U.S. sees progress in guerrilla area

TIKRIT, Iraq -- The U.S. general commanding operations in Saddam Hussein's ancestral homeland says that American forces have dealt a damaging blow to the insurgency in this pivotal region of Iraq in the past 30 days by choking off much of the guerrillas' financing and arms supplies. But he also acknowledges that the occupation still faces huge challenges, from suicide bombings to training and equipping new Iraqi police officers and militia members.

The commander, Maj. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who heads the Army's 4th Infantry Division, said in an interview on Thursday night that American operations had captured several important guerrilla financiers in recent days, seized money stashed across the region to pay for weapons and attacks ($500 to conduct a strike and up to $3,000 to kill an American soldier), and stopped couriers smuggling in cash from outside Iraq.

Nearly $2 million in American currency was seized in Samarra this week. As a result, he said, attacks against American soldiers have dropped to an average of six a day from 22 a day a month ago.

"For the first time in the last 30 days, I truly feel we've gotten into their cycle of financing," Odierno said at his headquarters here, in one of Saddam's sprawling palace complexes. "We have indications they're having trouble financing attacks. There are indications that for the first time, they're having trouble getting their hands on weapons."

Odierno said he could not say how long American troops would stay in Iraq. But he set out four specific conditions for their departure: creating a credible police force to maintain civil order, establishing an army to defend against external threats, forming an effective new government, and eliminating the threat of insurgency by former Iraqi security forces.

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