LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
The U.S. military in Iraq today announced the deaths of 10 more American servicemen, bringing the total number killed so far this month to 68. At this rate, October will be one of the deadliest months since the U.S.-led invasion.
President Bush this week reaffirmed his support for Iraq's prime minister despite the escalating violence and the Iraqi government's seeming inability to deal with it. The government finally removed two senior police commanders from their post, but an aide to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr arrested yesterday by the Americans was released.
NPR's Anne Garrels joins me now from Baghdad.
WERTHEIMER: Anne, who are these senior commanders and what does it mean that they've been removed?
ANNE GARRELS: Well, they led two of the police brigades that are most widely criticized for being responsible for sectarian killings and criminal activity. And this follows the suspension of an entire brigade on suspicion some members may have been permitted or even participated in death-squad killings. These are the first major steps taken to address growing U.S. frustration by American commanders. But it's unclear how big an impact this really will have and how deep the purges ultimately will have to be in the Interior Ministry. As it is, the two commanders in question have not been fired. They've merely been moved to advisory roles.
WERTHEIMER: Dozens of people were killed earlier this week in the town of Balad in sectarian violence, presumably. What's in the aftermath of all that killing?
GARRELS: Well, the U.S. forces have moved in. They intervened and arrested the Sunni police chief and his deputy in Duluiyah, where 19 Shiites were found butchered on Friday. The U.S. military said they're suspected of being involved in the killings. Now it was these killings that than set off revenge killings of Sunnis by Shiite militias in and around Balad. U.S. forces are back patrolling the area, which they had formally handed over to Iraqis.
WERTHEIMER: Is there any suspicion - this is something that's come up in campaigns here - that insurgents are killing more American soldiers in an attempt to affect the U.S. election?
GARRELS: Not really. I mean U.S. commanders here are saying that it's merely that, you know, U.S. troops are more active and more aggressively operating on the streets than they have been. So they're more vulnerable to attack.
WERTHEIMER: What about Moqtada al-Sadr? He controls one of the largest of the Shiite militias. There have long been reports implicating his people in these killings. What steps have been taken to address that?
GARRELS: Well, on the Iraqi side, virtually nothing. Now Sadr controls one of the largest blocks in parliament and Prime Minister Maliki has been loath to take him on directly. The most prominent Shiite cleric in the country, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has also been strikingly silent on the issue. Now yesterday the U.S. arrested a key Sadr aide that they suspect is directly involved in killings and attacks on U.S. troops. And then suddenly under Maliki's orders, that Sadr aide, a cleric, was released today and the U.S. military is furious.
WERTHEIMER: NPR's Anne Garrels is in Baghdad, where today the U.S. military announced the death of 10 more American servicemen. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
