The Cool Blue Blog

Yarmouk, Iraq

Over a month ago, the new Security Plan came to the Yarmouk district of Baghdad

In an effort to improve security in the Yarmouk district of the nation’s capital city, Iraqi Army Soldiers have been clearing homes and businesses throughout the neighborhood.
   
The 2nd Battalion, 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, working in coordination with 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, see this as an important step to improving security in the community.
   
Early each morning this week, Iraqi Army and Coalition force members have linked up to prepare for the daily operations.  Soldiers have discovered weapons caches within the area and confiscated them in order to eliminate the potential threat these weapons pose. 
   
The Iraqi Army Soldiers also cleared the area of trash piles and abandoned vehicles which had allowed terrorists to place and hide IEDs.  Other large piles of trash, used to block crossroads and keep insurgents out of the neighborhood, are currently being replaced by concrete barriers.

They conducted raids to root out the bad guys

Iraqi Special Operations Forces conducted a morning operation on April 27 in Baghdad, capturing three suspects believed to be involved in insurgent activities.

With coalition advisers present for support, Iraqi forces raided several residences in the Yarmouk neighborhood of central Baghdad and detained their targets without incident.

Iraqi forces also detained four other suspicious individuals who were present during the operation. Two vehicles containing explosives were destroyed. All civilians and detainees were cleared from the area before detonation.

The primary targets of this operation are alleged to be responsible for conducting insurgent activities in the Yarmouk area, for civilian kidnappings and murders as well as attacks on coalition and Iraqi forces.

But the work has paid off

Yassir Layth, 12, whose favorite sports are soccer and "push-ups," used to pedal his bike past human corpses each day on his way to school.

Today, the two-block path from his home to Nablus Primary School is not nearly as scary, he said. The shooting has stopped, car bombs have quieted and, most noticeably, the dead bodies have gone away.

"My friends were too scared to come to class, and so was I," Yassir said inside his classroom, crowded with other students. "Now everyone comes to school."

The school is in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Yarmouk, which the Iraqi military showcased Monday as a sign the nearly 3-month-old Baghdad security plan is working. Yarmouk used to be one of the city's worst battlegrounds for sectarian violence, but a flood of Iraqi troops into the area has made things better, Iraqi Brig. Gen. Qassim Atta al-Mousawi said.

A large Iraqi army checkpoint, reinforced with blast barriers, mortar bunkers and concertina wire, stood at one of the main entrances to the area. Other streets had been blocked off. A large Iraqi armored vehicle, known as a Badger, was parked next to one of the public squares.

But that doesn't mean that the enemy will easily give up. While they have been kicked out of town and the streets are safer as a result, the enemy still wants to create havoc when they can.

[A] suicide bomber drove an explosive- laden car into a police station in Yarmouk district and blew it up, killing at least a policeman and wounding five others, the police said.

Insurgents attack Iraqi security forces accusing them of collaboration with the U.S. occupation.

But there is a difference. As with the recent bombing in Ramadi, the press likes to make out as if all the gains are wiped out because a single bomber made it through a checkpoint. If that was the case, Israel would be anarchic war zone: But it's not. People learn to deal with the fact that there are those who will not rest while there is peace; there are people who will destroy anything not of their own making; who will terrorize others until they themselves are either in complete control or dead. And as was the case with everyplace the Islamists rule, they will terrorize when they are in control as well.

But the fact is that in Yarmouk and Ramadi and a host of other places, security is at such a level that people can live lives; punctuated as they are by muderous incidents perpetrated by fanatic thugs.

And this will continue

"We have a strategy. Now we're attacking the terrorists here," said al-Mousawi, flanked by a company of Iraqi soldiers and armored Humvees. "Then our strategy will shift to another district. It's step by step."

Several similar efforts to secure Baghdad have failed because violence flared up after troops rotated into a new area.

But that's the past. Now we and our Iraqi partners stay, a salient point that many in Congress, especially the Democratic leadership fail to acknowledge. This does mean more danger for US forces because they are going after the enemy and staying in the towns away from fortified bases. But they make do.

