A huge US offensive codenamed “Operation Arrowhead Ripper” is underway in the Iraqi city of Baqubah, as part of extensive American operations aimed at suppressing freedom fighters and Mujahideen groups in Baghdad and areas to the north and south of the capital.

Top Bush administration and Pentagon officials have held intensive consultations with Pakistan’s embattled military regime during the past two weeks with the aim of bolstering the autocratic rule of General Pervez Musharraf and securing increased Pakistani military support in staunching the insurgency against Afghanistan’s US-installed government.

A senior American officer involved in training Iraq’s new security forces is warning against putting too much responsibility on those forces too quickly, as pressure grows in the United States for the start of a withdrawal of U.S. troops.