Thursday, July 15, 2004

Will soon ever come?

Yawn.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's interim prime minister said Thursday he expects insurgents to strike harder in the coming weeks and announced the creation of an intelligence service designed to combat terrorism.  
 
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Iraq's new government has talked increasingly tough about cracking down on insurgents. It passed emergency laws giving Allawi broad powers to combat violence; police have conducted sweeps of terror suspects in Baghdad and other cities. Those actions may have spurred militants to launch their series of attacks in recent days, Allawi said.    
 
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They will "hit harder in the weeks ahead, and maybe even months ahead."  
 
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Interior Minister Falah Hassan al-Naqib, with Allawi at the news conference, said the government had arrested terrorists and criminals in the cities of Mosul and Baghdad in recent days. Iraq's sparsely patrolled borders, which foreign fighters are accused of exploiting to enter the country, have not yet been secured, but the government was working with the armed forces to change that, he said. "We have organized crime and we have terrorism. We are working against the two," he said. "You will seem some great results soon."  
Iraqis to Allawi:  Tell us something we haven't heard.