BAGHDAD — Iraq has outlined a U.S. plan to stabilize its capital.
Officials said the security plan would flood insurgency-ridden areas of
Baghdad with soldiers and police. They said the operation, expected to begin
over the next three weeks, would target both Shi'ite and Sunni insurgents.
"This plan will not be the last," Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said.
"The battle between us and terrorists is open and continuous."
On Thursday, Al Maliki outlined the security plan in an address to
parliament. In a stormy session, the prime minister said the mission,
entitled "Operation Imposing Law," would not distinguish between Sunni and
Shi'ite insurgents.
"We have no other choice but to use force and any place where we receive
fire will not be safe even if it is a school, a mosque, a political party
office or home," he said. "There will be no safe place in Iraq for
terrorists."
Officials said the Baghdad security plan depended on the deployment of
at least three Iraq Army brigades to the capital. They said the first Iraqi
soldiers have arrived in Baghdad, but the bulk of the force was still
being prepared.
Iraqi and U.S. troops have already intensified operations against Sunni
neighborhoods of Baghdad. On Jan. 24, at least 30 Sunni insurgents were
killed in a battle on Haifa Street in downtown Baghdad.
The U.S. Army supported Iraqi troops with AH-64 Apache attack
helicopters. Iraqi government spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh said the operation
was meant to clear the area north of the Green Zone -- which hosts the
government and U.S. facilities -- of insurgents.
For his part, Al Maliki said Iraqi security forces would establish five
panels to work
with the United States. They said the committees would handle political,
media, public services, economic and community outreach.
To facilitate the counter-insurgency operation, the prime minister said,
Baghdad would be divided into nine sectors. He said Iraqi troops would be in
the lead, supported by U.S. armor and aircraft.
The United States has allocated at least 14,000 troops for Operation
Imposing Law. Officials said the deployment of five additional U.S. brigades
was scheduled to be completed in May 2007.
"The operation aims to disarm all groups and only leave weapons in the
hands of the government," Al Maliki said.
Officials said the Shi'ite government has sought to avoid an operation
in Baghdad's Sadr City, regarded as the haven for the Iranian-sponsored
Mahdi Army. Sadr City Mayor Rahim Al Daraji said community leaders have
agreed that unauthorized weapons would not be displayed.
The Bush administration said the Baghdad security plan would enable the
infusion of reconstruction funds for neighborhoods cleared of insurgents.
Officials said the reconstruction projects would help build goodwill,
particularly from Sunnis, and maintain security.
"A neighborhood has been cleared and secured, we are [then] able to move
monies, to begin employing people, taking them out of their houses, putting
them onto the streets in a positive sense, working, and then to build
longer-term sustainable projects to give a stake in the economy of those
areas, those neighborhoods," State Department senior coordinator on Iraq
David Satterfield told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.
