Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
The US and Iraqi forces have killed more than 700 suspected insurgents in less than two months during operations in western Iraq, said the spokesperson for US forces in Iraq on Wednesday, calling the result "very successful".
Major General Rick Lynch said 1,500 suspects have also been detained, including an undisclosed number of foreign fighters, and more than 200 weapons caches discovered. "It's been very successful," Lynch said, referring to a series of security offensives conducted by US and Iraq forces in Anbar since September 28.
During the same period, the US military has lost more than 170 troops in Iraq, including 80 in Anbar.
Many of the operations in western Iraq, including the largest, have been supported by aerial bombardments by US warplanes. Iraqi doctors and residents say civilians, including women and children, were among those killed.
The US military says it uses precision-guided weapons and only targets militants hiding in houses.
The American military has led half a dozen operations in Anbar since May but most have proved unsuccessful, with insurgents quickly returning to towns such as Qaim and Haditha to resume operations.
Anbar, which includes cities like Ramadi and Fallujah and a stretch of violent towns along river Euphrates, has been the focus of insurgency in Iraq for much of the past two years. The US military believes Jordanian militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi has built a base for his operations there, smuggling foreign fighters and weapons into the country from Syria.
Lynch said the security clampdown had led to the displacement of more than 6,000 Iraqi families but said most of them had already been returned to their homes.
According to him, Anbar was now safer with attacks down against US and Iraqi forces but said: "You are never going to have a perfect security environment there." While Lynch said US troop casualties had fallen, Pentagon figures show 96 soldiers and Marines died in October, a little over three a day.
Al Zarqawi's group issued a statement on the internet yesterday saying the militant leader was alive.
Rice hints at early American troop pullout
The United States indicated late Tuesday that conditions for a gradual pullout of US troops from violence-torn Iraq could become ripe "fairly soon" but warned that a decision about their withdrawal will not be made unilaterally.
Appearing on two television channels, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the possibility of handing over important security responsibilities to Iraqis is being constantly discussed in Baghdad by coalition commander General George Casey and US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. In both the interviews, she stressed that the day when US soldiers will start returning home could be close.
"The President has said as soon as Iraqi forces are ready, we want to see a reduction in our own forces and I think those days are going to be coming fairly soon when Iraqis are going to be more and more capable of carrying out the functions to secure their own future," Rice told Fox News Channel.
Major General Rick Lynch said 1,500 suspects have also been detained, including an undisclosed number of foreign fighters, and more than 200 weapons caches discovered. "It's been very successful," Lynch said, referring to a series of security offensives conducted by US and Iraq forces in Anbar since September 28.
During the same period, the US military has lost more than 170 troops in Iraq, including 80 in Anbar.
Many of the operations in western Iraq, including the largest, have been supported by aerial bombardments by US warplanes. Iraqi doctors and residents say civilians, including women and children, were among those killed.
The US military says it uses precision-guided weapons and only targets militants hiding in houses.
The American military has led half a dozen operations in Anbar since May but most have proved unsuccessful, with insurgents quickly returning to towns such as Qaim and Haditha to resume operations.
Anbar, which includes cities like Ramadi and Fallujah and a stretch of violent towns along river Euphrates, has been the focus of insurgency in Iraq for much of the past two years. The US military believes Jordanian militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi has built a base for his operations there, smuggling foreign fighters and weapons into the country from Syria.
Lynch said the security clampdown had led to the displacement of more than 6,000 Iraqi families but said most of them had already been returned to their homes.
According to him, Anbar was now safer with attacks down against US and Iraqi forces but said: "You are never going to have a perfect security environment there." While Lynch said US troop casualties had fallen, Pentagon figures show 96 soldiers and Marines died in October, a little over three a day.
Al Zarqawi's group issued a statement on the internet yesterday saying the militant leader was alive.
Rice hints at early American troop pullout
The United States indicated late Tuesday that conditions for a gradual pullout of US troops from violence-torn Iraq could become ripe "fairly soon" but warned that a decision about their withdrawal will not be made unilaterally.
Appearing on two television channels, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the possibility of handing over important security responsibilities to Iraqis is being constantly discussed in Baghdad by coalition commander General George Casey and US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. In both the interviews, she stressed that the day when US soldiers will start returning home could be close.
"The President has said as soon as Iraqi forces are ready, we want to see a reduction in our own forces and I think those days are going to be coming fairly soon when Iraqis are going to be more and more capable of carrying out the functions to secure their own future," Rice told Fox News Channel.