Army says Iraqi forces in Ramadi need more time

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Iraqi army and police in the Anbar capital of Ramadi will need at least another eight months before they can begin to take over local security, a U.S. military officer said on Friday.

As new bloodshed and political turmoil continue to erupt around Baghdad, the Pentagon painted an upbeat picture of conditions in Anbar, a former al Qaeda stronghold where Sunni tribal leaders have turned against militants in recent months.

Army Col. John Charlton, commander of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, said daily attacks in Ramadi have fallen from 30-35 in February to one a day at present thanks in large part because of the growth of local police and army units.

But Charlton, who commands an area of about 500,000 residents centered on Ramadi, said local forces cannot function without U.S. military support because they are unable to provide basic needs including fuel, weapons and ammunition.

"It's that logistics base. Once that gets established, then I think that -- I am certain -- that this force can protect their area," Charlton said at a Pentagon briefing via video link from Iraq.

"I think probably in the next six to eight months we ought to be able to get a lot of those systems in place," he said.

The readiness of Iraqi security forces is key to a raging debate in Washington, where Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have called on the Bush administration to start bringing U.S. troops home.

Security forces are likely to take much longer to develop in other areas of Iraq, especially where there is continued sectarian violence within mixed Sunni and Shi'ite populations.

Anbar province is predominantly Sunni and once stood as a symbol of Sunni resistance to U.S.-led occupation, providing al Qaeda in Iraq with a critical operating base.

Local Sunni Arab tribes began turning out al Qaeda militants last year over the militant group's indiscriminate killing of civilians and harsh interpretation of Islam.

Charlton said local sheiks have since encouraged youths to join the police, whose ranks have swelled from 200 officers a year ago to about 7,400 today.

Iraqi army recruitment also picked up this year after the Baghdad government allowed local recruits to stay in Anbar for the first two years of their enlistment, he said.

There are currently two Iraqi army brigades in Ramadi with a total of 4,700 soldiers, including both Sunnis and Shi'ites.