A top U.S. commander in Iraq said Friday that the troop surge had been successful in urban areas and that the military will now go after terrorists in rural villages. "We have been able to liberate the major population centers, provide more security and what we will do now is conduct quick operational strikes all around the country to go after these remaining small pockets.," said Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander under Army Gen. David Petraeus.

He described the main enemy as al Qaeda cells, which the military says are quickly losing the support of Iraqi Sunnis, and Shiite extremists, some of whom are backed by Iran.

The military has not taken direct military action against Iran. Instead, it has targeted agents inside Iraq, and is trying to convince Shiites, predominately in southern Iraq, to break ties with Tehran.

"If we can get Iraqis to reject Iranians' lethal support inside of their country, we can stop this threat," Odierno said.

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He vowed that "we cannot allow this rogue Iranian influence to continue to influence, in my mind, and many ways attack the government of Iraq ... We have to challenge that."

But he appeared to rule out strikes inside Iran to hit training centers and weapons supply lines. "What I would tell you now is I'm worried about what we do inside Iraq," he said. "That's my battle space."

A similar strategy has been used to negotiate peace with various Sunni insurgents, pry them loose from Sunni al Qaeda leaders and persuade them to join the coalition. The general said that remaining Sunni insurgents have become almost exclusively aligned with al Qaeda.

Odierno repeated what other military leaders have said in recent weeks: the surge of five Army brigades to 162,000 troops will end in April 2008, when those five units start reaching their 15-month deployment limit and return home.

This schedule means that by next August troop strength will be down to about 130,000. Democratic leaders, and some Republicans, want a faster drawdown.

Petraeus reports to Congress next month on the surge's progress. Democrats have again pledged to send President Bush legislation, which he vetoed earlier this year, to force a troop pullout.

Commanders want to keep the surge going months longer, until they believe Iraqis can take on more duties in each of 18 provinces. "I believe a deliberate reduction of our forces is what's necessary," Odierno said.

rscarborough@dcexaminer.com