Iraqi forces need more time, says Al-Maliki

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BAGHDAD, Sept 10 (Agencies): Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told lawmakers Monday that Iraqi forces were not ready to take over security from the US military across the country. There have been tangible improvements in security in the recent period in Baghdad and the provinces but it is not enough," he told parliament.
"Despite the security improvement, we still need more efforts and time in order for our armed forces to be able to take over security in all Iraqi provinces from the multinational forces that helped us in a great way in fighting terrorism and outlaws."
Al-Maliki commented hours before the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and top US commander Gen. David Petraeus were to appear before Congress to deliver reports on Iraq's progress amid a debate over calls to start bringing American troops home.
The two Americans were widely expected to maintain that this year's troop buildup has reduced violent attacks in Baghdad and argue for more time to restore security.
Al-Maliki said that violence had dropped 75 percent in the Baghdad area since the US began pouring in additional troops at the start of the year. He gave no figures.
"The key to reconstruction, economic development and improving peoples' standard of living is security," he said.
Still, attacks in the capital have picked up in recent days in the run-up to the report and as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan nears, a time when violence usually spikes higher.
On Monday, US and Iraqi troops backed by helicopters killed three civilians in the Shiite slum of Sadr City in a pre-dawn raid on the home of a suspected militia leader, police and residents said.
Ground forces searched four houses but failed to find the suspect, US spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl said. He identified the suspect only as a "a criminal militia special group commander," a term associated with splinter factions of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
Meanwhile, a bomb blew up around noon near the Shiite Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding six others, police said.
The US command also announced that a US soldier, whose patrol in the Kirkuk area was hit with rockets on Sunday, had died from injuries sustained in the attack.
Amid the violence, al-Maliki was called before parliament to give his own assessment of the security situation in Iraq. Despite intense US pressure to move ahead with 18 benchmark laws - including one that will allow for the reintegration of members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party into political life and another on oil revenue sharing - none have yet been taken up by parliament for discussion.
The so-called de-Baathification draft law was finally presented by al-Maliki's Cabinet to parliament on Monday, and the legislature scheduled discussion to begin on it next week, said Wissam al-Zubaidi, an adviser to deputy parliament speaker Khaled al-Attiyah.