The U.S. hopes that placing troops on small, discreet outposts like this one in the heart of one of Baghdad's toughest neighborhoods will pay off in goodwill from the public and tips on militant activity.

But there are risks: Two suicide bombers killed nine Americans at one such base north of Baghdad in April.

"We could build a fortress around ourselves that no one can penetrate, but then we will have lost," said Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, who commands the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery. His unit belongs to one of the five U.S. brigades sent here as part of President Bush's plan to stabilize Baghdad....

Installations like the Yarmouk station are part of America's new strategy here. Nearly three months on, U.S. ground commanders cite slow, but tangible, progress.

Before the arrival of Gadson's soldiers, the U.S. military had a sparse presence in Yarmouk, an upscale Sunni Muslim area that was once home to members of high-ranking officials from Saddam Hussein's regime.

Many homes were abandoned, looked after now by distant relatives or hired caretakers while the owners wait out the war in Jordan or Syria. The Yarmouk outpost is in one such house. The U.S. military is negotiating the rent with a former Iraqi army general who is in Jordan for medical treatment.

When Gadson's troops first walked these streets two months ago, it was a garbage-strewn ghost town, they said. Residents peered quizzically from second-floor windows at U.S. patrollers below. Fear kept the area's mostly Sunni residents from cooperating with Iraq's Shiite-dominated military.

But with a U.S. outpost in the area, residents believe militants will find someplace else to operate, said Capt. Jose Henderson, 31, of Milwaukee. And residents trust they won't be mistreated by Shiite soldiers while Americans are watching, he said.

And that's how you do counter insurgency; one neighboorhood at a time until there is no place left for the enemy to go.

But it takes time, and patience. Diplomacy and war.

In the end, if we stick with it, al Qaeda and Iran will both be defeated in Iraq.

 

Rebuilding Fallujah

The doctrine of counter-insugency calls for the military to clear, hold and rebuild. In Fallujah, where the Marines sacrificed much blood and treasure in November 2004 when Operation Phantom Fury cleared the city, over 1,200 bad guys were killed during that fighting as well as 100 Marines. More than half of the city's buildings were damaged or destroyed. During the cleanup, Fallujah remained an dengerous place, but new security measures were implemented and the rebuilding started.

Militarily, things gradually improved during 2006. Indicative of this is  when

Bravo Company 2/136 Infantry, of the Minnesota National Guard and the 34th Brigade Combat Team Redbulls was assigned to the Marine Corps base at Camp Fallujah, Iraq to provide security for the base. At the time Camp Fallujah was receiving indirect fire mortar and rocket attacks on an almost daily basis, and on average one person a month was being killed by these attacks...

During their first six months at Camp Fallujah, Bravo Company continued this mission as it had been defined by their predecessors. That changed in August 2006 when 40 insurgents in armored dump trucks launched a brazen daylight attack against combat outpost Flanders. The attacked was decisively repulsed by 10 Bravo Company soldiers who killed over half the attacking insurgents with only one of their number being seriously wounded.

Bravo Company got aggressive and their

proactive offensive operations proved to be highly effective. In the six months following the attack on Flanders, Bravo Company soldiers killed 25 insurgents and captured over 50 in their small area of operations. They also captured large quantities of weapons and explosives.

By the Summer of 2006, the city was pretty secure. Though al Qaeda assassinations of city leaders opposed to the Islamists did occur occasionally, the US military continued to rebuild infrastructure.

With the help of local residents, they fixed the sewers

A new sewer system is taking shape in Fallujah.                                

Involving hundreds of Iraqis in the workforce, it’s the biggest construction project the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversees in Al Anbar Province of Iraq.

Fallujah’s new facility will use the construction of pump stations trunk mains and a treatment plant to serve as the backbone for a city-wide system. This is the initial phase that will eventually connect every home in the city.                               

