The US military has had a disappointing and frustrating time in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime four years ago, a top admiral said on Monday.
"We acknowledge that while there have been substantial accomplishments in Iraq since 2003, the past four years have also been disappointing, frustrating and increasingly dangerous in many parts of Iraq," Rear Admiral Mark Fox told reporters on the fourth anniversary of the ouster of the former regime.
On April 9, 2003, US tanks rolled into Baghdad and pulled down a giant bronze statue of Saddam, dramatically symbolising the end of his regime. But since then the troops have been caught between a fiery insurgency and raging sectarian Sunni-Shiite bloodshed which has killed tens of thousands of people.
The US military itself has lost at least 3,275 troops since the March 2003 invasion, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures. On Monday, hundreds of thousands of Shiites protested against the presence of US-led foreign forces in the central Iraqi city of Najaf.
The protesters burned US flags and trampled on them, calling for an end to the "occupation" of Iraq by American forces. Fox said the massive rally was a sign of growing democracy in Iraq. "It's been a peaceful assembly which is... a mark of a democratic society," he said.
Fox said the military was also "not bothered necessarily" by the burning of US flags by the crowd, who staged the protest following a call by firebrand anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. But the admiral did say that the military continued to track Sadr, believing him to be in Iran.
"We do keep an eye and understanding of where his whereabouts are, and we just kind of keep an eye on that," Fox said. Sadr himself did not show up at the Najaf rally on Monday.