More US troops for Baghdad

2003-04-29 18:36

Baghdad - The US administration running post-war Iraq said on Tuesday it was beefing up security in Baghdad after local leaders said safety in the chaotic city was preventing basic services from being restored.

It said thousands more US troops would be poured into the Iraqi capital, which has been plagued by violence, robberies and looting since the ouster of Saddam Hussein despite a night curfew enforced by the US military.

The announcement came one day after a political meeting to plan an interim government saw Iraqi delegates insist that security was their top priority in the chaotic period since Saddam's fall on April 9.

Jay Garner, the retired US general in charge of Iraq, told a news conference here that making people feel safe was "the first step toward bringing normalcy back to Baghdad."

He said US troops would be carrying out patrols with members of a new Iraqi police force being established.

"In the next two weeks an additional three to four thousand soldiers will move in to protect the city," said a top Garner aide, Major General Glenn Webster.

"We have over 12 000 soldiers serving (in Baghdad) now but as you know better than me, this is a large and bustling city and 12 000 soldiers can be easily lost in a city this size," he said.

Webster said security was needed to bring back basic services, especially electricity, the lack of which has caused serious problems in hospitals overwhelmed by those wounded during the war.

But Garner's British deputy, Tim Cross, warned that remnants of Saddam's Baath party were trying to thwart any attempts to get basic services back on line.

"There's no doubt in my mind at all that there are some people out there who are trying to take over parts of the city. It is organised," Cross said.

"We have to find them and we have to deal with them," he said, noting that the coalition is detaining some 5 000 suspects.

US-led coalition 'sole power' in Iraq

Garner also insisted the US-led coalition was the sole power in Iraq. "All others who pretend to be authority are false," he said.

He stressed that his team would be focussing on security and basic services, and asked for help from the local population to weed out would-be powers trying to stake a claim to control in the capital.

"You have to help us with those people who are saying they have authority when they do not," Garner said.

"The police have to be acceptable to you and the people of Baghdad. But that's something you, the people, have to help us with."

On Sunday, US Central Command announced that coalition troops had arrested Mohammad Mohsen Zubeidi, a former exile who had proclaimed himself "governor" of Baghdad, because he "exercised authority he did not have".

Garner stressed: "We need all the public services back to normal. Turn on the lights, turn on the water, get the children back to school."

He said committees were being formed to tackle specific security issues.

- AFX