And they fixed the power

Fallujah is rebuilding its electrical distribution network, and so far more than 45,000 utility poles, 2,200 transformers and 2,400 kilometers of cable have been purchased.

Fallujah city officials and Ministry of Electricity personnel are working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on the $57 million project.

“One of the city’s two existing 33kV substations is being rebuilt and two brand new 33kV substations added to ensure Fallujah has a reliable, stable system,” said Chip Nieman, the deputy resident engineer for USACE’s Fallujah office. The work also includes rehabilitating a 132kV substation replacing two of the three transformers.

Neighborhood distribution networks — many with broken poles, snapped lines, damaged transformers — are being replaced one area at a time with Ministry of Electricity personnel  getting that accomplished. The corps is also hiring additional crews to help.

“The city’s old dilapidated system just didn’t have the capacity to meet the community’s needs,” Nieman explained. “It’s great to see real progress taking shape.”

Meanwhile, Fallujah’s Electrical Department is getting a new $2.8 million maintenance facility that will include two warehouses, a workshop, and an administrative office.

“We’re interacting with Fallujah officials on a daily basis. Their head of the electricity department, engineer Isam Kareem Hamadi, has been great to work with. He appreciates our efforts,” said Nieman.

In all, Neiman’s office is overseeing 87 projects in Fallujah and the surrounding area including health-care clinics, sewage lines and pump stations, street lighting, and potable water treatment facilities.

“Fallujah is a great place to work. It’s a fast-paced, challenging environment and also rewarding — you get to see how your efforts are helping people,” said Nieman who is nearing the end of a yearlong assignment in Iraq. “I believe in what we’re doing or I wouldn’t be here.”

Nieman said that hiring residents is a priority. Fallujah, a city of 200,000 residents, has about 40,000 homes and businesses. “It’s a tremendous benefit to Fallujah’s economy,” he said.

Yet another positive story the media fails to tell

Turning point in Anbar

Last week, the soldiers of Task Force 1-9 went into the heart of darkness and cleaned out al Qaeda holdings in Ramadi. Has they have in the past, al Qaeda responded to the coalition success with a chemical attack.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has conducted yet another chlorine suicide bomb attack in Anbar province. Today's attack occurred on the outskirts of Ramadi. The suicide bomber was targeting a police station, but detonated outside of a residential area. “The truck contained many tonnes of chlorine and TNT which were covered by sacks full of fertilisers,” an Iraqi policeman told AFP. Twenty-seven were killed and 30 wounded. This is the ninth attempted chlorine attack in Anbar province, seven of which were successfully detonated. Al Qaeda in Iraq is working to break the military, destroy the Anbar Salvation Council and terrorize the local population.

In addition, al Qaeda also abducted 22 Shi'ite shepherds.

Undeterred, US, Iraqi and tribal forces press the attack. On Friday:

Marines, Soldiers and Sailors from Regimental Combat Team 2, including elements of the Iraqi Army’s 2nd and 3rd Brigades of the 7th Division, launched Operation Harris Ba’sil (Valiant Guardian) on March 26, to interdict and disrupt enemy routes and safe havens outside of the Euphrates River Valley.

The operation will occur throughout much of the 30,000 square miles of RCT-2’s operating area and will take away the enemy’s freedom of movement outside the urban areas along the Euphrates River.

“In western Al Anbar, the fight has traditionally centered on its urban centers,” said Col. Stacy Clardy, commanding officer for RCT-2. “Now we’re going after the enemy in those remote areas of the province where they may hide or use to move around us, leaking into the interior of the country. We plan to shake things up.”

All of this has had a positive effect for the good guys, and a debilitating effect for the bad guys. From Robert Burns writing for the AP

The long U.S. effort to stabilize western Iraq, a hotbed of the Sunni Arab insurgency, has reached a turning point with new prospects for success, the top Marine general said Monday.

"I think, in that area, we have turned the corner," Gen. James T. Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, said in an Associated Press interview as he flew back to Washington after four days in Iraq.

