Central Command chief expects more symbolic bombings

? Iraq can expect more bombings like the one at a Shiite Muslim shrine that set off fighting between Shiites and Sunnis, the chief of the U.S. Central Command said Saturday.

Gen. John Abizaid blamed al-Qaida terrorists for the blast and said it marked a clear – and successful – change in tactics in the campaign to ignite civil war among Iraqis.

“They got more of a reaction from that than they had hoped for,” Abizaid said in Qatar after a two-day trip to Iraq, where he discussed the Feb. 22 attack’s implications with top U.S. and Iraqi leaders.

“I expect we’ll see another attack in the near future on another symbol,” he said.

Abizaid said he and Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, discussed the potential for a withdrawal of some U.S. troops this summer, but he declined to say what he would recommend to President Bush when they meet next week.

Pentagon officials have said they are sticking to plans to send additional units to Iraq to replace troops scheduled to depart, but are waiting to see whether the clashes between Shiites and Sunnis escalate or slacken.

Abizaid described the bombing of the gold-domed shrine in Samarra as a “wake-up call” that demands the attention of Iraq’s government, U.S. forces and the Iraqi public to be on guard for attempts on new symbolic targets.

Abizaid and other U.S. military commanders also worry that the violence has hurt efforts to put together a new, broad-based government. The blast came as current Iraqi leaders are being viewed as lame ducks, whose authority to govern and control the security services is dwindling.

Some top American officers in Baghdad fear the blast’s true damage could be a hardening of sectarian attitudes among Iraqi politicians negotiating the next prime minister and government.

Any unwillingness to compromise could block Washington’s hopes for a government that includes all three chief groups – Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.