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Petraeus is 'safe in Baghdad'
07/10/2007 16:40 - (SA)
East Of Baquba - The US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, suggested over the weekend that security had improved enough in Baghdad for him to walk parts of the capital's streets without protection.
"Arguably you could do that now," Petraeus told a small
group of reporters at a US military base in Diyala province on
Saturday when asked if there would come a day when he could walk
the capital's streets without numerous armed guards.
"Nobody will let me do it," he said, smiling.
A US-backed security crackdown, launched in February with
the aid of 30 000 additional American troops, has helped bring down levels of violence in Baghdad.
But bombings and sectarian death squad killings still occur
and Iraqis say they are constantly fearful. Three bombings
killed eight people in Baghdad on Sunday.
Petraeus, an easygoing four-star general, likes to get out
among Iraqis and see the situation on the ground for himself. He
is heavily protected on such outings.
Petraeus said he did not want to sound naive. He referred to
a roadside bomb attack on the convoy of the Polish ambassador in which he was wounded in Baghdad last week.
"The problem of course is that there is the ever present,
there is the always lurking (threat) as happened tragically to
the Polish ambassador," said Petraeus.
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