Quote:
AP-WS-07-12-06 0749EDT
July 12, 2006 4:55 AM
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The top U.S. commander in Iraq said Wednesday that ''terrorists and death squads'' are mainly responsible for a surge in sectarian violence in the capital, and he pledged to provide whatever U.S. forces are needed to avert civil war.
Gen. George Casey, at a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, told reporters that al-Qaida is carrying out terrorist killings in the Baghdad area in an attempt to ''demonstrate that they are still relevant'' after the June 7 killing of their leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
'What we are seeing now as a counter to that is death squads, primarily from Shiite extremist groups that are retaliating against civilians,'' Casey said. ''So you have both sides now attacking civilians, and that is what has caused the recent spike in violence here in Baghdad.''
Casey said he was consulting with the Iraqi government on means of counteracting the violence. Asked whether that might include putting more U.S. troops in the Baghdad area, Casey replied, ''It may, yes.''
''We'll make sure there are adequate forces available for the Iraqis to succeed in Baghdad,'' he added. Rumsfeld said earlier Wednesday that the number of Iraqi and U.S. troops in Baghdad had recently grown from 40,000 to about 55,000.
Casey and Rumsfeld were meeting later with Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki and members of his Cabinet, who are under growing pressure to show better results from a monthlong crackdown on violence in the capital.
Rumsfeld said earlier Wednesday on an unannounced visit to an air base north of Baghdad that the new Iraqi government is not yet ready to decide on security issues that will determine the pace of U.S. troop reductions this year.
FM-3-24fd June 2006. Not one reference to "Death Squads". I know what they are, anybody care to comment on this statement by Casey?