His assessment of Anbar province marks a sharp departure from the view that prevailed for much of the past four years, a time of deadly battles with the Sunni insurgency and of local alienation from the Shiite-dominated national government in Baghdad.

As recently as last fall, the top Marine intelligence officer in Anbar reported dim prospects for securing the province and little likelihood of the U.S. military persuading the Sunnis -- who lost national power when Saddam Hussein fell -- to quit the insurgency.

...on his visit Conway was told by numerous American commanders throughout Anbar that the tide had shifted against the extremist group al-Qaida in Iraq when Sunni tribal sheiks who previously opposed U.S. forces decided to start cooperating instead.

Some commanders said the extremists' key misstep was to interfere with the locals' black market trading, which al-Qaida co-opted in order to finance itself. Anbar stretches west from Baghdad to the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The new cooperation has enabled U.S. forces in recent months to clear extremist elements from even the most violent areas, including Ramadi, and to put more Iraqi forces on the streets, Conway was told. Cooperation by the sheiks also has quickly created a Sunni police force in areas where none existed before.

Conway, dressed in his desert flight suit, noted that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has cautioned against "happy talk" about short-term improvements in Iraq that might not be sustained.

"I was guardedly optimistic in December," before Bush ordered an extra 21,500 American combat troops to Iraq, including 4,000 Marines to Anbar province, Conway said. Four months later he said he sees a decisively improved situation in Anbar, adding, "That's not too optimistic or too much `happy talk."'

Even Bush's critics are noticing an improvement

Barry McCaffrey, a retired Army general who has been a critic of the Bush administration's approach to the war, wrote in an assessment for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point after visiting Iraq last month that he found in Anbar a "real and growing groundswell of Sunni tribal opposition" to al-Qaida in Iraq.

"This is a crucial struggle and it is going our way -- for now," McCaffrey wrote.

Others are not

Eyewitness account

Senator Harry Reid, Democrat Majority Leader

To this day, President Bush lacks a plan to complete the mission, so our troops can come home. His current strategy of more of the same is not working.

ABC News Reporter Terry McCarthy

It's been about seven weeks since the US troop surge into Baghdad began, and so far about half of the 30,000 troops have arrived. ...

The locals told us that things are getting better. Children's playgrounds are filling up, shopping streets are busier, and people have time to drink a cup of tea, or eat an ice cream.

And he has video to back him up.

Sunnis against al Qaida

Last week, al Qaida attacked Sunnis in al Anbar province with chemical weapons

Three trucks rigged with chlorine and explosives blew up in the Sunni insurgent center of Anbar province on Friday, killing at least eight people and sickening hundreds, U.S. and Iraqi officials said yesterday. The U.S. military also reported the deaths of six American soldiers in other attacks.

The chlorine attacks — two near Fallujah and one near Ramadi — left at least 350 people and seven U.S. soldiers ill from exposure to the chemical, the military said. At least eight people were killed in the Fallujah bombings, including two policemen, said Sadoun Abdul Karim, an official with the Ministry of Interior.

While this attack kill many people, the significance was not lost on the Sunnis who live there: this is not a war about sectarianism

"These explosions show the rest of the Iraqis that Sunnis are being targeted. Criminality is in their blood," said Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi, a sheik who has led a U.S.-backed effort bring together tribes opposed to al-Qaida in Iraq. "Their techniques are changing continuously, but we will exterminate them totally by our brave men."

Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi is a man who is ready and willing to go after al Qaida and force them out of Iraq

“I swear to God, if we have good weapons, if we have good vehicles, if we have good support, I can fight Al Qaeda all the way to Afghanistan,” he said recently as he sat smoking in a dark jacket and brown robes while meeting with a sheik from another Sunni tribe in his hotel room.

Thirty-five years old, with a goatee, he is a man clearly on our side

there is no mistaking whose side Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi is on. Outside his walled home, a U.S. tank is on permanent guard beside a clutch of towering date palms and a protective dirt berm.

