2 legislators urge govt. to focus on intel.

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Two members of the parliament’s security and defense committee on Friday called on the Iraqi government to focus on the intelligence to stand up against Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) network, while a third criticized the government’s “negligence of the country’s security”. “The Iraqi security apparatus should be vigilant and cautious and should never rest assured. We believe that shortcomings about stemming violence is the country are mainly blamed on the government,” Hassan Dican, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s security & defense committee from the (Sunni) Iraqi Accord Front (IAF), told IraqiNews.com news agency. Six explosions ripped through the Iraqi capital on Wednesday (April 29). Two car bomb blasts rocked two outdoor souks (markets) in the predominantly Shiite eastern Baghdad district of Sadr City, killing nine people and wounding 72 others. Three other car bombs were defused inside the district. Two explosive vehicles also went off in the Shiite area of al-Hurriya, but the casualties could not have been known. In the Sunni district of al-Dora, five people were killed and eight others wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast. In Abu Dshir, an area of Shiite majority, security forces defused a car bomb. The Iraqi capital has witnessed escalated acts of violence since the end of last week as more than 130 people were killed and more than 150 others wounded in blasts conducted by suicide bombers in the cities of al-Karada and al-Kadhemiya. “We believe that the Iraqi security forces have become prepared to received security responsibilities for the country from the U.S. side,” said Dican. U.S. combat forces are scheduled to leave the Iraqi cities and districts by the end of June within preparations for withdrawal from Iraq by August 2010, to be completed by the end of 2011 commensurate with U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan. Currently there are 143,000 U.S. troops and 4,100 Britons in Iraq. Adel Birwari, another member of parliament’s security & defense committee from the Kurdistan Alliance (KA), the second largest bloc, said the security forces have improved and are capable of handling security responsibilities in Iraq. “One of the evidence that the security forces’ performance has improved is the capture of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi (the leader of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq group) and we bless that progress that threw a spanner in the AQI’s plots,” Birwari told IraqiNews.com. “There are, however, some dormant cells from the AQI and the Saddamist Baath, which have to be confronted by focusing on developing the intelligence aspect,” he said. Birwari believed that these cells could be active by capitalizing on the security vacuum to be left after the foreign troops have withdrawn from the cities. A lawmaker from the Iraqi National List (INL) lashed out at “the government’s negligence about the recent bombing attacks in Baghdad”. “We wish to see the government act and show interest about bombings when they occur and to see officials, on top of them the head of the government, at the site of the blasts,” Jamal Bateekh told IraqiNews.com. “While Baghdad was being rocked by deadly violent bombings, all the government officials were at the Baghdad International Airport to fly to Britain. But why the prime minister did not postpone his visit? And what was the use about furthering economic relations while we should have the situation re-arranged from within in the first place?” wondered Bateekh. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had started on Wednesday (April 29) a visit to London to attend an international conference on investment as part of a European tour, the same day that saw the explosion of several car bombs in Sadr City, where dozens were killed or wounded. AmR (R) 3