Iraqs Inconvenient Truth :: Iraq War News Updates

Thursday, 07 February 2008 By John Connor
Gulf Region South district

AL KUT — Two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects in Wassit Province were completed recently – a bridge and a primary healthcare center.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attended ribbon-cutting ceremonies at both locations.

“These projects are incredibly important to the small village of Sheikh Sa’ad,” said Maj. Clay Morgan, the USACE resident engineer responsible for the projects. He said the village is about 40 kilometers east of Al Kut and about 30 kilometers from the Iranian border.

The Sheikh Sa’ad Bridge was built at a cost of nearly $8.3 million. The project entailed the design and construction of a 12 meter by 456 meter multi-span concrete bridge across the Tigris River. Money for the project came from the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund.

The project included 500 meters of two-lane approach roadway at each end of the bridge, the bridge and approach lighting, and a paved river access road on each side of the Tigris adjacent to the bridge.

“The new concrete bridge replaces an old floating pontoon bridge that could only support small vehicle traffic,” Morgan said. “The new bridge allows the farmers to transport their crops and supplies to and from the main highway between Baghdad and Maysan.”

The primary healthcare center, or PHC, also was built with IRRF funds, at a cost of approximately $540,000.

“The new PHC is critical because there were no medical facilities in the village and the closest medical treatment was available in Al Kut, about 40 kilometers away,” said Morgan. Morgan is the resident engineer in the Wassit Resident Office, which is part of the Forat Area Office of USACE’s Gulf Region South district.

The clinic is a so-called Type C PHC, the most capable of the three types of PHC’s designed and built by USACE in Iraq. It provides for medical/dental examination and treatment with space dedicated for X-rays, vaccinations, laboratory, pharmacy and public education. It also includes an emergency room, labor and delivery wards, and a newborn nursery.

When fully manned, the clinic is expected to employ a staff of 27 doctors, nurses, technicians, and support personnel. The staff will be capable of treating 100 to 150 patients a day.

Wednesday, 06 February 2008

BAGHDAD — Top Iraqi Police officials and Coalition military police gathered at the Camp Fiji training facility Feb. 2 to witness 493 new Iraqi Police officers graduate and perform a demonstration.”This increase in police force will better the peace for the citizens,” said Capt. Mohammad, training commander, Iraqi Police’s Forward Unit. “I see only good things in our future.”

An Iraqi Police expansion program aims to eventually train more than 12,000 new Iraqi Police recruits from surrounding provinces.

Maj. Gen. Kadhem Hamid Sharhan, Provincial Police Commander of Baghdad, members of the 18th Military Police Brigades’ command group and the Provincial Police Transition Team were among those present at the graduation.

“I am anxious to find out how many improvements there will be in the near future in Baghdad because of this increase in Iraqi Police forces,” said Maj. Larry Dewey, Provincial Police Transition Team Chief, 18th Military Police Brigade. “I am very impressed with the training we have seen to date in this graduating class, as they (Iraqi Police trainers) have led the class completely on their own.”

The ceremony included an Iraqi Police demonstration of techniques learned during the two-week training period at the academy.

The demonstration illustrated how the new Iraqi Police officers will provide safety in their neighborhoods with weapons training, combative techniques, structure-clearing techniques, first aid and defensive maneuvers against small-arms attacks.

In addition to the techniques demonstrated at the graduation, the two-week course offers Iraqi Police candidates a basic understanding of democratic law enforcement and policing skills, while incorporating values, ethics, human rights, crime scene preservation and detention procedures.

The Iraqi Police and the 18th MP Brigade will continue their partnership, officials said, to increase the number of recruits and train capable Iraqi Police to better serve the nation’s people.

(Story by Sgt. Daniel D. Blottenberger, 18th MP Brigade Public Affairs Office)

In Other Recent Developments Here:

BAGHDAD — Coalition forces captured a suspected criminal Special Groups finance facilitator and detained two other suspects Feb. 2, during operations to disrupt criminal networks in the Baghdad area.

BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers prevented a suspected al-Qaida assassination attempt on a Concerned Local Citizens leader when they discovered a car bomb in Doura Jan. 30.

February 2008

PETITION DRIVE TO PLACE  THE “CALIFORNIA MARRIAGE PROTECTION ACT” ON CALIFORNIA’S NOVEMBER 2008 BALLOT IS UNDERWAYSacramento, CA – ProtectMarriage.com foresees 2008 as a significant year of dynamic legislative and judicial activity for those working to secure constitutional recognition for marriage as the traditional legal union between a man and a woman.

