Iraqi insurgency 'undiminished'

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General Myers insisted that the number of attacks did not reveal the full picture
The most senior officer in the US armed forces, General Richard Myers, says Iraqi insurgents have lost none of their capacity to stage attacks.

The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said there were 50 to 60 attacks a day, the same level as one year ago.

He said it is too early to judge whether a recent surge in violence amounted to a concerted campaign.

The BBC's Pentagon correspondent says US optimism felt after the success of the Iraq elections has dissipated.

Recent attacks

The US Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, said the key to winning the insurgency was ensuring that the political process in Iraq takes hold.


The people that are going to defeat that insurgency are going to be the Iraqis
Donald Rumsfeld

Speaking of the insurgents who have waged a campaign of violence since the invasion by coalition forces in 2003, General Myers said:

"I think their capacity stays about the same. And where they are right now is where they were almost a year ago."

The last week in Iraq has seen a welter of attacks, with dozens dead in suicide bombs and a civilian helicopter brought down outside Baghdad.

But the general insisted it is too early to say whether a new concerted campaign of violence by insurgents is under way.

Incorrect measure

General Myers said just counting the number of attacks was a poor method of measuring the insurgency and pointed out that half of attacks are thwarted.

Debris from Tikrit car bomb
There has been a recent upsurge in violence

"I think we're definitely winning. I think we've been winning for some time," General Myers said.

Nonetheless, the BBC's Adam Brookes at the Pentagon said it was clear that the optimism, euphoria even, that gripped America's military leadership after the success of the Iraqi elections in January, has now dissipated.

The view from Washington is that success in Iraq now depends on the new government in Baghdad and whether or not it can entrench itself and become a cause that Iraqis will deem worth fighting for, our correspondent said.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he did not believe it would be the efforts of US and coalition forces that proved decisive in the battle against the insurgents.

"The people that are going to defeat that insurgency are going to be the Iraqis. And the Iraqis will do it not through military means solely, but by progress on the political side and giving the Iraqi people a sense that they have a stake in that country," Mr Rumsfeld said.

[Learn06]

Man it ain't no other way to say it, them bois is crazy. The white house, pentagon all that... they loosin it.


06

The U.S. gov. oppresses everybody. It's like a morass that they're in and try to drag as many people as they can... Can't look at them with straight face without wanting to look away, they're disgusting.

[Kweku_Omowale]

warrior learn06 amerikkka is like an octopus spreading its tentacles across the globe,by using force,power,intimidation whatever they have up on their sleeves, the white house reeks with the blood of iraqs,africans,asians and other people of color they killed in the course of human history.

[Learn06]

Its reassuring to know, warrior Kweku_Omowale that other people feel the same way. Thanks for the support.