Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch at his weekly press briefing said:

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... There has been, from this 14-day period -- 15 to 28 March -- to the most recent 14-day period -- 29 March to 11 April -- a decrease in the number of attacks. And there's been, in terms of Baghdad proper, about two attacks less per day in that reporting period, about an IED less per day and a small-arms fire attack less per day. The enemy's still out there. Baghdad's the center of gravity. He wants to stop the formation of a national unity government. So operations continue, and he's doing these most horrific acts.

The one that's most notable over the last week is the bombing of the Shi'a mosque up in Buratha with four suicide bombers. Horrendous affect in terms of innocent civilians killed and wounded -- the innocent men, women and children of Iraq that are the target of Zarqawi and al Qaeda in Iraq. And what he tried to do in that day last week is he tried to inflame sectarian violence. Let's take four suicide bombers, let's take them to that Shi'a mosque, let's detonate, let's kill a lot of innocent civilians, let's damage the mosque if at all possible and let's see what happens. Let's cause this cycle of violence to continue. Let's see the Shi'as now, as a result of this attack, turn against the Sunnis and conduct significant attacks.

That didn't happen. It didn't happen. And people say, well, why didn't that happen? That's because we've got effective security force presence on the streets in Baghdad. It's because the government of Iraq appealed to the people of Iraq for calm. It's because religious and local leaders said enough is enough and break the cycle of violence.

So Zarqawi's still out there. Al Qaeda in Iraq still wants to inflame sectarian violence. That is an indication of what he's capable of doing, and we will continue our operation with the Iraqi security force to keep him from doing what he wants to do.

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