The 36-year-old sheik is leading a growing movement of Sunni tribesmen who have turned against al-Qaida-linked insurgents in Anbar province. The dramatic shift in alliances may have done more in a few months to ease daily street battles and undercut the insurgency here than American forces have achieved in years with arms.

The American commander responsible for Ramadi, Col. John W. Charlton, said the newly friendly sheiks, combined with an aggressive counterinsurgency strategy and the presence of thousands of new Sunni police on the streets, have helped cut attacks in the city by half in recent months.

But when you read reports of this being a new event, don't believe them. This is something US forces have been working on for over a year. The road has been rocky, and it was al Qaida itself that provided the breakthrough

In November 2005, American commanders held a breakthrough meeting with top Sunni chiefs in Ramadi, hoping to lure them away from the insurgents' fold. The sheiks promised cooperation and men for a police force that was then virtually nonexistent.

But in January 2006 a suicide bomber attacked a police recruiting drive, killing 70 people. Insurgents killed at least four sheiks for cooperating with the Americans, and others fled.

The killings left the effort in limbo, until a turning point: Insurgents killed a prominent sheik last year and refused to let family members bury the body for four days, enraging Sunni tribesmen, said U.S. Lt. Col. Miciotto Johnson, who heads the 1st Battalion, 77th Armored Regiment and visits al-Rishawi frequently in western Ramadi.

Al-Rishawi, whose father and three brothers were killed by al-Qaida assassins, said insurgents were "killing innocent people, anyone suspected of opposing them. They brought us nothing but destruction and we finally said, 'enough is enough.' "

Now, only Leftists, Democrats and the New York Times need to get the memo.

While al Qaida continues operations in al Anbar province, they are retreating to Diyala province. But it will not remain a haven for the butchers for long

The U.S. military has developed battle plans designed to clear al-Qaeda out of Iraq.

High level military intelligence sources have told CBN News the offensive would target the Iraqi province of Diyala.

The province is located just northeast of Baghdad, along the Iranian border.

Many of al-Qaeda's forces in Baghdad moved there when the new troop surge was announced in January. Diyala is now a major launching pad for al-Qaeda suicide bombing attacks.

"If you want to diminish the amount of car bombers and suicide bombers, you have to take the fight right to the source. And in this case, the source is Diyala," said CBN News consultant Daveed Gartenstein-Ross.

Gartenstein-Ross says the Diyala offensive will be even bigger than the major U.S. operation in Fallujah back in 2004-which cleared out a city that had been a major insurgent stronghold.

Military sources say the Fallujah operation directly led to the success of the 2005 Iraqi elections.

Gartenstein-Ross said, "Here, the goal is going to be to drive these guys out of the country entirely."

Sounds like a plan Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi can get behind.

CSI: Barwanah

CSI: Barwanah, investigative techniques help fight insurgency

By Staff Sgt. T.G. Kessler, 2nd Marine Division

COMBAT OUTPOST ELLIS, Iraq (March 21, 2007) --  Marines are currently using crime scene investigation techniques to help combat insurgents in ongoing operations in Iraq.

Though not like the popular television shows, crime scene investigation is being used to uncover possible insurgents in the Barwanah area and put them behind bars.

According to Staff Sgt. James Breslin, a Marine with the sensitive site exploitation team with Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, he and his fellow Marines can process a crime scene using modern evidence collecting procedures to help uncover possible weapons and the people who’ve used them.

If a house or a vehicle is searched and weapons or explosives are found, Breslin and his Marines go over the area with a fine tooth comb collecting all evidence of possible insurgent activity.

“If (the insurgents) are making a new kind of (improvised explosive device) that means there is a new bad guy in town and we’re looking for stuff that coincides with that IED,” said Breslin. “Certain components of an IED specify a certain type of maker or cell. If we find that (material) in someone’s house, then we have enough evidence to hold them,” Breslin added.

Since the evidence he and his Marines collect is used to prosecute criminals in Iraqi courts, it is imperative the evidence collected is done so properly. As a result of their investigations, possible insurgents can be jailed from a few years to life, he explained.

