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| U.S. denies Iraq moving toward chaos |
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| www.chinaview.cn
2006-11-02 05:27:47
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WASHINGTON,
Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The White House denied on Wednesday that Iraq was moving
toward chaos as demonstrated in a classified military chart published by The New
York Times the same day.
"If you got the same report last week, you would have
found out the national sectarian incidents from the 21st to the 27th (of
October) dropped 23 percent; casualties nationwide dropped 23 percent; incidents
of sectarian violence in Baghdad dropped 23 percent; sectarian killings in
Baghdad dropped 41 percent," White House spokesman Tony Snow told a news
briefing.
The Times reported Wednesday that a one-page slide,
prepared by the Central Command for a Oct. 18 briefing, showed Iraq was edging
toward chaos.
The slide, which included a color-coded bar chart
used to illustrate an "Index of Civil Conflict," showed a sharp escalation in
sectarian violence since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February,
and tracked a further worsening in October despite a concerted American push to
tamp down the violence in Baghdad.
Snow said the military conducted briefings on Iraq
regularly that the slide, published by the Times, "was a snapshot taken at the
height of the Ramadan violence."
"You had a snapshot at a single point; when it was
violent," he said.
The Times report said that in fashioning the indexes,
the military was weighing factors like the ineffectual Iraqi police and the
dwindling influence of moderate religious and political figures, rather than
more traditional military measures such as the enemy's fighting strength and the
control of territory.
The conclusions the Central Command had drawn were
not encouraging, the report said. The slide showed Iraq as moving sharply away
from "peace," an ideal on the far left side of the chart, to a point much closer
to the right side of the spectrum, ared zone marked "chaos."
Related:
Rumsfeld hints he may approve
increase of Iraqi security forces
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on
Tuesday that he was "comfortable" with a proposal to increase the size of Iraqi
security forces, indicating he might approve the proposal.
"I'm very comfortable with the increases they've proposed
and the accelerations in achievement of some of their targets," Rumsfeld told
reporters.
The defense chief was replying to a question about a news
report that the top U.S. commander in Iraq, George Casey, would recommend
increasing Iraq's security forces by up to 100,000 soldiers and police.
There were currently about 310,000 members in the Iraqi
security forces, and the planned target by year's end was 325,000, which
included the army, police and border control forces.
Rumsfeld did not disclose the number of soldiers in the
proposed increase, but said the final decision would be announced in Baghdad,
the Iraqi capital.
Casey said at a news conference last week that the Iraqi
Defense Ministry had planned to increase its forces.
The United States now had about 150,000 troops in Iraq,
slightly higher than last week.
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