The Iraqi people were caught up in an astonishing spiral of violence ON Monday, battered by bombs and stalked by death squads, as an embattled government struggled to remain in control.
US President George W. Bush was forced to issue a statement reiterating his support for Iraq's beleaguered leader, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, amid talk in Washington of the need for a radical change in strategy.
Such talk has been fuelled by a steady increase in US military casualties, and on Monday alone seven more deaths were announced, bringing the total slain in October so far to 57, three weeks ahead of key congressional elections.
The grim Iraqi civilian and military toll continued its steady rise Monday with at least 49 killed and 67 bodies found in Baghdad, as sectarian bloodletting raged across the country.
As night fell in the capital and Muslims gathered to break their daylight Ramazan fast, two massive car bombs detonated in a mainly Shia suburb, scattering 20 bloodied corpses in the streets. Further north, a brutal wave of sectarian slaughter gripped districts around the town of Balad, where hospital staff reported receiving 80 corpses, mainly Sunni villagers gunned down by Shia death squads.
A review of the situation by a bipartisan US committee of experts headed by former secretary of state James Baker is expected to recommend a change in US strategy for rebuilding Iraq. Against this background, Bush's spokesman Tony Snow told reporters that the US president had called Maliki to reassure him.
"The president said, 'please don't worry, and you have our full support'," Snow told White House reporters. "The president underscored his commitment to the democratically elected government of Iraq, encouraging the prime minister to ignore rumours that the US government is seeking to impose a timeline on the Maliki government."
Maliki's own frustration with his US sponsors boiled over in an interview with the daily USA Today, in which he blamed coalition administrators for the weakness of Iraqi security forces. "The problem we are facing is the way the army, police and security forces were formed by the multinational forces, during (former Coalition Provisional Authority chief administrator Paul) Bremer's time," he said.
"These forces were built randomly, and that led them to be weak and infiltrated by militias," he charged. Maliki also warned that it will take several months to even begin to disarm the powerful Shia militias which US commanders say are now the biggest single threat to the stability of Iraq.
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