ASSOCIATED PRESS Melissa Weston, 7, of Kearney, Neb., clung to her father, Sgt. Jason Weston, at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Neb., yesterday. About 250 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers arrived yesterday for a welcoming ceremony after serving 15 months in Iraq.

Generals fear surge won’t hold

Iraqi army 'not quite up to the job yet'

STORY SUMMARY »

BAQOUBA, Iraq » The Schofield-based commander of a new offensive against al-Qaida militants north of Baghdad said yesterday his Iraqi partners might be too weak to hold onto the gains.

The Iraqis do not even have enough ammunition, said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, the 25th Infantry Division's deputy commander for operations.

Bednarek's counterpart south of Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, seemed to agree, saying U.S. troops are too few to garrison the districts newly rid of insurgents.

The two commanders spoke after a deadly day for the U.S. military in Iraq. At least 12 soldiers were killed on Saturday from roadside bombings and other causes, leaving at least 31 dead for the week.

In the U.S. offensive dubbed Operation Arrowhead Ripper, some 10,000 American troops were in their sixth day of combat to drive Sunni al-Qaida militants from their stronghold in Baqouba.

Between 60 and 100 suspected al-Qaida fighters and one U.S. soldier have been killed so far in the fighting in western Baqouba, said Bednarek.

The Schofield Barracks-based commander of a new offensive north of Baghdad, reclaiming insurgent territory day by day, said yesterday his Iraqi partners might be too weak to hold onto the gains.

The Iraqis do not even have enough ammunition, said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek: "They're not quite up to the job yet."

Bednarek is deputy commander for operations with the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division. The Schofield-based 25th Combat Aviation Brigade is providing helicopter support for Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diyala province.

His counterpart south of Baghdad seemed to agree, saying U.S. troops are too few to garrison the districts newly rid of insurgents. "It can't be coalition (U.S.) forces. We have what we have. There's got to be more Iraqi security forces," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch.

The two commanders spoke after a deadly day for the U.S. military in Iraq. At least 12 soldiers were killed on Saturday, leaving at least 31 dead for the week.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, the Iraqi High Tribunal yesterday sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," and two others to death for their roles in the suppression of Iraq's restive Kurdish minority during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, a campaign prosecutors said left 180,000 dead.

Al-Majid, a cousin of executed former President Saddam Hussein and a one-time Baath Party leader in the north, was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for ordering army and security services to use chemical weapons in the offensive against the independence-minded Kurds of northern Iraq, viewed by Saddam as traitors and Iranian allies.

Ex-defense minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, a former deputy operations director for the Iraqi military, also were sentenced to hang for the anti-Kurdish atrocities. Two former intelligence officials under Saddam were sentenced to life in prison, and charges against a former governor were dismissed.

In the U.S. offensive dubbed Operation Arrowhead Ripper, some 10,000 American troops were in their sixth day of combat to drive Sunni al-Qaida militants from their stronghold in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Between 60 and 100 suspected al-Qaida fighters and one U.S. soldier have been killed so far in the fighting in western Baqouba, Bednarek said. About 60 insurgents were detained, he said, and between 50 and 100 insurgents were inside a U.S. security cordon in the city.

He said U.S. forces now control about 60 percent of the city's west side, but "the challenge now is, how do you hold onto the terrain you've cleared? You have to do that shoulder-to-shoulder with Iraqi security forces. And they're not quite up to the job yet."

Across Diyala province, where Baqouba is the capital, Iraqi troops are short on uniforms, weapons, ammunition, trucks and radios, he said.

Bednarek predicted it would be weeks before Iraqi police and soldiers could keep al-Qaida out of western Baqouba, and months before they could secure the city's east side and outlying villages.

Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division and of an operation clearing Baghdad's southern outskirts, agreed with Bednarek.

He cited statements by Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the outgoing head of the training command who told a congressional panel this month that the Iraqi army, now 159,000 troops, needs at least 20,000 more in order to free U.S. troops from some missions.