U.S. Adjusts To Changes In Iraq
Associated Press
April 21, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq - With the coalition fraying and guerrilla violence spreading, the latest job for the U.S. military in Iraq appears to be patching holes - like those left by the impending withdrawal of Spanish, Honduran and Dominican troops.

The military here is in the midst of a serious reorganization, shifting and swapping troops to cope with simultaneous crises in the south - where some coalition partners have balked at clashing with rebellious Shiites - and in the west, where a standoff in Fallujah has drained troops from elsewhere.

The rearranging could mean a continued, large U.S. military presence in the south, where the United States had handed security duties to its allies. The coalition partners signed on believing they were patrolling a peaceful region, a situation that has dramatically changed.

The Dominican Republic was the latest planned withdrawal, announcing Tuesday night it would pull its 302 troops out of Iraq within several weeks. Honduran and Domincan forces have been serving under a Spanish-led brigade since August.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Tuesday that his country's 443 troops in Karbala will be withdrawn if the government feels they may be harmed.

"We are giving priority to the safety of the soldiers. If we consider that our soldiers are in danger, that they will be harmed, we will take them back," he said.

The United States has sent other American troops to focus on a threat that intensified during this month's unprecedented violence: the guerrilla attacks on U.S. military supply lines around Baghdad.

The Army has also converted a battalion from the 1st Armored Division into a rapid response force to deal with attacks that are expected to coincide with the June 30 handover of some sovereignty to an Iraqi government, military officials said.

Speaking to U.S. troops massed on the outskirts of the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said Iraq has become a "fluid, mobile battlefield." Sanchez, the top U.S. commander, said the military might shift more troops as guerrillas attack.

The transfer of forces comes after Sanchez asked the Pentagon for more troops to deal with Iraqi insurgents.

The Pentagon responded by postponing the return home of more than 20,000 Army troops finishing a year's tour in Iraq and shipping them to the hot zones. They will help replace the 2,000 Spanish, Dominican and Honduran troops in the Najaf region being brought home.

"We'll need to fill that vacuum," a top U.S. military official in Baghdad said on condition of anonymity.

The official said some allied troops in the 23-nation multinational force that covers south-central Iraq refused to shoot and kill Iraqi fighters during this month's uprising by a radical Shiite militia, because their rules of engagement forbade it.

On April 7, Ukrainian forces abandoned their base in Kut and pulled out of the city after they came under attack.

Other contributors have sought to avoid a fight from the start. Japan sent more than 600 troops on a non-combat mission of aid and reconstruction in the southern city of Samawa.

South Korea was initially to deploy 3,600 troops in Kirkuk, where ethnic tensions have sometimes turned to violence. But it put that plan on hold, fearing it would lead to combat operations, and is looking at the more peaceable cities of Suleimaniya or Irbil.

In the south, U.S. military planners want to have in place American or allied troops whose orders allow them to combat the guerrillas.

"As the uprising began, the coalition forces were at their red line and didn't want to go any further," the official said. "We needed to move some U.S. forces to help out with the situation."

The first unit deployed at Najaf, from the Army's Germany-based 1st Infantry Division, is now being replaced by the Army's 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The 2nd Armored Cavalry was in the midst of returning to its base in Fort Polk, La., when it was recalled for up to 90 more days in Iraq.

Other U.S. troops remain in Kut after sweeping out most militiamen a week ago.

No date has been set for pulling back the U.S. forces back from the south. Troops arriving in the fall, perhaps from the Georgia-based 3rd Infantry Division, could take their posts if trouble persists, the official said.

The other unit prevented from returning home, the Germany-based 1st Armored Division, is being split into two distinct forces.

Its 2nd Battalion Combat Team has relieved Marines from part of their zone guarding the lawless highways south and west of Baghdad to allow the Marines to focus on the Fallujah region.

And Sanchez designated the 1st Brigade Combat Team as a rapid reaction force that can be sent within hours to respond to crises throughout Iraq, the official said.

Elsewhere, the Army has boosted security on its supply convoys, adding armor and firepower and increasing the number of heavily armed "gun truck" escorts that return fire after ambushes, said Army Maj. Gen. Stephen M. Speakes, a Kuwait-based commander who directs convoy operations.

"If you do run into us, you're going to find a more stoutly defended formation," Speakes said.

April's violence may have dealt a blow to the United States' exit strategy from Iraq, which is dependent on moving U.S. troops out of the cities and handing authority to Iraqi security forces.

Many of those Iraqi forces performed poorly, refusing to fight or even joining the guerrillas - though Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt on Tuesday praised the 36th Iraqi Civil Defense Corps Battalion for its performance in the Fallujah siege.

The official said the military would delay withdrawing from parts of Iraq until Iraqi forces can take control. The process, he said, depends on better training, a job that will be handed from regular Army units to military Special Forces teams.

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