From the beginning of operations, the SSE team has processed roughly 50 different scenes involving possible insurgents. Most notably was a case where four men were found placing an IED. As a result of the SSE’s work, two of the men were given the death penalty, one received a life sentence and the other received several years in prison.

Insurgents are smart about what they are doing, Breslin said, and they make sure not to leave fingerprints or DNA. It just means the team will have to dig deeper to find the evidence they need.

“A good example is when we first got here; we found a car suspected of being a sniper-car. We did the SSE on that vehicle—we got the fingerprints, we got the pictures and recreated the crime scene and sent the information off. It was then decided it was indeed a sniper vehicle,” said Breslin.

Breslin explained many infantry units conduct SSE on their own from within the unit. Though the units are capable of doing the job, a dedicated SSE team allows for the unit to do their job without getting bogged down in the extremely thorough searches and lengthy paperwork involved in the investigation process.

“All the units have to do is a hasty search, turn the objective over to us to do the more thorough search, the paperwork and do the stuff that can be a pain for them to do,” said Breslin. They have to do the cordon, the search, and provide security. Then try to do SSE at the same time—a lot of times the manpower isn’t there. We can alleviate a lot of headaches for the units out there.

For Sgt. Rodolfo Pena, platoon sergeant for the SSE team, the most rewarding part of his job is being able to find and take away the bad guys that might be operating in the area.

Using what he has been taught to gather evidence against possible insurgents, Pena likes knowing what he does can take dangerous people off of the streets and keep weapons from being used against coalition forces operating in the area.

“We get to take away all of the weapons and munitions that harm us and take the (possible insurgent) into custody. I think that makes it safer for us and the Iraqi people around here. That’s the most rewarding part of my job,” said Pena, a San Jose, Calif., native.

There is no normal day for the team. Some days they will patrol on their own or will attach themselves to one of the units operating in the area, explained Pena. One thing is certain however, the days can tend to be very long.

Leaving in the morning and coming back to the camp sometimes after midnight is just part of the job for Pena and his fellow Marines.

“It comes with the job. Whenever we’re needed, we go and we don’t mind. My Marines don’t mind the hours,” said Pena. “We’ve been pulled out of here at night and don’t come home until the next morning, but we don’t mind”.

BLTeam 2/4 is deployed to Iraq as part of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and has been conducting operations in Barwanah since late November.

Lions of Ramadi

Iraqi Police clear central Ramadi

Thursday, 22 March 2007

RAMADI — The Western Ramadi District Police conducted a massive police operation targeting insurgents here Tuesday.   

Coordinating between several stations within the district, Brig. Gen. Khalil Ibrahim Hamadi, chief of the Ramadi District Police, personally led more than 500 policemen as they conducted house-to-house searches in the capital city of Al-Anbar province.   

“The sons of Ramadi work tirelessly to eradicate criminals and bring them to justice,” said Khalil. “Today we achieved a noble goal in providing security and stability to our families and to the people of Ramadi.”   

During the 10-hour operation, named Operation “Lions of Ramadi,” police detained more than 45 suspected insurgents, confiscated propaganda material and discovered several caches containing assault rifles, machine guns, and artillery shells used to produce improvised explosive devices.   

During “Lions of Ramadi,” insurgents continued to spread terror in the area by utilizing an IED which killed one civilian and injured five - proving that, though much progress has been made during Fardh Al-Qanoon, a safe Iraq will take patience and perseverance.   

The wounded were transported by local citizens to a nearby Joint Security Station, then evacuated to a Coalition medical facility for further treatment.   

In spite of the casualties, the operation was deemed successful.   

(Courtesy of Multi-National Force – West)

The Arbaeen guard

Iraqi Police, Army protect pilgrims

Wednesday, 14 March 2007

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Army and police forces worked together to provide security for more than six million pilgrims traveling to Karbala to observe the Shiite ritual of Arbaeen, officials in Baghdad said Monday.

