Bush On Early Iraq Pull-Out & The Neo-Salafi Challenge.

President Bush on April 24, and again on April 27, warned a sudden withdrawal of US troops from Iraq would be an "unforgivable mistake" that could spread chaos across the Middle East. He renewed his promise to veto the House bill (see above) because of its inclusion of withdrawal dates which, he said, would "embolden our enemies and confirm their belief that America is weak". The intensifying war of words in Washington came against the backdrop of fresh violence in Iraq, where nine US paratroopers on April 23 were killed and 20 wounded near Ba'quba in Diyala Province, north-east of Baghdad, in the worst Neo-Salafi suicide bombing of US ground forces in more than a year.

The Neo-Salafi Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an umbrella for al-Qaeda-affiliated suicide bombing groups in Iraq, on April 24 claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. (The US soldiers were members of the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry of the 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division. The squadron has been involved in a security push to tamp down booming insurgent activity in Diyala). In two Internet postings, the ISI said two suicide truck bombers had driven into an American base in the area of al-Waqf, near the provincial capital of Ba'quba.

The ISI, a nucleus for a Caliphate which is ultimately to rule the world, recently announced a "cabinet" within its group. On April 24 it said its "war ministry" led by Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, had planned the attack, adding: "Let the enemy expect more from the ministry, with power and might from the glorified Allah. The suicide brigades are continually increasing, and so are the 'intruding brigades'". The membership of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia is made up mostly of Iraqis, with some tribes in the country divided in their loyalties towards the group.

Al-Qaeda was once most active in Anbar Province, a Sunni Arab bastion, but has shifted much of its efforts to Diyala, which lies between Iran and Baghdad. The province is a seething caldron of ethnic and sectarian tensions, with Sunni Arab militants driving Shi'ites from Ba'quba, Iraqi Army units operating under a general loyal to a Shi'ite militia, and Kurds slowly seizing cities in the north of the province. Caught in that web are the Americans.

Because of intensifying violence, the US forces there have been bolstered recently by a Stryker battalion. US fatalities in Diyala had skyrocketed in recent months. The 5th Squadron, led by Lt Col Andrew Poppas, lost a lieutenant and a captain, both West Point graduates, last November when it fought with well-trained and well-disciplined insurgents for more than 40 hours in the village of Turki. The Americans had to call in more than 12 hours of air strikes, and at least 72 insurgents were killed. The US on April 27 said a top al-Qaeda man - Abdel-Hadi al-Iraqi - was arrested while trying to enter Iraq from Iran and was now held at Guantanamo Bay.

The Neo-Salafis had been driven to Diyala by crackdowns in Baghdad and tribal opposition in Anbar Province, a common pattern in which US troop deployments cause guerrilla activity to relocate. It may also be that the nationwide surge in sectarian violence after the Feb. 22, 2006 destruction of a Shi'ite shrine caused Diyala's Sunni population to view the militants as their protectors or avengers. But now Sunnis there are turning against Neo-Salafis.

Speaking outside the White House, Bush on April 24 acknowledged that Americans "have serious concerns about this war" and "want our troops to come home", adding: "But no matter how frustrating the fight can be, and no matter how much we wish the war was over, the security of our country depends directly on the outcome in Iraq. The price of giving up there would be paid in American lives for years to come". Bush said almost the same thing on April 27.