The US in Iraq: Worse expected yet

On the fifth day of implementing Baghdad's new security plan -- code-named Operation Imposing Law -- two car bombs killed 56 civilians and wounded dozens in a religiously mixed neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad. On the same day, five bodies were found, showing signs of torture and gunshots. In the first five days of the security plan, 50 people were killed in acts of violence and 60 bodies were found in various parts of Baghdad.

The day the new security plan started, President Bush held his first news conference since his party lost the mid-term elections last November. He said the US should win the war in Iraq, because failure would mean that terror would come to the US. Two days later, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Baghdad for talks with President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, and several Iraqi and US officials. Rice said she was optimistic about the security plan but added a note of caution, saying that it would be premature to predict the plan's outcome.

Speaking to 250 US officials at the US Embassy in Baghdad -- formerly the Presidential Palace -- Rice echoed Bush's sentiments, saying that the US must win the war. She also told her audience that they were doing "noble" work in Iraq.

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