As US draws down, doubt over Iraqis

According to the Associated Press, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said: "The reports that we've gotten from the 82nd [Airborne Division] indicate that [the killed and captured attackers] were all Iraqi citizens."

Still, civil defense officers and local police say that foreigners also took part in the raid, although there is scant evidence to back the claim. For the beleaguered Iraqi police and civil defense forces here, blaming "outsiders" - including Iraqi Shiite militia members and Iranians - for the deadly attacks may be preferable to confronting the reality that their foe might be their Sunni "neighbors."

If former Iraqi soldiers are uniting with foreign militants, the prospects for the ill-equipped Iraqi security forces appear grim.

"We expect more attacks like this," the senior civil defense officer says.

He complained that his troops were ill-prepared to tackle such sophisticated assaults from determined and heavily armed insurgents.

"I am supposed to receive some radio sets Tuesday. But the truth is we don't have enough weapons, ammunition, uniforms and patrol vehicles," he says.

And they can expect less instant help from US forces which have withdrawn to bases outside Fallujah. American military officials are likening the future role of coalition troops to firemen - deployed in bases and called out only when there is a "fire" to put out.

Iraqi officials insist that the domestic security forces are capable of confronting the insurgents, while admitting that they still lack sufficient equipment and manpower and are up against a formidable enemy.

"What kind of protection can you have against a crazy man who wants to kill?" asks Ayad Allawi, head of the Iraqi National Accord and a member of Iraq's Governing Council. "A war is being waged against Iraqis and we will wage a war against them.... As we supply the Iraqi police with the necessary equipment, we will put an end to these conspiracies. US officials accept that coalition forces will be required in Iraq long after the June 30 handover.

"I think it's quite clear the Iraqi security forces, brave as they are, and beaten and attacked as they are, are not going to be ready by July 1," said Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, in an interview Sunday on CNN. "So there will have to be an international presence here after the sovereign government comes into power the first of July."

In addition to the police and civil defense corps, the coalition is recruiting and training a new Iraqi Army which will total some 30,000 soldiers. Three battalions have completed training and are on operational duty and a fourth battalion is due to be ready by the end of the month. By the time sovereignty is transferred to the Iraqis June 30, the Army is scheduled to consist of 15 battalions of a little more than 1,000 soldiers each, rising to the target of 27 by the end of September.

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