While the discussion goes on here about the way foward in Iraq, the Iraqi's and our military in conjunction with the Iraqi's are doing more than just discussing it, those on the ground are actively working toward that goal.
Iraqis to command four northern divisions by February, U.S. general says.
Saturday, 02 December 2006.
Iraqi officers will soon command all four Iraqi Army divisions operating in northern Iraq, a senior U.S. officer said Friday.
“By February, all four Iraqi divisions in Multi-National Division-North will be under Iraqi Ground-Force Command,” Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon told Pentagon reporters during a satellite briefing.
Mixon is the commander of Multi-National Division - North as well as commander of the 25th Infantry Division. The two-star general’s area of responsibility covers six Iraqi provinces in northern Iraq that include the cities of Kirkuk, Balad, Tikrit, Mosul and Samarra.
The general said his organization’s primary focus is to train and partner with Iraqi Soldiers and Police to provide security for the 11 million Iraqi people residing within his area. That population, he said, includes an ethnic mix of Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians.
“We have one mission: that is security for Iraq’s people,” Mixon said.
As the Iraqi Security Force become more capable, the Coalition Force will take a more indirect security role, while focusing on putting al Qaeda in Iraq out of business, Mixon said.
“We have a goal for this transition, and we are making advances every day,” he said. One Iraqi Army division in the area was already under Iraqi government control, while a second division was transferred to the government today.
“A third division will transfer by the end of January, and by February, all four Iraqi divisions in Mult-National Division-North will be under Iraqi Ground-Force command,” Mixon said.
Mixon said thousands of courageous Iraqis have joined their country’s security forces or participate in public service to build a strong and unified Iraq.
That effort faces challenges, Mixon said, noting terrorists and criminals are doing their utmost to derail the fledgling Iraqi government.
Iraqis, Coalition Force work to squelch insurgency.
Sunday, 03 December 2006.
BAGHDAD — In a string of operations across Iraq this week, Iraqi Security Forces detained 28 suspects, and the Coalition Force killed 17 insurgents and rescued three Iraqi hostages, military officials reported.
The 9th Iraqi Army Division, with Coalition support, detained 28 suspected insurgents for questioning in an operation here Friday in Rusafa. U.S. attack helicopters supported Iraqi ground troops during the mission.
Elsewhere, the Coalition used air-delivered precision ordnance to kill three insurgents in Ubaydi. Insurgents attacked Coalition Forces with small-arms fire and attempted to flee in a vehicle. In response, Coalition troops used destroyed the vehicle and the insurgents inside. Aside from the vehicle, there was no further damage.
In another operation, Coalition air and ground forces combined to kill 14 insurgents and wound two Nov. 30 after the individuals engaged a coalition convoy with small-arms fire southwest of Samarra.
While the insurgents fled in trucks and on motorcycles, Task Force Lightning attack helicopters tracked them for several miles and used two guided bombs to destroy one of the vehicles. Subsequently, helicopters and strike aircraft engaged the remaining vehicles, killing or wounding all of the insurgents.
Upon further investigation of the site, Task Force Lightning Soldiers discovered more than 1,500 rounds of small-arms ammunition and various semi-automatic machine guns including six AK-47s, two heavy machineguns, two destroyed motorcycles with homemade machine gun mounts and one rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Separately, Iraqi Police engaged a suicide car bomber attempting to breach an entry-control point leading to a police station in the Dawasa neighborhood Nov. 29.
Iraqi Police prevented the terrorist from breaching the entry control point, but the bomb exploded outside the checkpoint, killing four Mosul citizens, the suicide car bomber and injuring 29.
"Iraqi Police in Ninewa province are vigilant to these types of attacks," said Army Maj. Adam Rocke, operations officer, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. "The sad part is the innocent citizens who are killed or injured as a result of these cowardly acts, especially the children.”
In another operation, three handcuffed hostages were rescued from insurgents by Soldiers of the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, near Forward Operating Base Loyalty Nov. 29. A fourth handcuffed hostage was found nearby, dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
Soldiers noticed an illegal checkpoint manned by six individuals in military uniforms. One of the six manning the checkpoint had a fake Ministry of Interior identification. Coalition troops detained all six for questioning.
Elsewhere, Soldiers from Multi-National Division – Baghdad uncovered a sizeable cache of munitions in a northwestern Baghdad neighborhood Nov. 29.
After receiving a tip, Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, conducted a combat patrol to search a house of a suspected mortar man. When the troops arrived at the residence, there was no one at the home.
During the search, they discovered a weapons cache, finding various mortar tubes, rounds, explosives and a protective suit.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20061204-16
Dec. 4, 2006.
Salah ad Din sheiks meet to discuss peace, stability in
province.
