Iraqi security forces will be unable to guarantee safety after the planned transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30, a range of Iraqi and Western specialists concluded Sunday, one day after an audacious raid in Falluja that killed at least 25 people. A series of bold attacks on military and police forces in Iraq last week culminated in the overrunning on Saturday of a police station in Falluja, about 35 miles west of Baghdad. “I think it’s quite clear the Iraqi security forces, brave as they are, and beaten and attacked as they are, are not going to be ready by July 1,” said L. Paul Bremer III, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, in an interview Sunday on CNN. “So there will have to be an international presence here after the sovereign government comes into power the first of July.” The week of attacks, which left more than 125 dead, came as the Iraqi Governing Council and the American military have been negotiating over what role the occupation military would play after the transfer. Clearly, many American soldiers will remain in Iraq. Full Story
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