Anti-Iraqi forces targeted the pilgrims killing more than 100 pilgrims on March 6. Iraqi Brig. Gen. Kassim Atta al-Moussawi said during a news conference in Baghdad Monday.

Arbaeen marks the end of 40 days of mourning for the Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.   He was assassinated in 680 A.D. by fellow Muslims who sought to prevent him from becoming the caliph, or Muslim leader. The caliphate became the foundation of Sunni Muslim rule, and the killing of Hussein was the start of the Sunni-Shiite split. Karbala is the home of the imam’s tomb and has been a site of pilgrimage since his death.

Shiite Muslims from Iraq, Iran, the Gulf States and other areas travel to Karbala and engage in ritual flagellation in remembrance of the imam. During Saddam Hussein’s regime, Shiite Muslims could not mark the celebration because Saddam was a Sunni Muslim. Iraqi and Coalition officials say this year has seen the largest Arbaeen celebration in decades.

Kassim, speaking through an interpreter, said the volume of threats in Iraq and the volume of pilgrims made Arbaeen a potentially dangerous situation. “The enemy targets the innocent people - children, students,” he said. “This is clear evidence of the terror of these groups.”

Despite Iraqi security forces’ limited capabilities, they did well against the security threats, Kassim said. Iraqi forces also discovered a number of caches of arms and munitions and foiled a number of attacks.

They cooperated well with each other and the Coalition, as they built trust with the Shiite majority in Iraq, the general said.

The operation to protect Karbala involved the office of the minister of national security, the governor of Karbala governate, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior. “There was daily cooperation between forces in Karbala and Baghdad,” Kassim said. “The great efforts … exerted achieved good results in this plan.”

(By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service)

Fed up with ongoing violence

Locals helping troops find weapons

Sunday, 11 March 2007

BAGHDAD — Iraqis in the country’s north, fed up with ongoing violence, are leading U.S. and Iraqi forces to some of the largest weapons and bombs caches found in the region to date, the commander of Multi-National Division-North told Pentagon reporters Friday.

This comes as U.S. troops in that area are handing off most counterinsurgency missions to Iraqi forces.  This allows U.S. forces to focus on killing or capturing those who finance, make and emplace IEDs, said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of MND-N and the 25th Infantry Division.

So far this year, his forces have nearly doubled the monthly averages for finding IED caches, Mixon told reporters in the Pentagon via a satellite link from Contingency Operating Base Speicher, outside of Tikrit. The forces also have doubled the monthly average for killing the insurgents who use them, he said.

“The enemy is ruthless in using IEDs,” Mixon said. “We are equally as aggressive and violent in our approach to defeat them.”

Mixon said a cache found last week in Diyala had enough material to make about 130 “explosively formed projectiles,” as well as military-grade rockets and mortars, the largest find of that type so far. While EFPs make up only one percent of IEDs used against Coalition forces, they are among the most deadly.

The find was part of an Iraqi forces-led mission and was based on a tip by a local informant, Mixon said. No arrests were made, but officials are still working with the informant to identify insurgents involved.

Locals are more willing to lead Coalition forces to weapons and bombs caches partly because of the increased presence of Iraqi forces, Mixon said.

“The population areas that we work in are more comfortable with the Iraqi security forces, so they are providing us more tips. Some of those tips come in through the tips lines. Some are as simple as a civilian walking in and providing information. So their comfort level is up,” he said.

Another large cache found recently in Mosul included homemade explosive materials, such as fertilizers and acids often used in car bombs.

Because of their recent focus on insurgents using IEDs, the threat has gone down in the area, Mixon said. Also, changes in enemy tactics are posted on an IED Web page which leaders access.

In addition, body armor and protective gear help keep Soldiers alive if hit. In fact, 76 percent of Soldiers injured by such explosives are able to return to duty, he said.

His troops also are getting better at spotting planted bombs, the general said.

Still, despite recent successes, said Mixon, much more work is needed in the region, where more civilians die from IED attacks than security forces.

