BAGHDAD (CNN) -- The Iraqi government has made key strides in the year since it regained sovereignty from the United States -- holding historic elections in January and preparing war crimes cases against Saddam Hussein and some of his aides.
But the fledgling country has seen no let up in the insurgency, which has targeted U.S. and Iraqi forces and terrorized civilians with almost daily bombings, drive-by shootings, kidnappings and assassinations.
Iraq's growing security forces still must rely on constant backing from American soldiers and Marines in Iraq to take on the Saddam loyalists, foreign fighters and anti-U.S. Iraqis.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have launched major operations against the insurgency across the country. They neutralized Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army in Najaf and in Baghdad's Sadr City last summer. They destroyed the insurgents' base in Falluja in a fierce November invasion and conducted several raids and operations in western Iraq in recent months to stem infiltration by foreign fighters over the Syrian border.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, interviewed on Wolf Blitzer's "Late Edition" on CNN, acknowledged the challenge of confronting daily violence, but said that the formation of the government through a free election signals hope.
"We face tremendous difficulties in forming the government recently, and we managed to overcome them, so I believe we can overcome the obstacles ahead of us.
"Similarly, we had difficulties in doing the elections. They were real threats, yet people responded to that challenge and actually stepped out, voted, despite all the threats."
Source For Full Article : http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/28/iraq.anniversary/index.html
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