“ProtectMarriage.com is moving ahead with a strong agenda in 2008,” says Ron Prentice, chairman of the ProtectMarriage.com executive committee and California Family Council CEO. “We are moving forward with a signature-gathering campaign to qualify a constitutional amendment to protect marriage for the ballot in November 2008. The coalition continues to grow in membership and to raise funds to be prepared for action in response to any event that threatens traditional marriage.”

The ProtectMarriage.com coalition is currently awaiting a decision by the California Supreme Court whether to uphold Proposition 22. (This proposition, which amended state law to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, was passed by over 61 percent of California voters in 2000.)

ProtectMarriage.com counts among its supporters over 200,000 people who have participated in past and present efforts to uphold the will of the people as expressed in Proposition 22. The coalition is currently moving forward to gather signatures to qualify the initiative for the November 2008 ballot. In the meantime, other anticipated events in 2008 include:

a) The decision of the California Supreme Court - probably to be rendered in the spring of 2008. If the high court strikes down Proposition 22, and thus overrules the people’s will on marriage, Protectmarriage.com will be ready with an initiative on the November ballot for the people of California to vote to override the court and protect traditional marriage.

b) Further efforts by the state Legislature to legalize same-sex “marriage” (despite Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s second veto of such a measure in 2007).

ProtectMarriage.com is a growing, broad-based coalition of organizations, churches, and individuals who believe that marriage’s foremost purpose is the raising of healthy children in a traditional family with both a mom and a dad. We welcome your participation. Please join us now by signing up to receive free e-mail updates.

Click on the “Petition” button above to request petitions.

Click here to find a Distribution Center near you to pick up petitions!

Maliki Repeats Vow Of Decisive Battle Against Al Qaeda

February 2nd, 2008 Posted By And From Pat Dollard’s Blog

Baghdad, Feb 3, (VOI) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said time was ripe to launch a decisive battle against “terror” in Ninewa province, urging all political powers, parties and local residents to back the armed forces in their efforts to eliminate armed groups and “remnants” of the former regime.

“Armed groups and remnants of the former regime have taken Ninewa as a springboard to start their criminal operations against local residents, capitalizing on the province’s geographical location and diverse groups,” according to a statement by the National Media Center that quoted Maliki as saying in a speech while presiding over an extraordinary crisis group meeting in Ninewa on Saturday.

Maliki stressed the “need by military forces and policemen to observe professionalism and neutrality while carrying out their security missions,” Maliki said in the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

“The local residents’ trust has to be won. The vanquishing of the terrorists can never be done without the residents’ backing for the armed forces’ efforts,” said the Iraqi premier, appealing for the local government and leaders in the province to “rally their ranks behind the Ninewa security operations command.” Mosul is the capital of Ninewa province.

Earlier on Saturday Maliki arrived in Mosul and met with leaders and military commanders to discuss security conditions in the city.

“Maliki and some security officials met after their arrival with Ninewa Governor Dreid Kashmoula and Mosul operations chief Maj. General Riad Jalal Tawfiq and others to discuss security issues in the city,” a media source from Kashmoula’s office told VOI on condition of anonymity.

Last week while delivering a speech in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, Maliki said a “decisive” battle would be fought with al-Qaeda organization in Mosul, the capital of Ninewa province, 402 km north of Baghdad.

Preparations were underway for a week now to hammer out a security plan in the aftermath of deadly bombing attacks in Zanjili area, western Mosul, which left 205 civilians killed or wounded.

Iraq’s interior ministry said it would not close border outlest with Syria from the direction of Mosul city, northern Iraq, during military operations to be carried out by Iraqi forces there.

“There are no orders to close border outlets between Iraq and Syria from Mosul direction during the military operation to be conducted by Iraqi forces in the province of Ninewa soon,” Maj. General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf, the head of the ministry’s national command center, told VOI.

“However, these outlets would be under the intensive supervision of the Iraqi security agencies,” Khalaf said.

He pointed out that he accompanied “the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Nouri al-Maliki, on his visit to Mosul on Saturday,” adding “Maliki, who was also accompanied by Minister of Defense Abdul-Qader al-Ubaidi, has met with the security commanders to discuss preparations for launching military operations against gunmen trying to disturb security and order in the province.”

The meeting was also attended by the undersecretary of the interior, the commander of the ground forces, the Mosul operations chief and a number of field commanders, Khalaf said.

