Iraqis doubt Bush plan as insurgents flex muscle

BAGHDAD — Iraqis shrugged off President Bush’s speech outlining his strategy to win the war, pointing at the brief takeover by hooded gunmen yesterday of the western city of Ramadi.

But Iraqis interviewed yesterday also insisted that American troops had to stay in Iraq to prevent civil war.

A group of about 300 insurgents took over the streets of Ramadi, the capital of the restive province of Anbar, west of Bagdhad, for several hours, one eyewitness told The Washington Times.

“It was easy for them to take Ramadi,” said the witness who asked to be identified only by his first name, Hamid.

“It was like a message to the American and Iraqi forces, to show their power, their ability to take a city,” Hamid said by telephone, speaking through an interpreter.

An Associated Press Television News video showed the insurgents walking down a shuttered market street and a residential neighborhood, as well as firing four mortar rounds.

The masked men appeared relaxed, and the U.S. command dismissed the video as little more than a publicity stunt.

The U.S. military also dismissed reports that the insurgents had carried out widespread attacks yesterday against U.S. and Iraqi installations in Ramadi, saying only one rocket-propelled grenade was fired against an observation post, the AP reported.

On nightly news shows yesterday, Iraqis watched excerpts of Mr. Bush’s Tuesday speech, in which the president vowed that U.S. troops would remain in Iraq “as long as necessary to complete the mission.”

But the topic of conversation among several Iraqis interviewed yesterday was the daily kidnappings of Iraqis and executions by armed militias.

One mixed Shi’ite-Sunni family that watched the news dismissed Mr. Bush’s words.

“My mother just said, ‘He is stupid, I don’t like him,’ and my sister said she felt better with Saddam in power because although it was a hard regime, it was organized,” said Ahmed, a Sunni in his 40s, whose sisters married Shi’ites.

“Most people don’t believe Bush. Always he says he will fight terrorism, but there is never any change. Look at what happened in Ramadi,” Ahmed said.

Nevertheless, Ahmed said it would be a mistake for American forces to abruptly withdraw.

“But everyone says it is not good that the American forces leave at this time. It would be civil war,” he said.

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