MILITARY TRAINING: U.S. Considers Pay Raise for Iraq's New Soldiers

December 14, 2003
By JOHN F. BURNS

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 13 — The allied military commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, said on Saturday that American troops had "achieved a significant decrease in attacks" with the help of Iraqis who were coming forward in growing numbers to identify those planning and mounting insurgent strikes.

The general struck an upbeat tone at a news conference at the heavily fortified convention center here, where he said that the American-led forces had experienced "another great week," compared with a deadly November in which more than 80 American soldiers died.

That death toll accounted for nearly half of the 197 American soldiers who have died in combat — including one on Friday — since President Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq concluded on May 1. But the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — a period chosen by the insurgents for a stepped-up campaign of roadside bombings, ambushes and attacks on military helicopters, and answered by a tough American counteroffensive — has been followed by relative calm.

General Sanchez said the daily tally of insurgent attacks had fallen to "around 20" — an average of 21 for the past week, according to a staff officer — from an average of more than 40 a day, and a one-day high of 55, during Ramadan, which ended Nov. 24. The principal reason he cited for the decline was that, after months of inadequate intelligence, the Americans were benefiting from "a significant number of Iraqis who are willing to come forward and sacrifice" their safety to offer what he called "actionable intelligence."

He also said that pay for recruits for the new Iraqi Army would be reviewed, after a wave of desertions linked to the low pay of $60 a month, in order to attract an keep more Iraqi soldiers.

The United States Central Command in Florida issued a statement on Saturday saying that a soldier had died Friday after a convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad. Two Americans were injured, the command said.

In another incident reported on Saturday, the American command in Baghdad said a roadside bomb exploded Friday as a Polish convoy drove through the outskirts of the city of Mahaweel, 50 miles south of Baghdad, wounding two soldiers.

Also on Saturday, officials with the Fourth Infantry Division said that Lt. Col. Allen B. West, who confessed to mistreating an Iraqi during questioning, would not be court-martialed, but would be fined and allowed to retire.

General Sanchez' appearance followed generally positive assessments here this week by L. Paul Bremer III, the American governor of Iraq, and several of the American divisional commanders responsible for areas where insurgents have concentrated their attacks. Like Mr. Bremer, General Sanchez said attacks were likely to increase as the June deadline for an Iraqi provisional government nears.

But he appeared a happier man than he did a month ago. Then, he called the conflict here a war, the first time any senior American commander had done so since May 1, and vowed grimly to use every weapon in the American armory to beat them back. Today, he simply said that alliance forces were engaged in a "low-intensity conflict."

He hinted, too, that the gloves-off approach had been set aside, or at least modified. The American approach now, he said, would be to mount raids that were "precise" and based on the incoming intelligence.

In response to questions, the general acknowledged that the number of detainees in Iraq, which he put at 5,000 a month ago, was "now almost to 10,000," including 3,800 members of the Iranian militant group Mujahedeen Khalq. General Sanchez said the Iranians were restricted to a camp northeast of Baghdad, and that what would become of them was a matter for Washington to decide.

The general reacted strongly to a suggestion that American commanders were taking a leaf from the Israeli military in mounting "targeted assassinations" of insurgent leaders that risked civilian casualties, and may also be taking advice from Israeli military experts. "It's a different time, it's a different place, it's a different enemy, it's a different world," he said.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company