IRAQ - Oct 31 - U.S.-Iraqi Checkpoints In Baghdad Lifted.

Nuri Kamal al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered the lifting of joint U.S.-Iraqi military checkpoints around the Shiite militant stronghold of Sadr City and other parts of Baghdad - another apparent move to assert his authority with the Americans and appeal to his Shiite base of support. American forces disappeared from the checkpoints within hours of the order, setting off celebrations among civilians and armed men on the edge of the sprawling slum controlled by the Mahdi Army militia run by the radical anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Iraqi troops loaded coils of barbed wire and red traffic cones onto pickup trucks, while small groups of men and children danced in circles chanting slogans praising Sadr, who earlier Tuesday had ordered the area closed to the Iraqi government until U.S. troops lifted what he called their "siege" of the neighborhood. Maliki's order threatened to further upset relations between the United States and the Iraqi government, which became strained last week after he issued a string of bitter complaints, saying at one point that he was not "America's man in Iraq". The White House insisted there was no rift. "To deal with checkpoints does not necessarily change the situation in terms of how you deal with Sadr City", said the White House press secretary, Tony Snow. "What he did not say is, 'Let's not continue going after terrorist organizations.'" A Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said there appeared to be some disagreement about the checkpoints, but, "I just can't provide any clarity". "Iraq is a sovereign country, and U.S. military operations are in support of the Iraqi government and in support of Iraqi forces", he added. The tightened security had been credited by some for producing a temporary decline in violence, possibly because it curbed the activities of Shiite death squads blamed for waves of sectarian killings of Sunnis. But a car bomb exploded in the neighborhood Tuesday, killing three people and wounding five, the police said. On Monday, a bombing there killed at least 33 people. Elsewhere in Baghdad on Tuesday, a suicide car bomber struck a wedding party of Shiite celebrants, killing 11 people and wounding 21. The extra checkpoints were set up last week around Sadr City as U.S. troops searched for a missing U.S. soldier and raided homes looking for death squad leaders in the sprawling slum that is home to an overwhelmingly Shiite population of 2.5 million people. Other checkpoints manned by U.S. troops were erected in the central Karrada neighborhood where the soldier was abducted. Maliki's statement said such measures "should not be taken except during nighttime curfew hours and emergencies". "Joint efforts continue to pursue terrorists and outlaws who expose the lives of citizens to killings, abductions and explosions", said the statement, issued in Maliki's name in his capacity both as PM and commander of Iraq's armed forces. In a statement addressed to local supporters Monday, Sadr had warned of unspecified action if the military's "siege" continued. He also criticized what he called the silence of politicians over actions by the U.S. military in the district. "If this siege continues for long, we will resort to actions which I will have no choice but to take, God willing, and when the time is right", he said. Maliki was apparently angered by a statement from the U.S. ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, that the PM had agreed to set a timeline for progress on reaching security and political goals - something Maliki denied. U.S. concern over the deteriorating relationship was evident when the national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, showed up unannounced in Baghdad on Monday to meet with Maliki and his security chief, Mowaffak al-Rubaie. U.S. voter support for the war is at a low point as the Nov. 7 midterm elections approach, and a top aide to Maliki said he was using the Republicans' vulnerability on Iraq to leverage concessions from the Bush administration - particularly the speedy withdrawal of American forces from cities to U.S. bases in the country. Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two soldiers in fighting Monday, bringing the number of troops killed in Iraq this month to 103. October has been the fourth-deadliest month for American troops since the war began in 2003. The other highest monthly death tolls were 107 in January 2005, at least 135 in April 2004 and 137 in November 2004. U.S. may back force increase Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday that he might approve proposals by the Iraqi government and the top U.S. commander in Baghdad to increase the size of the Iraqi security forces, The Associated Press reported from Washington. "I'm very comfortable with the increases they've proposed and the accelerations in achievement of some of their targets", Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon, when asked about a report by CBS News that General George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, was going to recommend an increase of up to 100,000 soldiers and police. Rumsfeld said he hoped to have a meeting on this later Tuesday and "come to some closure on it". Rumsfeld would not say how big an increase has been proposed. He also did not say whether Casey and the Iraqi government had proposed the same size increase. He said the final decision would be announced in Baghdad. U.S. government approval is required for any plan to expand the size of the Iraqi forces because it could not be accomplished without additional U.S. funds and the provision of U.S. trainers and U.S.-acquired equipment. Asked whether the increase would mean that U.S. forces would have to stay in Iraq longer to train the extra forces, Rumsfeld said he doubted it. Nor would it necessarily require a higher number of U.S. trainers, he said.