Forces on Iraq anniversary alert

Many US soldiers are dismayed at the mission extension

US-led coalition troops in Iraq have been placed on a higher state of alert on the anniversary of the former Baath Party's rise to power.

The newly-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has scrapped the national holiday celebrating the 1968 coup, which paved the way for Saddam Hussein's regime.

In the past, Iraq marked the occasion with massive parades.

The anniversary comes a day after the US chief of military operations in Iraq admitted for the first time that his troops were facing a classic guerrilla-style war.

The comments by US Central Command head General John Abizaid mark a change in the stance taken by the US towards its attackers.

Pentagon officials have been reluctant until now to admit to a guerrilla campaign, describing the attacks as uncoordinated violence by remnants of the Baathist regime.

"I think describing it as guerrilla tactics is a proper way to describe it in strictly military terms," General Abizaid said at the first briefing in his new job.

"It's low intensity but it's war however you describe it."

Attacks continue

More than 30 US troops have been killed as a result of hostile action since US President George W Bush declared major combat over on 1 May.

On Wednesday alone a soldier died and two were injured in a car bomb blast; a surface-to-air missile was fired at an US transport plane and a pro-American mayor in western Iraqi was shot and killed.

If Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was here, I'd ask him for his resignation US infantry soldier Timeline: US losses in Iraq Have Your Say: Crisis in US morale?

US military spokesmen say there are an average of 13 attacks a day, ranging from an individual taking pot shots to rocket-propelled grenade strikes on convoys.

The latter approach gives the clearest indication of a relatively well-organised structure. Positions are well chosen, soft targets selected and escape routes secured.

General Abizaid said that US commanders had expected attacks to increase throughout July because of the number of public holidays associated with the former Baathist regime that fall within the period.

He said the current resistance mainly came from mid-level Baath Party members and security forces and former Iraqi Republican Guard soldiers, in addition to "significant terrorist groups".

The US has launched numerous operations to try to pre-empt attacks, arresting suspects and seizing caches of arms, ammunition and money.

But the BBC's Jonny Dymond in Baghdad says these operations create hostility among the population because of aggressive search tactics and large-scale detentions.

He says that kind of hostility has stoked up support outside Iraq for those carrying out guerrilla warfare and reduced the number people in the country who are willing to give the authorities information.

Pressure on morale

Correspondents say US troops in Iraq are becoming increasingly nervous and desperate to return home as the toll increases and a return date is repeatedly postponed.

Since the 1 May the US has increased its forces to 148,000 while the UK contribution has dropped to 11,000.

Troops in the Gulf Start of war: US: 115,000 UK: 26,000 July: US: 148,000 UK: 11,000

Senator John Kerry of the opposition Democratic Party in the US, a presidential hopeful, said the Bush administration should move quickly to bring other countries into the post-war effort to take the focus off American troops.

"The obligation of the United States Government and the president is to rapidly internationalise the effort in Iraq, get the target off of American troops, bring other people, particularly ... Arabic-speaking Muslim troops, into the region," he told CNN.

The White House played down suggestions of falling morale among US troops in Iraq.

But in interviews with American television network ABC, US servicemen in Iraq expressed their unhappiness.

"If Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was here, I'd ask him for his resignation," said a member of the 3rd Infantry Division based in the flashpoint town Falluja, west of Baghdad.

"I don't have any clue as to why we are still in Iraq," said another.