Some Iraqis Skeptical About Bush's New Plan
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 7, 2006 — -- Sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq, a step President Bush is expected to announce Wednesday, is intended to make Baghdad secure, but that should prove especially challenging in the city's Dora neighborhood.
When ABC News visited the area in August, a unit from the 4th Infantry Division had managed to bring relative peace to the area. Stores had opened and people came to shop in the marketplace.
But as soon as the U.S. troops left Dora in October and handed over security to the Iraqis, carnage followed. Insurgents and militiamen rushed back in and set off car bombs, and the murder rate soared. Among the targets hit was a nearby U.S. ammunition depot.
A family in Dora told ABC News today that gunfire and mortars had kept them indoors for the past two days. Going to the market is out of the question, as their entire neighborhood is under siege, they said.
Under Bush's new security plan for Baghdad, U.S. troops are likely to head back to Dora. But critics of the president's expected proposal have asked what the troops are going to do differently this time.
There are several new tactics. First, U.S. troops are going to stay with the local people for up to a year instead of leaving after two months, said retired Gen. Jack Keane, who has been advising the White House.
"We are sleeping in the neighborhood, we're eating in the neighborhood. We are going to stay in that neighborhood 24/7," he said. "We are not going back to the refuge of our base."
There will also be added money for garbage collection and other jobs that U.S. officials hope will lure young men away from violence.
Last, there will be more training for Iraqi security forces to get Sunnis and Shiites to work together.
"Conducting joint operations together where we are also embedding some of our forces with the Iraqis will raise up their quality of performance," Keane said.
So far, the performance level of the Iraqi security troops has disappointed .
Ultimately, the success or failure of the plan will depend on the Iraqi security forces, U.S. officials said. And so far, people in Dora are skeptical.
One person who lives in the region told ABC News, "Only God can solve this problem."
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