Fallujah strike under scrutiny

The US strike against alleged Islamist militants in Fallujah that killed 20 people on Saturday did more than break the fragile calm in that city: It highlighted how difficult it will be for US and increasingly assertive Iraqi officials to work together once limited sovereignty is handed over to Iraq.

US officials say they were striking a house used by militants in the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian with close ties to Al Qaeda. But Iraqi security officers quickly disputed that notion.

"The inhabitants of the houses were ordinary families," Col. Mohammed Awad told the Associated Press. Colonel Awad, a senior officer in the Fallujah Brigade, said his men had determined after the strike that no foreigners were present.

The apparent breakdown in communications between Marines and the Iraqi force shows how difficult it will be to keep US and Iraqi security goals aligned as the country's transition moves forward.

In a press conference Sunday, Iraq's new Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said he welcomed the US attack in Fallujah and that fighting terrorism would be the principal element of his security strategy, adding that he may declare "emergency law" in some areas.

But he also hinted that Iraqi forces will be increasingly deployed under his rule and promised to assert more control over security decisions. He said that US forces informed him of the attack in Fallujah only shortly before the strike. "This pattern will change" after the June 30 handover, Mr. Allawi said.

The extent to which US forces will be willing to sit back and leave matters in Iraqi hands remains to be seen. Colonel Patrick Lang, a former head of Middle East and Terrorism Intelligence at the Department of Defense and now in the private sector, thinks the US will have to leave major decisions in Allawi's hands for the good of the country.

He says if they don't, unpopular offensives could damage the government's efforts to win domestic support and consolidate. In the near term, that may force the US to accept Iraqi compromises in places like Fallujah.

"I think there is a disconnect here between the American view of this as almost a kind of law-enforcement exercise, that these are bad people ... and they should be arrested and brought to justice,'' says Colonel Lang. "On the other hand the Iraqis see this as a political situation and that accommodations have to be made."

Colonel Lang says US and Iraqi security objectives will probably clash as time goes on, particularly with an emerging group of Iraqi politicians taking the reins who are going to have to try to build consensus for their rule inside the country.

"It's going to be a big mistake if Allawi is seen as carrying out our will," he says.

When the US Marines withdrew from positions in Fallujah six weeks ago, after an offensive that killed roughly 700 residents, they had misgivings over whether the 1,500 member Fallujah Brigade would do what the US had created it to do - take over principal responsibility for pacifying the city.

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