Iraqi fighters have shifted from attacking U.S. and other occupation forces to strikes on Iraqis who are working with the U.S.-led forces, the chief administrator said Tuesday.
"The security situation has changed," L. Paul Bremer III told reporters at a press conference with Gen. John Abizaid, the chief of the U.S. Central Command. "In the past attacks against the coalition were predominant. Now terrorist attacks against Iraqis are regular."
According to The AP, Bremer added: "They have failed to intimidate the coalition. They have now begun a pattern of trying to intimidate innocent Iraqi. They will not succeed...If Saddam (Hussein) taught the Iraqis nothing else it was how to endure the depredations of thugs."
Bremer was referring to a series of attacks including two car bombs last weekend at police stations in Baqouba and Khan Bani Saad, the assassination Saturday of a police colonel in Mosul and the killing Sunday of a police chief in Latifiyah near Baghdad.
"We have to anticipate that there will have to be a level of terrorism in this country" for some time to come, Bremer said. "As the process of democracy moves forward in the next six to seven months, they may try to attack the institutions of democracy."
Abizaid noted that the number of daily attacks on US-led forces were down by about half over the last two weeks. "In the past two weeks, these attacks have gone down attacks against coalition forces but unfortunately we find that attacks against Iraqis have increased," Abizaid said. (Albawaba.com)
