U.S. Will Not Take Over Security At Iraqi Parliament Building

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The U.S. military will not take over security of the Iraqi parliament building in the wake of the deadly suicide bombing in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, a top commander

Friday, April 13th 2007, 10:31 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The U.S. military will not take over security of the Iraqi parliament building in the wake of the deadly suicide bombing in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, a top commander said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said ``it is clear we still have a long way to go to provide stability and security to Iraq.''

But, he told Pentagon reporters that the Iraqis should continue to provide the security for their government building.

``It doesn't help them for us to provide that security, they have to do that,'' said Odierno, adding that he has confidence in the Iraqi security forces' ability. ``Frankly yesterday was a bad day, a very bad day.

``But we're going to come back from that,'' he said.

Odierno, speaking from Camp Liberty in Baghdad, also said that U.S. and Iraqi forces are still investigating the bombing, including how insurgents were able to penetrate the security. An insurgent umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for it on Friday, as the U.S. military revised the death toll sharply downward to one dead.

The Islamic State of Iraq said in an Internet posting that it had delayed issuing the claim of responsibility to allow its men time to flee.