US consider sending more troops to Iraq

US military commanders are studying options that could mean more troops in Iraq if violence there widens.

A senior officer with US Central Command, briefing reporters, said generals believed they had enough forces to handle the attacks coming from various quarters, including the recent violence by a Shia militia, but wanted to know what was available if the situation got out of control.

Meanwhile, President George Bush criticised the radical Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who leads the militia.

Over the weekend, his supporters rioted in Baghdad and four other cities, in fighting that killed at least 52 Iraqis, eight US troops and a Salvadoran soldier.

“This is one person that is deciding that rather than allowing democracy to flourish, he’s going to exercise force,” President Bush said in Charlotte, North Carolina. “We just can’t let it stand.”

An Iraqi judge has issued a murder arrest for al-Sadr for the killing of another Shia leader, coalition officials said.

The warrant was issued some time ago, but the senior Central Command officer suggested coalition forces had previously avoided going after al-Sadr because it appeared his influence was waning.

He has also been difficult to find, the officer said, except when speaking at mosques, a place where US forces and their Iraqi allies were unwilling to invade for fear of angering Muslims.

The senior Central Command officer said al-Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army, would be systematically disarmed. The militia numbers about 3,000 fighters.

Many of the US troops were killed retaking police stations in Baghdad that were captured by the militia, the officer said.

The officer portrayed the weekend’s violence as an attempt by al-Sadr to increase his influence in Iraq ahead of the expected June 30 transfer of power from the US-led occupation to an Iraqi government.

The officer provided few details about any planning for additional US troops, saying it was only a contingency if widespread violence erupted.

At this point, the official said, that was not believed likely.

President Bush remains committed to the June 30 deadline despite the violence and questions from members of his own party whether it should hold.

“The deadline remains firm,” he told reporters.

Senator Dick Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had raised the prospect on Sunday of extending the deadline, questioning whether Iraq would be ready for self-rule.

Lugar said security was a shambles in some cities, and Iraqi police forces were not prepared to take over.

“The real issue is June 30, how we are going to make that transition,” the Indiana Republican said.

Further scepticism came yesterday from Senator Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“The June 30 date is an arbitrary one, perhaps dictated more by US domestic politics than the situation within Iraq,” Levin said in a speech in Detroit.