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Casey: Except Baghdad, progress in Iraq
By UPI Staff
United Press International
October 13, 2006

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. general in charge of Iraq says there has been significant progress in quelling violence in Iraq with the exception of Baghdad.

At a Washington briefing, U.S. Army Gen. George Casey said despite the daily news of sectarian violence in the capital, much of the rest of the country was relatively calm and the training and development of Iraqi security forces was making headway.

He said he had no immediate plans to ask for more U.S. troops to bolster the 140,000 there but said it remained an option, The Washington Post reported.

"There's no question locally, more troops will have some affect on the levels of violence, but whether more U.S. troops for a sustained period will get us where we're going faster is an open question," Casey said.

He said despite Iraqi government pleas for peace between Sunni and Shiite Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, sectarian violence has increased, and will likely continue to mount through the end of the period on Oct. 22.

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