By David Morgan WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - U.S. or Iraqi forces control more than half of Baghdad's neighborhoods while the rest still experience fighting and sectarian violence, the U.S. commander in Iraq's capital said on Friday. Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil said Iraqi forces led security efforts -- with U.S. oversight -- in 8.2 percent of Baghdad's 474 neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods have have been cleared of insurgent fighters and are now being "retained" by Iraqi forces, he said. U.S. forces control more than 46 percent of the city's neighborhoods, Fil said. Once violence is reduced, those areas will move to the "retain" phase generally led by Iraqi forces. Fil said the statistics mark a significant improvement from mid-February when 91 percent of Baghdad's neighborhoods showed higher levels of violence. But with the United States planning to withdraw a limited number of its forces from Iraq next year, Fil said the number of Iraqi forces was insufficient to control the capital. "The fundamental question: are the Iraqi security forces sufficient to truly protect the city? I do not believe they are," Fil told reporters at the Pentagon via video link from Baghdad. The ability of Iraqi army and police forces to assume responsibility for the country's security is key to a raging debate in Congress over the number of U.S. troops that should remain in Iraq. A recent report mandated by Congress, known as the Jones Commission report, said the Iraqi army would not be able to operate independently within the next 12 to 18 months. President George W. Bush boosted U.S. troop levels this year to try to stabilize Baghdad and create a climate for political reconciliation between Iraq's Shi'ite and Sunni populations. Bush recently backed a recommendation by the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, to withdraw 20,000 of those forces by next July. But the ability of Iraqi forces to take over security will be key to the pace of withdrawal. Democrats in Congress have called for steeper drawdowns of U.S. forces. Fil said he was confident Iraqi security forces would be able to take over more areas of Baghdad as the U.S. troop buildup begins to wind down. But the general also said some areas of Baghdad are likely to continue to experience higher levels of violence, including Sadr city, the stronghold of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. U.S.-led forces now control only a small corner of the area and Fil predicted the U.S. military would not move into the neighborhood for another several months and only then with the approval of the local and national Iraqi governments.
