Iraq's national security adviser said yesterday a "huge treasure" of documents and computer records has been seized since the raid on terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's hideout, giving the government the upper hand in its fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, pressed forward with his initiative to crack down on violence in Baghdad, but he postponed a news conference at which he had been expected to unveil details of a new initiative to promote national reconciliation.
In Washington, the Pentagon said yesterday the number of US military deaths in Iraq had reached 2,500. It said 18,490 US troops have been wounded in the war.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed.
In an effort to quell the violence, Iraqi forces fanned out across Baghdad for a second day of a major security operation, setting up checkpoints and frisking motorists. Al-Maliki has promised the crackdown would not target any ethnic or sectarian group.
Mariam Abdul Ahad, a 50-year-old housewife, welcomed the stepped up security measures as she went shopping in northeastern Baghdad.
"We felt safe for the first time" she said. "Policewomen searched the ladies and this is a good procedure."
National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie also said he believed the security situation in the country would improve enough to allow a large number of US-led forces to leave Iraq by the end of this year, and a majority to depart by the end of next year.
Minister of National Security Sherwan al-Waili, however, dismissed the comments, saying the issue of foreign troop withdrawal was up to the parliament.
Al-Rubaie said that a laptop, flashdrive and other documents were found in the debris after the airstrike that killed the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader last week outside Baqubah, and more information has been uncovered in raids of other insurgent hideouts since then.
He called it a "huge treasure ... a huge amount of information."
When asked how he could be sure the information was authentic, al-Rubaie said "there is nothing more authentic than finding a thumbdrive in his pocket."
"We believe that this is the beginning of the end of al-Qaeda in Iraq," al-Rubaie said, adding that the documents showed al-Qaeda is in "pretty bad shape," politically and in terms of training, weapons and media.
He did not give more details, releasing only one propaganda-style document translated into English that indicated al-Zarqawi planned to try to divide the US and its Shiite allies in Iraq and to help start a war between the US and Iran.
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