Odierno: 40% of Baghdad 'very safe'; 60% lacking control or suffering 'a high level of violence'

Above: Soldiers scan the surrounding area for a sniper after hearing shots fired in their direction while out on a patrol in Baghdad's volatile Adhamiyah neighborhood on June 6.

BAGHDAD -- Security forces in Baghdad have full control in only 40 percent of the city five months into the pacification campaign, a top American general said Saturday as U.S. troops began an offensive against two al Qaeda strongholds on the capital's southern outskirts...

Odierno said there was a long way to go in retaking the city from Shiite Muslim militias, Sunni Arab insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists. He said only about "40 percent is really very safe on a routine basis" -- with about 30 percent lacking control and the remaining 30 percent suffering "a high level of violence."

He discussed the new offensive and the security situation in an interview as he visited an American outpost near the main market in the capital's southern Dora district, a major Sunni Arab stronghold.

"There's about 30 percent of the city that needs work, like here in Dora and the surrounding areas," Odierno said. "Those are the areas that we consider to be the hot spots, which usually have a Sunni-Shiite fault line, and also areas where al Qaeda has decided to make a stand."

Read the rest at the Star Telegram

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