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US general admits forces are stretched

Iraqi Shiites march to denounce the unknown attackers of Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most influential Muslim Shiite clerics, in the holy city of Najaf on Sunday. Three of al-Hakim's bodyguards were killed and members of his family were injured when his house was bombed. Al-Hakim himself came away from the blast with minimal injuries. PHOTO: AP

Thousands gathered in the holy city of Najaf yesterday for the funerals of three men killed in an assassination attempt on a leading Shiite Muslim cleric, as the top US general admitted his forces were stretched thin but that he could find more troops if needed.

Meanwhile, a Brazilian air force plane carrying the body of the slain UN envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, arrived in Geneva, a day after a memorial ceremony in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro.

And Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council has taken its quest for international legitimacy to Egypt before heading on to Jordan.

The three men who died Sunday in a bomb attack in Najaf were employees of one of Iraq's most influential Shiite clerics, Grand Ayatollah Seyed Mohammed Said al-Hakim.

"Two bodyguards and one employee of the house were killed. His holiness al-Hakim and his son were both in the room next to the bomb. Thank God they're both safe," said the ayatollah's spokesman, Abdul Hussein al-Kadi.

Hakim is one of the four top clerics in the Hawza, the highest religious authority of Iraq's Shiite community, which makes up some 60 percent of the 25-million population and was systematically oppressed by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's Sunni Muslim elite.

"We are stretched thin, but we have more troops to send. We have other ways to do that."

General Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff

Kadi said bodyguards protecting Hakim's house saw four bearded men in a white car drop a cooking-gas bottle near the wall of Hakim's house in Najaf, 180km south of Baghdad.

The ensuing blast left a 1.5m hole in the side of the house.

Najaf, the power base of Iraq's Shiites, is locked in a battle between those prepared to cooperate with the US-led administration and those who champion resistance.

The struggle by supporters of firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr to push the religious hierarchy into a more antagonistic approach toward the Americans has seen three attacks on mainstream clerics in recent weeks.

But Hakim's office has insisted that the Hawza will not change its policy, stressing that the hierarchy continued to favor talks as the best way of ending the US-led occupation.

Amid mounting calls for more US troops in Iraq, General Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said Sunday: "We are stretched thin, but we have more troops to send. We have other ways to do that."

US and British forces in Iraq face mounting attacks as well as growing insecurity, highlighted by the suicide bomb attack on the UN offices in Baghdad last Tuesday that killed 23 people, including Vieira de Mello.

Myers insisted that the 150,000 US troops already in Iraq were adequate, but said that if US commanders requested more forces then reservists could be called up.

The general also echoed comments made this weekend by both President George W. Bush and Paul Bremer, the top US official in Baghdad, that Iraq had become a key battleground in the US war on terrorism.

"We are a nation at war," he said. "In my view, this is the biggest threat to our country's existence as far back as I can remember."

Bremer on Sunday told ABC television that hundreds of "international terrorists" had entered Iraq.

Iraq's transitional Governing Council, which is merely "welcomed" but not endorsed by the UN and which the Arab League has refused to recognize, brought its quest for legitimacy to the Egyptian capital.

Ibrahim Jafari, the council's boss, said in Cairo that Arab countries had granted the US-appointed body "clear recognition" by agreeing to hold talks with it.

But the Egyptian government and Arab League did not share his view.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said the formation of the council in July "was a step in the right direction" but insisted that an Iraqi government should be independent and elected in order to be legitimate.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in Baghdad it would reduce its foreign staff by more than half and cut some of its Iraq operations in light of threats against it.
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