Saturday, 02 February 2008 By Sgt. Luis Delgadillo
2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div. PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — After just six days of operations out of Patrol Base Meade, Soldiers assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division began to see results of their cooperation with community leaders in Sayafiyah, south of Baghdad, Jan 27.

During the operations, Troops B and C, 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Inf. Div., established security in villages near the patrol base leaving one troop, Troop A, to handle security further south.

Troop A, accompanied by Lt. Col. Clifford Wheeler, 5-7 Cav. Regt. commander, was to establish a foothold in Sayafiyah, on the banks of the Tigris River approximately 15 kilometers southeast of Patrol Base Meade. Their arrival uncovered more than expected.

As the route clearance team marked improvised explosive devices, Troop A cleared buildings and together made their way to the town, a suspected terrorist safe haven.

Opening the road to Sayafiyah was no small feat. Residents of Sayafiyah, who had volunteered to assist Coalition Forces locating IEDs were out in front of route clearance vehicles, looking for tell-tale signs of the deadly traps.

The local volunteers came forward to assist earlier in the month when Sayafiyah community leaders met with the commander of 2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div., Col. Terry Ferrell. In that meeting, Ferrell assured Sayafiyah leaders his Soldiers would be conducting operations to establish a long term presence in the region.

With the assurance, the regional leaders agreed to assist clearing vital roads, which would eventually be used to deliver supplies and equipment to troops staying in the city.

1st Lt. Robert Seiter, platoon leader with Troop A., said that he and his fellow Soldiers recently came from an area with a completely different security situation.

Seiter, a native of Fort Mitchell, Ky., said in the unit’s previous location, west of Fallujah, the Soldiers established a rapport with neighboring villagers which enabled troops to employ a less aggressive security plan.

Spc. John D. Gilga, a cavalry scout with Troop A and native of DuBois, Pa., said though he was focused on the mission venturing south, he was still nervous heading into unfamiliar territory.

The foot patrol was slow and deliberate. Along the way the Troop A Soldiers encountered two corroding IEDs, which did not have initiating devices attached.

While the danger of pressure plate IEDs remains, residents said that most, if not all, insurgents in the area had fled.

It was close to noon when Troop A and its commander reached their destination, a lively rustic farming community.

To the Soldiers’ surprise, community residents and local leaders were on hand to greet them.

Wheeler and the leaders spoke at length on issues facing the region and the future of Coalition Forces in the area.

Wheeler was able to secure a building for Troop A’s observation post and the residents were assured that a Concerned Local Citizens group would be established.

As night fell, a crowd of local residents gathered to watch their new neighbors dismantle the front gate of their new post.

Saturday, 02 February 2008 By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

Members of Concerned Local Citizens assist U.S. Army Soldiers from Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division during a patrol for improvised explosive devices and weapons caches in Ja’ara, Iraq, Jan. 17, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Timothy Kingston.

WASHINGTON — Attacks have dropped in Baghdad to levels seen in 2005, a senior commander in Iraq said Feb. 1.Coalition forces also are finding and clearing more bombs than they have in the past four years, Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, chief of staff of Multinational Corps Iraq, told reporters in the Pentagon via satellite from Camp Liberty, in Baghdad.

This comes on the heels of the new year’s offensive, Operation Phantom Phoenix, aimed at driving al Qaeda and other extremists from safe havens in outlying provinces.

In the past week of operations, the overall number of attacks nationwide remained down and below the average of the past three months, Anderson said.

“The security situation today is about the same as we experienced statistically in early 2005,” the commander said.

Weekly attacks in the Baghdad security districts for the past 15 weeks matched levels last seen consistently in 2005. Bombings increased last week, but remained below the long-term average for the 23rd week in a row, he said. Throughout Iraq, weekly casualties decreased by three percent last week, continuing to remain below the long-term average for the 21st week in a row, Anderson said. Civilian casualties have dropped from 1,700 in January 2007 to 170 this month.

Part of the success is due to locals being more willing to turn over extremists’ hideouts and weapons caches, Anderson said. As local citizens feel more secure, they are coming forward with information on extremists’ activities in their villages and provinces.

“The extremists’ ability to intimidate the populous is clearly diminishing. Iraqi citizens across the country are actively engaging the extremists,” Anderson said.

Concerned local citizens organized into neighborhood watch-type groups now number about 80,000 across the country and are helping fill critical security roles where they live, especially in areas where there are few Iraqi security forces.

“We will not allow al Qaeda and other extremists to take sanctuary in any part of the country,” Anderson said. “We are not leaving safe areas or holes. We will not give up gains already achieved by the coalition.”