US President George W Bush was to call today for swifter democratic
reforms in the Middle East amid continuing violence in Iraq and
Pentagon plans to rotate US troops there.
Bush was expected to acknowledge anger at US policies that long valued stability over freedom in the oil-rich region, where three Iraqis were killed late yesterday in an attack on an American convoy in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi police said.
The governor of Najaf meanwhile shut down government offices in the main city of the central Iraqi province to protest a lack of security, and the current president of the interim Governing Council said he would visit Turkey later this month in a bid to ease the crisis over the possible deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq.
Bush, in a major speech at the nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy, will focus on the Middle East, "the region that has been most deprived of freedom," arguing that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's ouster has given the entire region fresh opportunity to embrace democratic change, White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said.
But events in Iraq highlighted the problems facing the US-led coalition there as it seeks to bring democracy and stability to the war-torn country.
The US convoy was at a crossroads in Mosul when assailants opened fire, hitting a nearby vehicle and killing all three occupants, police officers at the scene said.
A US soldier was wounded, as was an Iraqi woman who was in another vehicle, the policemen said, asking not to be named.
A passerby, Mahmud Nizam Mahmud, 36, said a rocket propelled-grenade was fired, missing the US convoy but hitting a civilian vehicle.
To date, 140 US soldiers have been killed in action since Washington declared an end to major hostilities on May 1, as compared with 114 during the main six-week offensive.
In Najaf, Governor Haidar Mehdi Matar al-Mayyali launched an open-ended strike after leading a silent march to denounce the slaying of a local judge who was investigating officials of the ousted regime.
The demonstrators blamed the coalition for the deteriorating security situation in the central province.
Mayyali and other leaders called for more powers to be handed over to local authorities and for former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to be removed from the government.
Mayyali earlier met Robert Ford, representative of US overseer Paul Bremer, and an officer from the multinational forces controlling his region.
According to Wednesday's Washington Post, Bremer has given conditional support to the creation of an Iraqi-led paramilitary force to more effectively hunt down resistance fighters.
Proposed by the Governing Council, the force would be composed of former members of the military and police and members of the security and intelligence wings of five political organizations, US and Iraqi officials told the daily.
It would include a domestic intelligence-gathering unit and have broad powers to conduct raids and interrogate suspects, they added.
Bremer, initially opposed to the idea, does not have "any objection in principle, but wants several conditions to be met in vetting, training and supervising its participants," a US official in Baghdad said.
On the ground, US troops said they captured two former Iraqi generals suspected of being key financiers and organisers of anti-coalition fighters operating in and around the city of Fallujah.
The two were captured in a raid Tuesday in the city 50 km west of Baghdad that has been a hotspot of violence against US troops.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld meanwhile signed orders to set in motion a force rotation in Iraq next year that will send back US Marines along with active duty army and national guard and reserve units, a senior defense official said.
The rotation would involve the replacement of the bulk of the 132 000 US troops now in Iraq and will include some 35 000 to 45 000 national guard and reservists, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Although most of the deployment plan has long been in place, the Pentagon had held off a final decision in hopes that a third multinational division could be formed to take up some of the slack.
But the multinational division has so far failed to materialise, forcing the Pentagon to implement a backup plan to make up the difference with additional US forces.
On the diplomatic front, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan chief Jalal Talabani, who holds this month's rotating Governing Council presidency, said he would go to Turkey on November 19 as part of a tour also taking in Iran and Syria.
"The question of sending Turkish soldiers is closed, as the Turkish president (Ahmet Necdet Sezer) said," Talabani said in Baghdad.
"I will go to Turkey later this month to ease the atmosphere," he said.
Turkey's parliament authorised the deployment of troops last month, but the plan was put on hold following opposition from the Governing Council.
Washington said last week the plan was still on the agenda, contrary to Sezer's statement that the subject was "closed". – Sapa-AFP.
Bush was expected to acknowledge anger at US policies that long valued stability over freedom in the oil-rich region, where three Iraqis were killed late yesterday in an attack on an American convoy in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi police said.
The governor of Najaf meanwhile shut down government offices in the main city of the central Iraqi province to protest a lack of security, and the current president of the interim Governing Council said he would visit Turkey later this month in a bid to ease the crisis over the possible deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq.
Bush, in a major speech at the nonprofit National Endowment for Democracy, will focus on the Middle East, "the region that has been most deprived of freedom," arguing that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's ouster has given the entire region fresh opportunity to embrace democratic change, White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said.
But events in Iraq highlighted the problems facing the US-led coalition there as it seeks to bring democracy and stability to the war-torn country.
The US convoy was at a crossroads in Mosul when assailants opened fire, hitting a nearby vehicle and killing all three occupants, police officers at the scene said.
A US soldier was wounded, as was an Iraqi woman who was in another vehicle, the policemen said, asking not to be named.
A passerby, Mahmud Nizam Mahmud, 36, said a rocket propelled-grenade was fired, missing the US convoy but hitting a civilian vehicle.
To date, 140 US soldiers have been killed in action since Washington declared an end to major hostilities on May 1, as compared with 114 during the main six-week offensive.
In Najaf, Governor Haidar Mehdi Matar al-Mayyali launched an open-ended strike after leading a silent march to denounce the slaying of a local judge who was investigating officials of the ousted regime.
The demonstrators blamed the coalition for the deteriorating security situation in the central province.
Mayyali and other leaders called for more powers to be handed over to local authorities and for former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to be removed from the government.
Mayyali earlier met Robert Ford, representative of US overseer Paul Bremer, and an officer from the multinational forces controlling his region.
According to Wednesday's Washington Post, Bremer has given conditional support to the creation of an Iraqi-led paramilitary force to more effectively hunt down resistance fighters.
Proposed by the Governing Council, the force would be composed of former members of the military and police and members of the security and intelligence wings of five political organizations, US and Iraqi officials told the daily.
It would include a domestic intelligence-gathering unit and have broad powers to conduct raids and interrogate suspects, they added.
Bremer, initially opposed to the idea, does not have "any objection in principle, but wants several conditions to be met in vetting, training and supervising its participants," a US official in Baghdad said.
On the ground, US troops said they captured two former Iraqi generals suspected of being key financiers and organisers of anti-coalition fighters operating in and around the city of Fallujah.
The two were captured in a raid Tuesday in the city 50 km west of Baghdad that has been a hotspot of violence against US troops.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld meanwhile signed orders to set in motion a force rotation in Iraq next year that will send back US Marines along with active duty army and national guard and reserve units, a senior defense official said.
The rotation would involve the replacement of the bulk of the 132 000 US troops now in Iraq and will include some 35 000 to 45 000 national guard and reservists, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Although most of the deployment plan has long been in place, the Pentagon had held off a final decision in hopes that a third multinational division could be formed to take up some of the slack.
But the multinational division has so far failed to materialise, forcing the Pentagon to implement a backup plan to make up the difference with additional US forces.
On the diplomatic front, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan chief Jalal Talabani, who holds this month's rotating Governing Council presidency, said he would go to Turkey on November 19 as part of a tour also taking in Iran and Syria.
"The question of sending Turkish soldiers is closed, as the Turkish president (Ahmet Necdet Sezer) said," Talabani said in Baghdad.
"I will go to Turkey later this month to ease the atmosphere," he said.
Turkey's parliament authorised the deployment of troops last month, but the plan was put on hold following opposition from the Governing Council.
Washington said last week the plan was still on the agenda, contrary to Sezer's statement that the subject was "closed". – Sapa-AFP.
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