Baghdad Violence Dips As Government Cracks Down

BAGHDAD — Government forces that fanned out across Baghdad on Wednesday set up checkpoints, frisked motorists and caused traffic jams on the first day of the largest security operation in Iraq's capital since Saddam Hussein's ouster three years ago.
Violence dipped slightly in the capital. Baghdad was hit by just one car bombing that killed four people and injured six, police Lt. Ali Mitaab said.
Many stores were closed in Azamiyah and Dora, both strongholds of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
Operation Forward Together, involving 75,000 Iraqi army and police forces backed by U.S. troops, began a day after President Bush visited Baghdad to reassure Iraqis of Washington's continued support and a week after the death of terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
It was the first major action by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki since his new government of national unity was sworn in May 20.
Tackling security in Baghdad has been the aim of several past counterinsurgency operations, including one a year ago. That operation, code-named Lightning, failed to have any impact on the almost daily bombings, shootings and killings in Baghdad.
Al-Maliki pledged Wednesday not to negotiate with those who have shed innocent blood, the latest in a series of tough statements he has made since American bombs killed Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, sought to reassure Sunni Arabs that Operation Forward Together would not indiscriminately target their community, which is the heart of the insurgency.
“We are only going to attack areas that are dens for terrorists,” al-Maliki said.
Launching the operation in a televised news conference, al-Maliki said he was prepared to hold talks with insurgent groups opposed to Iraq's U.S.-backed peace process. He made clear that his offer was conditional and excluded terrorist groups.
As part of a national reconciliation initiative he planned to detail this week, the prime minister also offered amnesty to detainees found not to have been involved in violence.
“There is also a space for dialogue with insurgents who opposed the political process and now want to join the political process after offering guarantees,” al-Maliki said. He did not specify what guarantees he seeks. “On the other hand, we are not going to negotiate with the criminals who have killed the innocent.”
The security crackdown in Baghdad includes a curfew extended by 4½ hours — from 8:30 p.m. until dawn — and a weapons ban.
The government did not say how long the crackdown would last and declined to provide the precise number of checkpoints and troops involved.