Iraqi General Urges Support of U.S. Troops

Sunday, May 16, 2004

(2:54 PM ET)

By Katarina Kratovac

Associated Press Writer

``The Quran says we should sit together, discuss and make a decision, but let it be the right decision. They were brought here by the acts of one coward who was hunted out of a rathole - Saddam - who disgraced us all. Let us tell our children that these men came here to protect us. As President Bush said, they did not come here to occupy our land but to get rid of Saddam. We can help them leave by helping them do their job, or we can make them stay ten years and more by keeping fighting.''

A U.S. Army soldier in the center of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, May 16, 2004, hands Iraqis a piece of paper printed with a message in Arabic saying that the troops are looking for translators to work for the U.S.-led coalition.

Image Credit: Muhammed Muheisen -- AP

FALLUJAH, Iraq -- AP
A former Saddam Hussein-era general appointed by the Americans to lead an Iraqi security force in the rebellious Sunni stronghold of Fallujah urged tribal elders and sheiks Sunday to support U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq.

Retired Maj. Gen. Mohammed Abdul-Latif rose to prominence after nearly monthlong battles last month between the Marines monthlong battles in April between the Marines and insurgents hunkered down in Fallujah's neighborhoods.

``We can make them (Americans) use their rifles against us or we can make them build our country, it's your choice,'' Latif told a gathering of more than 40 sheiks, city council members and imams in an eastern Fallujah suburb.

The siege of this city of 200,000 people, located about 40 miles west of Baghdad, was lifted when top Marine officers announced the creation of the Fallujah Brigade - a force made exclusively of former Iraqi army officers.

The Marines withdrew from Fallujah into the rural hinterland and far-flung suburbs, allowing the Iraqi force to take up positions and start patrols inside the city. The brigade is expected to number about 1,500 men, many of them conscripts or noncommissioned officers under Saddam.

They are expected to fight the guerrillas, although some of the same insurgents who fought the Marines last month will likely join the brigade.

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2004 © The Associated Press.

Dan