U.S. troops turn over Najaf to Iraqis

U.S. forces ceded control of southern Najaf province to Iraqi police and soldiers, who marked the occasion Wednesday with a parade and martial arts demonstrations. But doubts remain about whether the Iraqis, vulnerable to insurgent attacks and militia infiltration, can handle security in more volatile provinces anytime soon.

In one of those provinces, Baghdad, police found 76 bodies, some of them blindfolded and handcuffed, on Wednesday. Many of the victims had been shot and some showed signs of torture, a police officer said on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. Two suicide car bombings also killed at least 19 people in the capital.

The handover of Najaf came as new Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Baghdad, seeking advice from top commanders on a new strategy for an increasingly unpopular war just two days after taking charge at the Pentagon. Roadside bombs took the lives of two more U.S. soldiers, one in Baghdad and the other southwest of the capital.

Home to 930,000 people, Najaf saw heavy fighting two years ago, but has been relatively peaceful lately. It was the third of Iraq's 18 provinces to come under local control. British troops handed over southern Muthana province in July, and the Italian military transferred neighboring Dhi Qar in September.

Authorities in Najaf city banned vehicles as provincial and tribal leaders and dignitaries gathered in the dusty, blue bleachers of a soccer stadium for the handover ceremony.

About 1,500 police officers, soldiers and security personnel staged a parade around an infield of stubby brown grass, in festivities complete with warriors on horseback.

At one point, a small group of soldiers stepped forward with a live rabbit and tore it to pieces. The leader bit out the heart with a yell, then passed around the blood-soaked remains to his comrades, each of whom took a bite. The group also bit the heads off frogs, as some of those in the crowd held their noses from the stench.

Chewing on live animals is a traditional display of ferocity for elite troops in Iraq and was also observed by special units during Saddam Hussein's rule.

Police then steered shiny new cruisers and motorcycles with ribbons and flowers stuck to their windshields around a track ringing the soccer field, which was still littered with fur and discarded frog legs.

"Our soldiers do a lot of things, but I've never seen them do anything like that," said Maj. Gen. Kurt Cichowski, who attended the ceremony.

U.S. forces closed their major outpost in the region in September, as the 8th Iraqi Army Division and 6,900 police officers assumed greater responsibility in the province.

American forces will remain on standby in the area in case violence erupts again.

"Every province is important," Cichowski said. "There's 15 to go and we hope we can accomplish that by the end of 2007."

Critics charge that handing over control here was easy because Najaf is overwhelming Shiite and has not faced the same level of sectarian violence as religiously mixed areas like Baghdad.

They have also expressed concern that, with the Americans scaling back, the province could become a key staging ground for Shiite militias with strong ties to soldiers in the largely Shiite army.

"There were the same kind of concerns in Muthana and Dhi Qar and they've done very well," Cichowski countered.

Lt. Gen. Nasier Abadi, deputy chief of staff of the Iraqi Army, acknowledged that militia groups hold sway among many soldiers, but said "they can be weeded out."

Abadi, a veteran of Saddam's army, said the handover was "important for Iraq because up until now, everybody thinks that the coalition is doing the governing, so now Iraqis need to take over the responsibility."

He said his troops lack basic equipment such as aircraft and tanks that will prevent them from handling security in all of Iraq. But he said that he expects U.S.-led forces to provide key equipment throughout next year.

Najaf is home to the iconic Imam Ali shrine, where Shiites believe the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad is buried. Millions make pilgrimages to the city annually, and Shiites from across Iraq come to bury their dead in the huge cemetery.

The city of Najaf endured heavy fighting in 2004 between the U.S. Army and militiamen loyal to radical anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and parts of Najaf lie in ruins. Some violence now is aimed at Shiite pilgrims.

After meeting with President Bush last month in Jordan, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the two leaders agreed on the need to speed up the Iraqi takeover of security responsibilities.

However, even with U.S. troops leading the battle, the Pentagon reported Monday that attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops and Iraqi civilians jumped sharply in recent months to the highest level since Iraq regained its sovereignty in June 2004.

Also Wednesday, a U.S. military statement reported the capture of a senior al-Qaida in Iraq leader during a raid by coalition troops in the northern city of Mosul. It said the suspect served as al-Qaida's military chief in Mosul in 2005 and then took up the same job in western Baghdad. The military did not name the detainee.