THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 2006 BAGHDAD - President Jalal Talabani defended Iraq's security forces Wednesday against accusations of atrocities and said they would assume control of the country from U.S. troops by the end of the year.
"Iraqi security forces are doing their duty, but we still expect more of them," Talabani said at a news conference in Baghdad, surrounded by senior military and Interior Ministry officials. "God willing, by the end of this year we will bring an end to terrorism."
The vote of confidence came only hours before a pair of bombs at a soccer field in a Shiite area of western Baghdad killed at least 12 people, most of them children, and wounded 18. A day earlier, attacks aimed at soldiers and police officers killed at least 44 people. On Monday, commandos wearing Interior Ministry uniforms kidnapped at least 20 people from a pair of offices in central Baghdad.
Talabani, a Kurd, provided no details to support his claim that Iraqi forces would soon provide security for the entire country. U.S. military officials turned over the first of 18 provinces to Iraqi forces on July 13, but U.S. troops continue to fight bloody battles with insurgents in Anbar Province, and under a new security plan for the capital announced last week, more U.S. troops are taking the lead.
U.S. military officials did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment on Talabani's timetable.
At the news conference, Talabani seemed primarily concerned with shoring up support for the Iraqi forces. Without naming names, he condemned politicians who have complained that the Interior Ministry employed militias whose members kidnapped and killed with impunity. Calling Iraqi troops "sacred," he said that discussions about the armed forces should be conducted in Parliament, not in the news media.
"Everyone who takes part in the government and the democratic process should speak a certain way when they address the citizens," he said. "They should not talk as they wish and sing outside the flock."
Talabani and Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani played down accusations against army and ministry officers, suggesting that those who have been seen robbing armored cars and kidnapping dozens of civilians were not representative of the force as a whole.
"We've started to make real progress in establishing and training our employees despite well-known challenges," Bolani said.
Khalef al-Aliyan, a senior member of the largest Sunni Arab bloc in Parliament, dismissed Talabani and Bolani's defense as an effort to shift attention away from rogues who have been allowed to undermine trust in authority.
The violence here sent another shudder through Iraq on Wednesday. The bombs at the soccer field in western Baghdad exploded around 8 p.m., sending horrified families to a nearby hospital to search for their children.
An officer at Al Aamel police station who is leading the investigation said the bombing occurred at a public match between two teams of men mainly in their early 20s. About 12 to 15 children were sitting on benches watching the match on the sidelines.
Just before halftime, two men arrived at the soccer field with sports bags and put them on the ground next to the player's bags. When the players finished the half and sat down on the benches beside the children, the two bags exploded.
In central Baghdad, roadside bombs exploded at an intersection where laborers were seeking work, killing at least three people, an Interior Ministry official said. A roadside bomb killed a soldier in an Iraqi Army convoy on a main road south of Baghdad.
Fifteen other bodies were found throughout Baghdad, many showing signs of torture.
Orders to kill were given
A U.S. soldier testified Wednesday that four men in his squadron accused of murder had received orders to kill everyone they encountered during a raid on an island near Samarra where members of Al Qaeda were thought to be hiding, The Associated Press reported from Tikrit, Iraq.
Private First Class Bradley Mason said that orders to "kill all of them" were clear before the raid that ended in the deaths of three Iraqi men. Mason was testifying at a hearing in Tikrit to decide whether the soldiers will be court-martialed for murder.
