George Bush는 그가 국가가 작년에 목격된 폭력의 수준에 돌려보낼지도 모르다 공포 때문에 이라크에서 미국 부대의 철수를 중단하게 할 것 같았다는 것을 이 여름 어제 신호했다.

3 일 야간외출금지가 바그다드에 계속되는 바스라에 있는 제 3 의 계속되는 날 동안 싸우는 것과 같이 부과되는 때, 이라크에 있는 이익이 있었었다는 것을 미국 대통령은 말하고, 아래로 폭력의 전반적인 수준, 그러나 안전과 말하는 것은 허약했다.

그는 154,000 강한 미군에게서 이라크에 있는 미국 지휘관, 데비드 Petraeus 장군, 및 Ryan Crocker, 이라크에 미국 대사에게 다음 달을 말하기 후에 철수 더에 관하여 그의 결정을 내릴 것입니다. But he added: “As I consider the way forward, I will always remember that the progress in Iraq is real, it’s substantive, but it is reversible. And so the decision on our troop levels will be ensuring that we succeed in Iraq.”

Bush praised as a bold decision the offensive against Shia militias ordered by the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, also a Shia. “This operation is going to take some time to complete,” Bush predicted, though the offensive would demonstrate to Iraqis that no one was above the law.

More than 130 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the government began its operation on Tuesday, led by 15,000 soldiers from the national army. Tens of thousands of the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s supporters marched in Baghdad in a show of force, demanding Maliki’s removal.

Last night Sadr called for talks, issuing a statement: “We ask everyone to adopt the [means of] political resolution and peaceful protest. Do not shed Iraqi blood.”

But Maliki, previously accused by Iraqi Sunni Muslims of being soft on Shia militias, has vowed to finish the job. He went to Basra to be with forces there, and gave an ultimatum to local Shia militias to surrender their weapons by today. “We entered this battle with determination and we will continue to the end. No retreat. No talks. No negotiations,” he said.

However the Mahdi army, the militia nominally loyal to Sadr, retained control of the streets. A Reuters correspondent in Basra said government forces had cordoned off seven districts but were being repelled by Mahdi army fighters inside them.

US troop levels in Iraq fell from a 2003 level of 250,000 to 130,000 early last year before Bush announced a deployment “surge” of an extra 30,000 soldiers to try to stabilise Baghdad and other areas in central Iraq where the fighting was most fierce. Some soldiers have already been withdrawn and at least 14,000 are expected to leave between now and the summer. Petraeus and other commanders want to keep the level at about 140,000 in a “pause”, to assess the impact on security before ordering further withdrawals.

Bush claimed that during the past year there had been an overall significant decrease in violence.

Ewen MacAskill

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