‘US will Use Shiite-Peshmerga Teams against Insurgents’

The article reported that the peshmargas and Shiite militants will be selected especially for sharp-shooting and that they may, furthermore, go into Syria and conduct operations there. The magazine could not say whether the Iraqi teams would be trained for direct execution or catch operations.

The program, said Newsweek, was similar to the "Salvadore Option" used by the US army to counter ant-government leftists in El Salvadore during the 1980’s.

A US military official said that the current situation in Iraq could not continue and that the US had to find a way to counter attack the insurgents. The official added that the US was on the defense, and losing.

The US Embassy in Iraq rejected any suggestion to appoint a withdrawal date for US forces from Iraq.

Bob Callahan, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Iraq, said that the Sunni Ulema (Religious Scholars) Committee and US officials met last Saturday, January 1, to discuss Sunni participation in the elections.

Callahan noted that the Committee, which administers about 3,000 mosques throughout Iraq, said that they would participate in the elections if the US military determined a withdrawal date. The spokesperson said that the US would not base its withdrawal from Iraq upon a date.

The negotiations did not end in a consensus.

Secretary of State Colin Powell talked about the anxiety over Iraq’s post-elections period and reassured observers and Iraqis that a representative government properly elected, and a security force to protect the country from external forces, would spell success.

Meanwhile, Bagdat (Baghdad) deputy Police Chief Amir Nayif and a US soldier were killed in an attack in Baghad yesterday.