Monday’s attacks attempts to show “muscle” – US command

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The American side has considered the attacks that took place on Monday against a number of Iraqi cities as an attempt by what it described as “Rebels” to show their muscles and to undermine the potential of Iraq’s security forces.   “The rebels in the country are trying to show their power and undermine the potential of the Iraqi security forces to protect security, press on them and force them to submit,” the Commander of the U.S. Forces in southern and central Iraq, Colonel Scott Yeflin, told a news conference in the Calso Base in Hilla city on Tuesday.   “I saw during the period of my presence here that the strength of the Iraqi Security Force and its firmness and flexibility; and I’m confident that this Force won’t allow such events,” he said.   On his part, Major Mark Miller, the Executive in Charge of the 6th Brigade of the 1st Cavaliers Division, said: “We had offered our support for the Iraqi Forces, but they wanted to take the command in their hands this time.”   A number of Iraqi cities had witnessed on Monday a series of explosions, the first of their type for more than 2 months, most of them in the Provinces of Wassit, Karbala, Salahal-Din, Najaf and Kirkuk, that killed over 60 people and injured about 250 others, according to security sources.   SKH (TI)/SR 432