GENERAL SAYS IRAQ TALKS CRITICAL !

General's comments

The top US general in Iraq says the military alone cannot provide a solution to the country's conflict.
Gen David Petraeus, in his first news conference since taking the command last month, said it was critical that alienated groups be brought into talks.
He said the new Baghdad security drive had had some "tough days" but he was confident violence could be reduced.
He was speaking after the US defence secretary approved an extra 2,200 military police to aid the crackdown.

Numbers of US troops in Iraq

Gen Petraeus said: "There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq.
"Military action is necessary to help improve security... but it is not sufficient. There needs to be a political aspect."

In recent days Shia pilgrims were killed in a barbaric manner by thugs with no soul, but the pilgrims continue to march
Gen David Petraeus

Petraeus: Bush's 'last hope'

He said some groups "who have felt the new Iraq did not have a place for them" would have to be engaged in talks.
The new Baghdad offensive involves US and Iraqi forces, thousands of whom are already on the ground, sweeping the city for militants and illegally held weapons.
Gen Petraeus said: "It's too early to discern significant trends, but there have been a few encouraging signs."
However he admitted "sensational attacks inevitably will continue".
BBC defence and security correspondent Rob Watson says that despite the scale of the new Baghdad drive, there simply are not enough US troops to prevent the violence shifting to other areas.
Our correspondent says that privately US officials believe it will not be possible to judge whether the surge has worked until all the troops have arrived in the summer and, if it does not, there will be few options remaining.

Gen Petraeus said sensational attacks would inevitably continue.
Gen Petraeus said it was essential to tackle the sectarian violence that has flared between Sunni and Shia Muslims since an attack on a key Shia shrine in Samarra just over a year ago.
He said US and Iraqi forces must "control the demons responsible for the vicious sectarian violence of the past year - demons who have torn at the very fabric of Iraqi society".
The general detailed the measures taken jointly by US and Iraqi forces to secure Baghdad's neighbourhoods.
He said the aim was not just to secure areas of the capital, but to hold them and help to improve the provision of basic services.
The general also denounced as "thugs with no soul" the recent attackers of Shia pilgrims. On Tuesday, more than 100 people died when suicide bombers targeted a crowd of pilgrims in the town of Hilla.
Nerves 'jangling'
On Wednesday US Defence Secretary Robert Gates approved the general's request for an extra 2,200 military police to support the security drive in Baghdad.
Mr Gates said the deployment would be in addition to the nearly 24,000 combat troops and support personnel approved by President George W Bush.
The BBC's James Westhead says the new troop allocation will set nerves jangling in Washington.
Congressional sources on Wednesday said Democrats were planning to propose legislation requiring US troops to return from Iraq by the second half of next year or sooner if Iraq's government failed to meet security goals.
The legislation could be tied to the $100bn ($52bn) funding request by the Bush administration for the Iraq and Afghanistan operations, the sources said.

BBC NEWS REPORT.