Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

The coalition, however, defended itself arguing that it was impossible to prevent 100% of the attacks 100% of the time.

"Terrorists have to be successful once in a while to be very successful," said coalition provisional authority spokesperson Dan Senor.

"To protect against terrorism we have to be successful every single time," he told a news conference on Tuesday, adding that this was an impossible feat.

For his part, US Brigadier General Mark Kimmit said that his troops' ability to fight the insurgency, which appears intent on sparking a civil war between the Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim communities, was improving.

"We have a high level of security across the country all the time," Kimmit told reporters on Tuesday.

"We hope to get better every day. We hope that every time there is an attack like this, it is one last trick the terrorists can use."

The stakes for peace are high as the US-picked interim Governing Council is due to sign into law a temporary constitution in the coming days after it delayed the ceremony from Wednesday in respect for the victims of the attacks.

In addition, with the United States due to hand over sovereignty to a caretaker Iraqi government at the end of June "we expect to see a spike in violence," a senior coalition official told reporters on Wednesday.

- AFP