US sees dramatic drop in Iran-backed attacks in Iraq

Attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq by Iran-backed militia have fallen sharply thanks to U.S. and Iraqi military operations and political engagement by Baghdad, the top U.S. military officer said on Monday.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not elaborate on the specific steps taken in response to a wave of attacks that made June the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq since 2008.

But he told reporters shortly before landing in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that U.S. and Iraqi operations as well as actions by Iraqi political leaders appear to have been successful at stemming the attacks for now.

"We've done this. The Iraqi security forces have done it. The political leadership has addressed it. And so you've seen in the last two to three weeks a dramatic reduction in that (violence)," Mullen said.

"I'm still in the wait-and-see mode to see whether or not this can be sustained."

Fourteen U.S. service members were killed in hostile incidents in June, with most of the deaths attributed by U.S. officials to rocket attacks by Shi'ite militias armed by Iran.

New U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, on a trip to Baghdad on July 11, said the United States would take unilateral action if necessary to deal with the threat to American troops in Iraq from Shi'ite militias armed by Iran.

Mullen declined to say whether the United States had taken any such action.

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Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's shaky coalition government has yet to decide whether it will ask the United States to keep some of the 46,000 remaining U.S. troops in the country beyond a 2011 drawdown deadline, despite U.S. and Iraqi military concerns about security gaps once American forces leave.

U.S. officials are warning Iraq's government that, without a request from Baghdad soon, it will become increasingly difficult and costly to alter the U.S. drawdown plan, a matter Mullen said he would raise with Iraqi leaders during his visit.

"The point is, you know, we're at a deadline. We need an answer," Mullen said.

Any decision to extend the U.S. troop presence is risky in Iraq. The political bloc of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr openly opposes a U.S. presence and Sadr has threatened to escalate protests and military resistance if troops stay.

One option being floated in Iraq is to have private contractors train Iraqi forces, instead of active-duty U.S. military personnel.

But a U.S. defense official speaking to Reuters earlier this month on condition of anonymity did not expect any future U.S. training mission being relegated solely to contractors, were Iraq to request some residual U.S. military presence.

U.S. officials say Iraq will experience security gaps in areas including air defenses, intelligence and logistics should all U.S. forces leave.

"We understand and they understand where their gaps might be," Mullen said. "What steps any leader of any country wants to take to mitigate that risk is going to be up to them."

Source: REUTERS