"We did not expect it would be quite this intense this long," Powell (AFP)

WASHINGTON, October 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Against a backdrop of never-ending Iraqi resistance attacks that left a trail of dead U.S. soldiers, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted that the U.S. administration has been surprised by the intensity of the attacks.

Meanwhile, U.S. overseer in Iraq Paul Bremer backtracked on earlier statements, admitting that capturing ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein would not end the resistance.

Speaking on NBC television on Sunday, October 26, Powell said the U.S. administration was facing "a very critical period," condemning in the meantime the barrage of heavy rocket attacks on Al-Rashid Hotel housing U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who escaped uninjured.

At least one U.S. soldier was killed and 15 others injured on Sunday in the Katusha attack. 

"We did not expect it would be quite this intense this long," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Powell as saying of the rising toll being suffered by U.S. troops in Iraq and the number of attacks being carried out.

"We still have dangerous situation as we saw in this attack and other attacks where there are remnants of the old regime and some terrorists who do not want to see democracy, do not want to see the people enjoying a better life," Powell said.

He continued: "We are still in a conflict and I don't think the president ever sought to minimize that. There are no major battles taking place we are in this insurgency sort of situation where people strike and run and it is a much more difficult security environment."

Some 40,000 Iraqi police are already on duty, but Powell said more Iraqi security forces were desperately needed.

"People who know the neighborhoods, know who shouldn't be in a particular place and who will have better access to the kind of human intelligence you need to deal with these kinds of threats," he said.

Powell also renewed calls for France, Germany and Russia to contribute effectively to the reconstruction funds of the war-torn Iraq.

"I hope that as they reflect on the success of that conference and the needs of the Iraqi people, and on what their interests might be in the future, that they will be more willing to make a contribution."

Of the 33 billion dollars promised to Iraq at last week's donor conference in Madrid, 20 billion dollars was from Washington, and half of that could be in loans.

No End In Sight

"it won't end the attacks," Bremer (AFP)

For his part, Bremer admitted after the Rashid attack that capturing the ousted strongman Saddam would not end the attacks on occupation forces, contradicting previous statements made by him and other U.S. top officials.

"It will be helpful, (but) it won't end the attacks," he told Fox television.

"It will finally pull the curtain down on the dream some of these dead-enders have that Saddam is coming back."

"I think he's still in Iraq, he's still alive. We don't have any immediate intelligence as to exactly where he is."

Bremer also warned that foreign fighters continue to enter Iraq, mainly across the Syrian border.

"If you look at the non-Iraqi people we are detaining, most of them are Syrian. We also have a number of Sudanese, some Saudis, Yemenis," he said in another interview with CBS television.

"Most of them seem to be coming across the Syrian border. But the Ansar al-Islam, which is another al Qaeda-related group, they appear to have come across the Iranian border, starting in about July," he claimed.

The statements of Powell and Bremer came shortly before a series of attacks in the Iraqi capital on Monday that killed at least 16 people and injured dozens others.