“We have a long way to go to defeat this threat. Too many of our casualties are [killed] as a result of the IEDs. I am not satisfied and will not be satisfied until I dramatically reduce the numbers of casualties caused by IEDs,” he said.

(Story by Fred W. Baker III American Forces Press Service)

Record numbers

IP draws big numbers in Al Anbar

Thursday, 08 March 2007

CAMP ELLIS — In an unprecedented move by local leaders in the town of Barwanah, a village of 20,000 citizens in the Anbar Province of Iraq, the largest number of Iraqi Police recruits ever recruited from the area were processed in a recruit screening this week.

In an area where virtually no Iraqi Police existed before, more than 60 volunteers were rounded up by tribal sheiks to serve as the security force for the village and surrounding area.

According to Capt. Lance Davis, company commander for Fox Co., 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, the success of the IP recruiting screening is the culmination of ongoing security operations being spearheaded by Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment and Fox 2/3.

Because of the secure environment the Marines provided for the Iraqi citizens, tribal sheiks realized now was the time to start their own security force if the city was going to move forward and become a more stabilized environment, explained Davis, a native of Yosemite National Park, Calif.

Davis said many of the tribal sheiks had decided enough was enough. With many of the local workers such as teachers and electricians getting paid but not working, something had to be done to end these problems; the first step was to start a security force.

“The one sheik who made the most difference, his attitude seemed to be one of ‘I’ve had enough’. (The sheik said) ‘we need to get all the teachers together who aren’t going to work and are still getting paid, the electricians who aren’t doing anything about the electricity that keeps going out in this town. We need to make them do their jobs. If they don’t, we need to fire them,’” said Davis.

“’But what comes before all of this is security,’ (the sheik said). He saw this as an imperative first step we needed to take. He’d just had enough,” said Davis.

Capt. Matthew Ryan, assistant operations officer for BLT 2/4, explained that 76 potential recruits were expected, but 17 were identified as possible leaders for the Barwanah Police and were left behind to receive additional training.

Two earlier attempts by Marines to recruit IPs only yielded one recruit each, so the success of this last screening came as a great surprise to Ryan and many of the Marines involved.

“We expected 76, which is what we got. Sixty of those went to the academy and the other 17 were identified as possible leadership in the Barwanah IP force and were therefore left behind to later be sent to an officer training academy,” said Ryan, a North Attleboro, Mass., native.

This is a very significant event, said Ryan. One of the original missions assigned to BLT 2/4 was to set the conditions for the introduction of Iraqi Security Force in the Haditha Triad area, specifically Barwanah.

"That’s what we’ve done. The conditions we set by providing security, in conjunction with tribal leadership deciding it was time to provide their own security, all led to this successful drive,” said Ryan.

He gives much of the credit to the tribal sheiks and their leadership for the successful recruit screening. Ryan said the sheiks were committed to forming a police force for their town and made good on their promise to provide the necessary men for the job.

The recruits themselves seemed to have a positive and motivated attitude about their new jobs, said Ryan. Talking too many of them, they said it was time to provide their own security and stability for their town.

The recruits currently attending the police academy will be trained in basic police work. After the academy, the recruits will be expected to maintain a security presence by manning checkpoints and working with Coalition forces in the area.

An important aspect of the IP force working in Barwanah is simply their presence alone. Seeing their own friends and family working in the area, Davis hopes for a stronger support for the policemen.

“Just by their presence there, people who see (these recruits), whom they’ve known for decades, picking up a weapon and wearing a blue uniform (will know) that he’s committed (to his village). So the town will rally all that much more and be more inclined to report insurgent activity,” said Davis.

BLT 2/4 is currently deployed to the Al Anbar province of Iraq as part of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and has been operating here since late November. Co. F., 2nd Bn, 3rd Marines is currently working in conjunction with BLT 2/4 and has been deployed to the area since September 2006.

 

(Story and photo by Marine Staff Sgt. T.G. Kessler, 2nd Marine Division.)