All US troop reinforcements heading to Iraq to help restore security have now arrived, but it could take several more months before their weight is fully felt, the US military said on Friday. The United States has sent around 28,000 extra troops to Iraq for a fresh security push launched in mid-February aimed at curbing sectarian killing and winning the government of Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki time for political reform. “Everyone is here on the ground now. But obviously, the troops that have just got here are going to take some time to integrate into their battle space and get to know their counterparts,” US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said.
It will take 30 to 60 days for the new arrivals, who have taken total US troop levels in Iraq to 160,000, to win the confidence of residents and start getting the intelligence needed to counter insurgent and militant attacks, Garver said. Garver said the relatively low intensity of reprisals since an attack by suspected Al Qaeda militants on a revered ShiÂ’ite shrine in Samarra on Wednesday could be a sign the presence of more US forces on the streets of Baghdad was already helping. Garver also attributed the low level of retaliatory attacks to a three-day curfew in Baghdad that ends on Saturday and the fact that the Iraqi police and army were doing a better job. |