Dispatch from Adhamiyah
Clearing operations continue in Adhamiyah
Saturday, 17 February 2007
CAMP LIBERTY — The Iraqi Security Force and Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers began clearing operations in the Shaab and Ur neighborhoods of the Adhamiyah security district Wednesday.
“We’re conducting detailed searches in areas that are known, or suspected to harbor terrorists,” said Col. Steve Townsend, commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. “All areas will get thorough assessments – patrol down every street, talk to every shop owner and engage the populations at every opportunity to get atmospherics of the area.”
Soldiers from the 3rd SBCT and elements from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Infantry Division are working closely with the Iraqi Security Force to clear these designated areas in order to better secure this section of Baghdad. They are also working to significantly reduce sectarian violence and diminish tensions through engagement of political, security forces, tribal and religious leaders.
As troops in this joint effort conducted continuous searches, senior officers from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st National Police Division met simultaneously with neighborhood advisory council members, sheiks and civic leaders to further explain the search operations of the security plan and garner their support for continued security improvements in the area.
Current clearing operations searched more than 3,000 structures resulting in five suspected terrorists detained, numerous pistols, rifles, AK-47s and more than 2,900 small arms fire munitions recovered.
Earlier operations in the area this month focused solely on conducting targeted raids to help transition control of this security district to the 82nd Airborne Division’s ‘Falcon Brigade’ and Iraqi security forces, as well as set the stage for the current clearing operations. The conclusion of these targeted raids helped set the stage for quickly establishing combat outposts and joint security stations aimed at increasing the overall security of the neighborhoods.
These previous raids resulted in 23 detainees and multiple caches found, yielding numerous smalls arms, munitions and confiscation of anti-Iraqi propaganda.
As of this report, clearing operations continue in the Adhamiyah security district.
Dispatch from Ramadi
21 suspected al Qaeda terrorists detained
Saturday, 17 February 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq –Coalition Forces detained 21 suspected terrorists during raids targeting foreign fighters and the al-Qaeda in Iraq network Saturday morning.
During operations in Ramadi, Coalition Forces targeted terrorists with ties to al-Qaeda’s senior leaders. The raids netted a suspected leader of improvised explosive devices and sniper cell networks in the Ramadi area. Seven others suspects were detained, including three believed to have close ties to senior al-Qaeda leaders and a foreign fighter facilitation network.
Coalition Forces also detained 11 suspected terrorists including an alleged senior level vehicle-borne improvised explosive device cell leader in the Baghdad area. Intelligence reports indicate one of the suspected terrorists is involved in anti-Coalition Force activities, including the procurement of weapons and supporting foreign fighters.
The suspected senior-level VBIED cell leader was detained with two of his associates in a Baghdad hospital. The hospital administration was very helpful during the operation and the detention occurred without incident or damage to the facility.
In Karabilah, two suspects were detained with alleged ties to a foreign fighter facilitation network. Coalition Forces are working diligently to eliminate foreign terrorists and al-Qaeda supporters who are trying to hijack the development and building of a new stable and peaceful Iraq.
From StrategyPage
...most people believe al Qaeda in Iraq is finished. After boasting last Fall that they would establish a safe zone in western Iraq, and failing to do anything close to that, the Islamic terrorists lost whatever credibility they had left. Most of the terrorist bombings these days are the work of Iraqi Sunni Arab organizations, who still believe that if you make the Iraqi Shia Arabs mad enough, they will get so nasty that neighboring Sunni Arab nations will feel compelled to invade. This plan has split the Sunni Arab nationalists, mainly because the invasion shows no sign of happening, and the brighter terrorists point out that the Saudi army is unlikely to win against the Americans. In a trend that began two years ago, Sunni Arab factions are continuing to battle each other. U.S. troops stand aside when they encounter "Red-on-Red" fighting, then deal with the winner....
While the number of terror bombings has been declining in the past year, the crime rate has not, and most people in central Iraq are looking forward to the "Battle for Baghdad." Brigades of troops are arriving from the Kurdish north and Shia south, and more American troops can be seen on the streets. There are more raids in Baghdad. But all the average Iraqi wants is safer streets, fewer kidnappings and a little peace and quiet. Realizing that that kind of paradise is not likely to be found in the Middle East, Baghdad has been suffering a major brain drain in the past year, with the most educated fleeing for foreign countries. Europe and North America are preferred destinations, but any place with a lower crime rate will do.
