United States President George Bush on Wednesday night declared he was ready to send more US troops to Iraq “to finish the work of the fallen” in accomplishing the transition to democratic self-rule.
In a rare prime-time televised news conference that opened with a 15-minute address to the nation, Bush conceded the US had suffered some “tough weeks” in Iraq but rejected comparisons with the Vietnam War.
“I happen to think that analogy is false,” the president said, adding that it sent “the wrong message” to US forces and to Iraqis.
As more than 2 000 US troops amassed on the outskirts of the holy city of Najaf, threatening a showdown with the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Bush said most Iraqis were against the recent uprising.
“It’s not a civil war. It’s not a popular uprising,” he said. “They want to run us out of Iraq and destroy the democratic hopes of the Iraqi people”.
His words came amid a crisis of confidence within Iraq as violence and kidnappings prompted several countries to urge their citizens to leave the country immediately, and several companies involved in the reconstruction to announce they were pulling out.
There was also sporadic gunfire in Falluja, the restive city west of Baghdad where dozens of US troops and hundreds of Iraqis have died this month.
And four mutilated bodies, possibly those of American contractors, were discovered in the Iraqi mayhem, according to a US official.
The coalition confirmed that 40 civilians from a dozen countries were being held hostage by kidnappers. Russia, France and the Czech Republic all advised their nationals to leave Iraq, as three Czechs remained missing and a French journalist joined the list of hostages.
“We will finish the work of the fallen,” President Bush vowed. “Troop strength will be determined by the situation on the ground. If additional troops are needed, I will send them.”
He said the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, and the defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld were negotiating with Nato foreign ministers over expanding the alliance’s role in Iraq, “such as turning the Polish-led division into a Nato operation and giving Nato specific responsibilities for border control”.
The stand-off between US forces and those loyal to Sadr appeared to be reaching a head, with the dispatch of US units to within 16km of the cleric’s fief in Najaf. Soldiers had set up checkpoints on roads and were preventing militia gunmen from leaving.
Bush said Sadr had to disband the militia units which have run amok in recent days. The Shia cleric, whom America has vowed to take dead or alive, said earlier he was prepared to die for his cause. But he also indicated he was prepared to negotiate a way to a resolution.
“I am ready to sacrifice [myself] and I call on the people not to allow my death to cause the collapse of the fight for freedom and an end to the occupation,” he said in an interview with Lebanon’s al-Manar television, which is run by the Shia party Hizbullah.
But he also said his main aim was merely to keep foreign troops out of Najaf.
Appointing a mediator to negotiate with US forces, he indicated he might disband his militia if so instructed by religious chiefs. “My only demand for the time being is the liberation of Najaf and the withdrawal of occupation forces from it,” he added.
Even if the US military is ready to agree to keep troops outside Najaf, commanders will continue to press for the disbanding of his militia and the arrest of Sadr. He is wanted on suspicion of involvement in the murder a year ago of a moderate Shia cleric in Najaf.
Earlier in the day, the Shia rebellion appeared to be retreating. Sadr’s militia began to withdraw from police stations and government buildings in Najaf, Kufa and Kerbala — three religious cities in the south where they had been in control.
But the US move to arrest a top aide to Sadr, Hazem al-Araji, rapidly aggravated tensions.
Araji, who represents the movement in Kadhimiya, a Shia suburb in north Baghdad, was held as he tried to leave a Baghdad hotel. He was held for five hours before being released.
The episode was filmed and broadcast by several television channels. “The Americans are barbarians. They don’t know how to deal with human beings,” said Sheikh Mohsin Shamari who witnessed the episode. “They had no explanation for what they were doing.”
On Wednesday night, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, US deputy director of operations in Iraq, said the cleric had been detained for questioning.
He was then found to have “no direct involvement in any alleged crimes and is not viewed as an imminent threat to security”, he said.
The recent uprising has raised questions about the political timetable for handing sovereignty back to Iraq on June 30, but Bush vowed to stick to the programme.
“We have set a deadline of June 30th it is important that we meet that deadline,” he said. “Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation and neither does America. We are not an imperial power, as nations such as Germany and Japan can attest. We are a liberating power.”
Earlier, in an apparent sign of the pressure being felt within America about the way the situation is unfolding, US military officials announced that the surviving sisters of a female soldier killed in Iraq will not be compelled to return to the battlefield.
The family of Michelle Witmer (20) who died on April 9 in an ambush of her Humvee in Baghdad, had pleaded for their daughters to be brought home.
The case attracted prominent political support. – Guardian Unlimited Â