The Iraqi government has formally launched a joint US-Iraq security crackdown in Baghdad with US and Iraqi troops stepping up patrols in a campaign that is widely seen as the US-backed regime's final attempt to control the city.
Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said the sweep, code-named Operation Imposing Law, would target those "who want to continue with rebellion."
The US military announced last week that the clampdown had already begun, but Iraqis had seen little evidence of that before today. US President George W Bush has committed 21,500 more Americans to the operation, which is expected to involve a total of 90,000 Iraqi and US soldiers.
As the new checkpoints were set up in the city of 6 million of people, huge traffic jams developed and cars were forced to zigzag through soldiers' positions and barricades.
Al-Maliki discussed the security plan during a meeting with officials in the Shia holy city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad.
"We have started today the new security plan. And we warn everyone who runs against it: Now we are ready to impose law on all those who want to continue with rebellion," he said. "Baghdad operations started today under code name 'Imposing Law.'"
"By God willing, the new plan will have fruitful outcomes, not because of the use of force but because of those who declare their love to Iraq and its people," he said before going to the entrance of the Imam Hussein mosque to address thousands of supporters massed in the streets.
The pep talk came a day after the Iraqi commander of the Baghdad security crackdown, Lt. Gen. Abboud Gambar, announced that Iraq will close its borders with Syria and Iran and ordered the return of unlawfully seized homes as part of the drive to end the violence that has threatened to divide the capital along sectarian lines.
Gambar said Baghdad's nighttime curfew would be expanded by an hour, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and permits allowing civilians to carry weapons in public would be suspended during all of the operation, which he suggested could last weeks.
The commander also said those who had occupied homes of displaced families would be given 15 days to return the properties to the original owner or prove they had permission to be there.
The campaign is widely seen as possibly the U.S. military's final attempt to calm the city. It will be the third attempt by U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies to end violence in Baghdad since al-Maliki took office in May 2006.
Gambar said he would report to al-Maliki weekly to discuss progress in the operation.
His address suggested Iraqi authorities plan to exercise wide powers while waging the crackdown. A criminal court, for example, will hold emergency hearings on cases such as murder, theft, rape, kidnapping, damaging public property and the possession and transfer of arms and ammunition, he said.
Gambar, a Shia and a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War when he served in Saddam Hussein's army, said security forces also plan to monitor mail, parcels, telegrams and wireless communication devices during the operation.
He said security forces would try to avoid intruding in places of worship, but added that they would do so in "extreme emergencies when it is feared that these places pose a threat to the lives of citizens or if they are used for unlawful purposes." US and Iraqi authorities have often said Sunni Arab insurgents use mosques to store arms or fire at troops.
Al-Maliki urged unity in ending the violence.
"We will not kneel down nor succumb no matter how much the process takes blood from us," he said while some people on the street chanted anti-American slogans. "By targeting civilians, the terrorists think that they can stop our progress, but our fingers are on the trigger and all the Iraqi people ... are rising to rebuild the new Iraq."