U.S. to push advantage in Iraq

The military also hopes to be able to start withdrawing troops soon.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- With the death of militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the United States will seek to press its advantage against al-Qaida in Iraq, even as it will likely draw down U.S. forces in the months to come, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Sunday.
Gen. George Casey's comments on a televised public-affairs shows underscored an inherent tension in the military's position. The United States suddenly finds itself with a chance to build on its military blow against al-Qaida in Iraq at the same time it could take advantage of the political stability offered by Iraq's new government to reduce the U.S. presence.
"As long as the Iraqi security forces continue to progress, and as long as this national unity government continues to operate that way and move the country forward, I think we are going to be able to see ... gradual reductions of coalition forces," Casey told CBS's "Face the Nation" in an interview from Baghdad.
Pushing the advantage
For months, the Pentagon has suggested that Casey would be in a position this spring to recommend further cuts in the U.S. troop deployment, reductions that began last December when orders for two brigades were canceled. But the long wrangling over who would become Iraq's prime minister and who would fill the posts of defense and interior minister, along with continued violence in Iraq, forced Casey and Pentagon officials to put off decisions about whether to hold back additional brigades.
The death of al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, in a U.S. airstrike Wednesday threw a wrinkle into the plans of U.S. commanders, who see an opening to act on intelligence acquired in raids that followed the attack.
"We're trying to take advantage of the opportunity that is presented here by leadership turbulence," Casey said. "Any time you change a leader in an organization, it's a period of turbulence. It's especially critical in war."
A U.S. military autopsy was finished on al-Zarqawi on Sunday, but the findings were not immediately released by American officials, Maj. William Willhoite told The Associated Press.
Casey said officials were awaiting the results of a DNA test.
Continued aggression
Al-Qaida in Iraq on Sunday announced that it is plotting more bloodshed. The insurgent organization's governing council had met to discuss strategy and the group said in an Internet statement: "We plan large-scale operations that will shake the enemy and rob them of sleep."
Asked about the threat, Casey observed that in the past the organization tended to sharpen its rhetoric when it was "hurting." Still, he acknowledged that the network was still capable of carrying out attacks and said U.S. forces were taking such threats seriously.
Speaking earlier on "Fox News Sunday," Casey said there would be enhanced security operations in Baghdad and the United States would continue its offensive against al-Qaida that it began after killing al-Zarqawi.
"We have had a steady drum beat of operations against the al-Qaida network here in Iraq since the Zarqawi operation," he said.