Iraqi security forces ‘worked against’ U.S.

FALLUJAH, Iraq — A U.S. military commander said 10 percent of newly trained Iraqi security forces “worked against” U.S. forces in the past three weeks of fighting in Fallujah and the southern city of Najaf, a sign of how difficult it will be to assemble an Iraqi army and police force.

An additional 40 percent of the Iraqi security forces walked off the job because they did not want to fight fellow Iraqis, said Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the Army’s 1st Armored Division.

The general’s admission came on a day when U.S. commanders said guerrillas fighting the U.S.-led coalition in Fallujah must honor a disarmament deal or face a new offensive, and as Bush administration officials in Washington faced sharp questioning on Capitol Hill over postwar reconstruction.

The recent surge in violence has inhibited private firms working in Iraq, with both German engineering giant Siemens and U.S.-based General Electric revealing yesterday they have suspended or halted work on infrastructure contracts because they could not guarantee the safety of their employees.

Guerrillas and residents in Fallujah have “days, not weeks” to turn in heavy weapons, Lt. Gen. James Conway, the top Marine commander in Iraq, said yesterday. He warned that fighting could resume and that a U.S. push to take the city could be costly for both sides.

Witnesses said Fallujah’s front lines were calm yesterday, though clashes erupted in the nearby town of Karma.

The general’s ultimatum came two days after an agreement was reached in which city leaders called on anticoalition insurgents to hand over their heavy weapons in return for a U.S. pledge to hold back on plans to storm the city and to allow the return of families who fled.

The few arms that have been surrendered so far were “junk,” Marine commanders said, including rocket-propelled grenade rounds marked “inert,” 100 rusted mortar shells, dud rockets and unusable guns.

In Washington, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice made a rare trip to Capitol Hill for separate closed-door briefings with Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Iraq.

The sessions, in which Miss Rice was questioned closely about the military, political and financial challenges in Iraq, came as lawmakers finished three days of sometimes-contentious hearings with State and Defense department officials about the administration’s plans for Iraq.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, a foreigner was killed and his Iraqi translator was wounded by gunmen who opened fire on their bulletproof vehicle yesterday. South African officials said they believed the victim was a South African national working as a security contractor.

German Interior Minister Otto Schily in Berlin yesterday said that two German security specialists whose convoy was ambushed in Iraq earlier this month are believed to be dead.

The upswing in violence has made April the bloodiest month for the American-led military since the conflict began in March 2003. At least 100 soldiers and five American civilian contractors have been killed. Dozens of foreigners have been abducted in a wave of kidnappings, with about 15 still held captive.

New figures for the Iraqi casualty toll from this month’s fighting emerged yesterday, with the health minister saying 576 Iraqi insurgents and civilians died in combat since April 1 — sharply lower than earlier estimates.

A spokesman for British forces responsible for the southern Iraqi city of Basra lowered the reported death toll from a series of suicide bombings that targeted police stations there Wednesday to 50 persons.

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