Multi-National Division – North PAO
TIKRIT, Iraq – Lt. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Abdel-Rahman Al-Mufti, the 4th Iraqi Army
commander hosted approximately 30 tribal sheiks from the Salah ad Din province
Saturday in a meeting to discuss ways to maintain peace and stability throughout the
province.
The sheiks, along with Maj. Gen. Benjamin M. Mixon, commanding general for
Task Force Lightning and the 25th Infantry Division in northern Iraq, discussed issues
within the province and ways to improve services and security.
“We all have to cooperate and provide information on these insurgents,” said Lt.
Gen. Aziz. “Innocent people are being killed every day and we have to work together to
stop this.”
“I respect their positions as leaders, and I know they can help with stopping the
violence,” said Maj. Gen. Mixon.
Mixon also explained the importance of the Iraqi Security Forces and the key
leadership role of Lt. Gen. Aziz as the senior Iraqi Army commander, responsible for the
security of Salah ad Din and Kirkuk province.
“This was another step in uniting the effort to control the violence with the goal to
cooperate through talking with tribal leaders to see what we each can do,” Mixon said.
Together, the generals reminded the sheiks they should not allow terrorists to
fight from their lands.
Iraqi Police, Army team up with paratroopers, discover three
weapon caches Sunday.
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraqi – Iraqi police and Iraqi army
troops teamed up with paratroopers from 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th
Infantry Division, to discovered three large weapons caches Dec. 3.
The first cache was discovered in the town of Bahbahani, Iraq, outside of
Musayyib. It contained 15 rockets, 30 mortar fuses, one sniper rifle, 15 rocket-propelled
grenades, one rocket propelled-grenade launcher, one tripod, one mortar tube, and two
60mm mortar rounds.
Once the joint patrol discovered the cache, they halted the patrol and
immediately cordoned off the area. An explosive ordnance disposal team was alerted
and destroyed the cache.
The second cache was discovered north of Karbala. It contained two mortar
fuses, two mortar charges, one machine gun with one belt of ammo, one sub-machine
gun with seven magazines, several grenade fuses, artillery fuses, blasting caps, and ski
masks.
The third cache was uncovered south of Baghdad and contained 100 mortar
rounds.
Via Reuters:
RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - The head of a tribal council in Iraq's western province of Anbar said on Sunday that tribesmen had killed 55 al Qaeda fighters in a battle on Saturday, but the U.S. military could not confirm the figures.
The death toll, if confirmed, would mark an unusually fierce clash with insurgents in a province where U.S. forces regularly battle foreign fighters they say are linked to al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents.
The U.S. military said in a statement it launched air strikes and fired artillery to help a tribe in the town of Sofia after an attack by al Qaeda.
"Al Qaeda burned homes and killed members of the tribe using small arms fire and mortars," the military said in a statement. It gave no casualty figures.
In a related matter Captain Ed has a piece on the growing momentum for more troops in Iraq where he states:
This option has gained more credence since the election. Rumsfeld apparently opposed the idea, not because he wanted to withdraw from Iraq but because he wanted to keep a small footprint there. His field commanders backed him on that strategy, but John Abizaid and George Casey may be replaced when Gates takes office. The incoming Secretary of Defense might decide to replace them with commanders who see a use for a larger force in Baghdad.
In another related matter Abizaid had some words at the John F. Kennedy School of Government on November 20th:
November 20, 2006 – America cannot simply walk away from Iraq without risking another world war. That warning was sounded at the Kennedy School Forum Friday evening by Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), the man responsible for U.S. military strategy in the Middle East.
“We can walk away from this enemy, but they will not walk away from us,” Abizaid told the Forum audience during a discussion titled “The Long War.”
“We have not failed yet and we will not fail if we all understand what we have to do. If we can stay together nothing can stop us, and we can make the world a better place.”
Abizaid cited what he called the three greatest challenges facing the world – the Arab-Israeli conflict; the rise of extremism led by groups “with a dark vision of the future;” and the dangers posted by “Shia revolutionary thought” specifically. “Where these things come together is in Iraq,” he said.
“It’s absolutely not an easy thing to do,” Abizaid said. “But the sacrifice that is necessary to stabilize Iraq must be sustained in order for the region itself to become more resilient against these three challenges.”
Our military understands what our politicians that are playing with their GI Joe dolls do not. This is not about Iraq, or Afghanistan or even Iran and North Korea. This is about knowing the nature of our enemy and fighting accordingly. Understanding these extremists are spoonfed hatred morning, noon and night. We are fighting an ideology of hatred and replacing it with an understanding of freedom and democracy that will make us safer here on our soil.
Others worth reading:
Riehl World View and Jules Crittenden.
