US turns to Saddam's old soldiers as Marines pull back in Falluja

8.20pm

FALLUJA - Soldiers of the old Iraqi army led by one of Saddam Hussein's generals patrolled the city of Falluja on Saturday, a year after George W. Bush declared the US "mission accomplished" in ousting the Iraqi regime.

Mired in a bloody, month-long siege that was costing lives on both sides and outraging Iraqi and wider Arab opinion, US Marines pulled back from the city and entrusted security to local police and a new force of ex-soldiers under General Jasim Mohamed Saleh, formerly of Saddam's feared Republican Guard.

After one of the quietest nights in some time, uniformed troops of what Marine commanders have dubbed the Falluja Brigade patrolled the streets of the Sunni Muslim city, which was among those most loyal to the fallen Baathist dictator.

Carrying AK-47 assault rifles and wearing new khaki camouflage fatigues, some units moved on foot, others in unmarked civilian four-wheel drive cars.

A Pentagon spokesman said the United States, which had made a point of excluding senior figures from the old regime, was going in to the deal in Falluja with its "eyes wide open," aware of the risks of dealing with the relatively unknown Saleh, whose influence over -- or links with -- the insurgents are unclear.

But chief spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the Marines had had to act quickly to end the siege or risk encouraging others to mount a challenge to US authority and jeopardise plans to hand over to an interim Iraqi government two months from now.

"This can't stay like this," he said. "You've got a political transition taking place. People are making bets. They're taking a look and seeing, 'Well, Geez, if people can hold out and attack US military with impunity for weeks and weeks and weeks, then, shoot, I'm staying on the fence."'

QUAGMIRE?

The world's only superpower turned to the general after failing to eliminate an estimated 2,000 guerrillas dug in among vulnerable ordinary homes in Falluja. President Bush's critics accuse him of wading into a Vietnam-style "quagmire".

The rising death toll is pressuring Bush in polls ahead of November's presidential election. April was the bloodiest month for US troops in Iraq. A total of 127 were killed in action during the month -- nearly a quarter of the combat death toll of 537 since US-led forces invaded in March last year.

The leading US television program "Nightline" sparked controversy by devoting Friday's show to broadcasting the names and photographs of 721 American soldiers who have died in Iraq. It included those not killed in action.

The bloodshed at Falluja has also not helped Washington win over Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, long dominant under Saddam. Doctors say 600 have died in the siege, enraging much of the "Sunni Triangle" of towns north and west of Baghdad.

PRISON OUTRAGE

And US efforts to maintain the goodwill of those Iraqis who did welcome the overthrow of the Baathist state, such as the Shi'ite majority to the south, have been hampered most recently by a scandal over the abuse of prisoners by military jailers.

The whole Arab world was outraged by photographs published this week showing US troops abusing detainees in Saddam's once notorious Abu Ghraib prison. On Saturday, a London newspaper published images showing British troops, who control the Shi'ite south of Iraq around Basra, engaged in similar ill treatment.

Britain's army chief said he had ordered an inquiry.

Bush said on Friday that there had been tough fighting since he declared major combat over on May 1, 2003, but the war had been worth waging to get rid of Saddam and his oppressive system:

"A year ago, I did give the speech from a carrier saying ...we had accomplished a mission, which was the removal of Saddam Hussein," he said. "We've had some tough fighting because there are people who hate the idea of a free Iraq."

Saleh was cheered by crowds waving the Saddam-era Iraqi flag as he drove through his home town in his old uniform. He said Falluja "rejected" a US presence.

But US commanders said they were still in charge in the city while Saleh's force of 600-1,000 would work "alongside" them.

Marines will press on with operations against insurgents who did not turn in heavy weaponry and against foreign Islamist militants. US troops are still aiming to capture the killers of four American security guards whose much televised mutilated bodies prompted the US crackdown a month ago.

Marines in Falluja reported two deaths on Saturday but it seemed this may have referred to an incident reported on Friday.

Bush gave commanders a free hand in Falluja this week and the Pentagon sent more tanks, but the deal appeared to avert an all-out assault on the city of 300,000 -- for the time being.

In other violence across Iraq on Saturday, a US military spokesman said a foreign security guard was killed and three other people wounded by a roadside bomb in Mosul.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq