The U.S.-appointed mayor of Fallujah said American forces withdrew from his office Friday - a highly symbolic gesture of confidence that local police can keep him safe in this city. At the same time, U.S. soldiers dramatically decreased their presence at Fallujah's police station after Iraqi officers complained they were in danger of being caught in the crossfire of attacks on coalition forces. Fallujah Mayor Taha Bedewi said Friday he hoped the reduced U.S. troop presence would help ease attacks on both the Iraqi police and U.S. military personnel. "The Americans were inside the mayor's office building to protect us, but now we have told them that the Iraqi police can handle the issue," he said. "We asked them to leave and they did so... I hope the attacks will stop in this city." A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, Sgt. Patrick Compton, said he had no information about American forces leaving the mayor's office, although a reporter saw no sign of U.S. soldiers in the vicinity on Friday. Most of the attacks by resistance fighters on U.S. and British occupation forces have taken place in a region north and west of Baghdad, which includes Fallujah. Compton said a half dozen U.S. soldiers would remain in the area to offer support. There had been about 30 Americans at the police facility. Iraqi police Lt. Jamal Ahmed said the Americans withdrew from the mayor's office shortly before noon. "We feel happy. We will do our best to protect the building," he said. **News Attacks on Occupation Troops*** Suspected attackers fired four mortar rounds late Thursday at a U.S. military base near Samarra, north of the capital, wounding three soldiers, the military reported Friday. A patrol that went to inspect the area found one wounded Iraqi and took him to a hospital. It was not clear if he was an innocent bystander or was injured trying to fire the mortars. Before dawn Friday, atackers fired two mortar rounds into a U.S. base in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad. Meanwhile, one Iraqi was shot in the neck and another in the abdomen when troops opened fire after a rocket-propelled grenade attack late Thursday on a military convoy on a road leading to Baghdad International Airport. **US Troops in Iraq for Four Years: Franks*** "US troops will have to remain in Iraq for almost four years." General Tommy Franks, who led American forces in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has said. Asked about the guerrilla war faced by US troops, General Franks told a Congressional panel on Thursday that Amerian forces will have to remain in Iraq for "two to four years." The comments of the recently retired head of the US Central Command coincided with President George W Bush's statement that there was a security problem inside Iraq and the US Senate's unanimous request to consider seeking help from the Nato or United Nations. Meanwhile, a media report said that the US occupation authority in Baghdad has changed its plans for an interim government in Iraq. US now intends to relegate religious figures, former exiles (whom the US had nursed with funds and advice to take over the country) and once-ruling Sunni Muslims to a minority role on an interim governing Council that will be formed over the next few days, the Washington Post reported. Occupation forces are trying to create a body that will cooperate with them and support policies that are "generally in line with US interests," it said. The unstable situation in Iraq has emboldened critics to intensify their criticism of the Bush Administration. **CIA Takes Blame for Iraq Claims*** CIA director George Tenet has acknowledged his organisation was wrong to let President George W Bush tell the American people Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear material from Africa. In a statement, Tenet said CIA officials had failed to stop the claim from being inserted into the president's State of the Union address in January despite their doubts about its validity. This, he said, was not the level of certainty required for presidential speeches. The statement came as senior Democrats called for an independent inquiry into the way the Bush administration made the case for war. The Bush administration will be hoping Tenet's admission will stop the issue spiralling out of their control, even though it may leave a question mark over the CIA director's future, says the BBC's Gordon Corera in Washington. However CIA and administration officials said they did not expect Tenet to resign. In his January address, Bush said: "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Those 16 words, Tenet said, should never have been included in the text written for the president. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Iraqis attend the Friday prayers at al-Hassan Mosque in Fallujah, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, Iraq Friday July 4, 2003. (AP Photo/Ali Haider)