Another story from Ramadi,
Police in Iraq see jump in recruits
Posted 1/14/2007 11:50 PM ET
By Rick Jervis, USA TODAYRAMADI, Iraq — The U.S. military is reporting a dramatic and unexpected increase in the number of police recruits in Anbar province, the center of Sunni insurgent activity in Iraq.In the past two weeks, more than 1,000 applicants have sought police jobs in Ramadi, the provincial capital. Eight hundred signed up last month in Ramadi, said Army Maj. Thomas Shoffner, operations officer for the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division.
Those figures compare with only "a few dozen" recruits in September, the U.S. military said....
U.S. commanders attribute the sudden increase in police applicants to the support of local tribal leaders and a deepening rift between Sunni tribesmen and extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq.
"They've seen enough of the murder and intimidation," Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, commander of U.S. forces in Anbar, said of tribes in the Ramadi area.
One catalyst: the murder of a popular sheik in August. Tribal leaders blamed the death on al-Qaeda and formed a force to battle the terrorist network.
The force's leaders agreed to have their fighters join the ranks of local police under a deal U.S. commanders helped broker, said Lt. Col. James Lechner, deputy commander of the 1st Brigade.
The U.S. military said Sunday that it had secured the support of four tribes in Ramadi after a month-long security operation there. In western Anbar, police ranks grew from zero a year ago to more than 3,000 today, said Col. William Crowe, the U.S. commander there.
Local tribes came to recognize that al-Qaeda's message was just "anarchy and chaos," Zilmer said. "It just took some time to settle in."
And in yet another sign that the rules of engagement have changed comes this story from Baghdad
A U.S. military spokesman on Thursday hailed a joint American-Iraqi raid on Baghdad's leading Shiite Muslim mosque as proof of that the Baghdad security plan is being applied evenly against all sides of the country's sectarian divide.
The raid, which took place Wednesday, angered the mosque's imam, who took the unusual step of canceling Friday prayer services at the historic Baratha mosque, where, Shiites believe, Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali, converted a Christian missionary to Islam in the seventh century.
Sheik Jalal al-Din al-Saghir, a member of parliament from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, denounced the raid, which the U.S. military said had turned up a cache of illegal weapons. The Supreme Council is one of Iraq's largest political parties and part of its governing coalition.
Searching mosques has been a particularly sensitive issue since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. In delivering the decree that legalized the security plan earlier this week, Iraqi army Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar said soldiers would enter mosques only if they were used "for illegal purposes" or to protect citizens from harm.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, the U.S. military said the mosque was raided "during operations targeting illegally armed militia kidnapping, torture and murder activities." It said the mosque was used "to conduct sectarian violence against Iraqi civilians as well as a safe haven and weapons storage area for illegal militia groups."
Sunni Muslims have reported being held and beaten in the mosque, but little had been done about it before. The Supreme Council's armed wing, the Badr Organization, has been accused of kidnapping and torturing Sunnis.
The statement said U.S. forces had provided protection around the mosque while Iraqi soldiers entered it with the cooperation of its security guards.
Three Russian PKC machine guns and 80 assault rifles were seized, the statement said. No one was detained and no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, in the US House of Representative, Democrats attempt to obscure their real motivations. From The Washington Post
Mr. Murtha has a different idea. He would stop the surge by crudely hamstringing the ability of military commanders to deploy troops. In an interview carried Thursday by the Web site MoveCongress.org, Mr. Murtha said he would attach language to a war funding bill that would prohibit the redeployment of units that have been at home for less than a year, stop the extension of tours beyond 12 months, and prohibit units from shipping out if they do not train with all of their equipment. His aim, he made clear, is not to improve readiness but to "stop the surge." So why not straightforwardly strip the money out of the appropriations bill -- an action Congress is clearly empowered to take -- rather than try to micromanage the Army in a way that may be unconstitutional? Because, Mr. Murtha said, it will deflect accusations that he is trying to do what he is trying to do. "What we are saying will be very hard to find fault with," he said.
Mr. Murtha's cynicism is matched by an alarming ignorance about conditions in Iraq. He continues to insist that Iraq "would be more stable with us out of there," in spite of the consensus of U.S. intelligence agencies that early withdrawal would produce "massive civilian casualties." He says he wants to force the administration to "bulldoze" the Abu Ghraib prison, even though it was emptied of prisoners and turned over to the Iraqi government last year. He wants to "get our troops out of the Green Zone" because "they are living in Saddam Hussein's palace"; could he be unaware that the zone's primary occupants are the Iraqi government and the U.S. Embassy?
This is what the new Majority Party calls leadership.
