Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: raq attacks persist amid bleak CIA view

Iraq attacks persist amid bleak CIA view
Tuesday 07 December 2004, 12:25 Makka Time, 9:25 GMT
Attacks on US-led forces in Iraq have continued amid the CIA painting
a very pessimistic picture about how the situation there is likely to
pan out.
A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi National Guard patrol south of
Baghdad on Tuesday, killing three guardsmen and wounding 11, an
official said. 
The guardsmen were patrolling an area near Jibala, 60km south of
Baghdad, when the attack occurred. 
Also on Tuesday, a US marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary
Force died in what the military described as "a non-hostile motor
vehicle accident" in al-Anbar province.
Base shelled
Meanwhile, the US military headquarters in al-Kadhimiya district north
of Baghdad came under mortar attack, Aljazeera learned.
Columns of smoke were seen rising from the site. There were no
immediate reports on casualties resulting from the attack. 
 
The CIA has cautioned that
security might not improve soon
 
The violence, including a roadside bomb attack on a US patrol in
Baghdad on Monday that wounded one soldier, persisted despite
offensives intended to suppress anti-US opposition before January's
elections. 
The US military said its troops captured 14 Iraqis, including 10
wanted for making explosive devices. 
Seven, captured in al-Siniya, about 250km north of Baghdad, on Monday,
were alleged members of a car bomb-making cell. 
Another seven, including three accused of bomb-making, were captured
in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown.
CIA pessimistic 
The situation in Iraq is unlikely to improve anytime soon, according
to a classified cable and briefings from the CIA, the New York Times
reported on Tuesday. 
The assessments are more pessimistic than the Bush administration's
portrayal of the situation to the public, 
government officials told the newspaper. 
The classified cable, sent last month by the CIA's station chief in
Baghdad after the completion of a one-year tour of duty there, painted
a bleak picture of Iraq's politics, economics and security, and
reiterated briefings by senior CIA official Michael Kostiw. 
The cable, described as "unusually candid", cautioned that security in
the country was likely to deteriorate unless the Iraqi government made
significant progress in asserting its authority and building up the
economy. 
New role for troops 
The top US commander in the Gulf region sees the role of US troops in
Iraq possibly shifting as early as next year to focus less on combat
and more on training Iraqi security forces, the Washington Post
reported. 
 
Abizaid is especially worried 
about Mosul
 
Army General John Abizaid did not set a timetable for the shift,
saying it would depend on the outcome of the January elections and
evidence Iraqi forces were ready to handle the fighters, the newspaper
said.
The US Central Command chief was quoted as saying the reshaping would
include such changes as "more embedded trainers" and possibly more
special operations forces replacing conventional ones.
 
According to the Post, other senior US officers said Abizaid's plan
would not necessarily lead to an immediate reduction in US troops
levels, but could pave the way for an eventual reduction. 
 
The Pentagon announced last week that it would boost its troop level
in Iraq to 150,000 this month, the highest level since the Iraq war
began in March 2003, in order to improve security for scheduled 30
January elections.
The Post said Abizaid admitted being especially worried about the
situation in Mosul, where most of the city's police fled after an
onslaught by anti-US fighters last month.
Aljazeera + Agencies 
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C0BCE2EB-EE49-4057-AE63-2BC847DC23CF.htm


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C0BCE2EB-EE49-4057-AE63-2BC847DC23CF.htm
Scusa tanto, ma aljazeera non mi pare la fonte più attendibile, nel
riportare il punto di vista della CIA...
Raffaele
-- 
Raffaele Castagno
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