IRAQ|Developments

IRAQ|Developments
The military said an Army soldier assigned to the 2nd Marine Division died of wounds suffered on Thursday when his vehicle was struck by a rocket in Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital.
The military launched a new offensive -- Operation Shank -- in Ramadi, capital of the insurgent-ridden Anbar province. About 200 Iraqi army soldiers and 300 U.S. Marines were taking part in the offensive, part of a campaign to step up military operations throughout the Sunni Arab regions west of Baghdad to cut off the flow of weapons, ammunition and foreign fighters entering the country and to reduce insurgent activity.
A major Sunni clerical group, the Association of Muslim Scholars, appealed to the Arab League and human rights organizations to intervene with the Americans to stop "the massacres in Anbar." The Association is believed to have ties to some Sunni insurgent groups and is an outspoken critic of the American role in Iraq.
As part of security measures for the Dec. 15 election, Iraq's Interior Ministry has banned all non-Iraqi Arabs from entering the country, officials said. Officials said they expected the ban to be lifted two days after the election.
In Baghdad, some Shiites joined hundreds of Sunni Muslims to denounce widespread arrests of suspected insurgents. The ceremony was a significant sign that some mainstream religious leaders want to prevent tensions between the communities from erupting into a full-scale civil war.
Nearly twice as many Iraqi security forces will be available to guard against attacks during this month's election as were on hand during voting in January, said Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the commander in charge of training and equipping the Iraqi military and police. He said 225,000 members of the Iraqi army and police will be available.
Iraq's security forces have "a long way to go" to deal with the bloody insurgency and violent crime, the Iraqi government said in a report obtained by The Associated Press. The report concludes that Iraq's army -- praised just this week by President Bush -- needs more men, better leaders, new equipment and improved training to confront the insurgents without U.S. support.
Poland's new defense minister suggested that additional U.S. aid would be a crucial factor in determining whether to continue playing an active role in the war on terror. A day before heading to Washington, Defense Minister Radek Sikorski said meetings with top U.S. military officials would be "very helpful" as Poland decides within the next few weeks whether to keep its 1,500 soldiers in central Iraq or stick to the last government's plan to bring them home next month.
Source: Associated Press
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