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PARATROOPERS UNDER V CORPS COMMAND TAKE ON RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS IN BAGHDAD

V Corps Release

Release Date: 10/24/2003

By Sgt. Brent M. Williams 49th Public Affairs Detachment

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division's Task Force Falcon, one of several brigade combat teams attached to V Corps's 1st Armored Division, are working to eliminate former regime loyalists and extremists hostile toward coalition forces.

The paratroopers of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment are currently taking part in offensive operations in Baghdad's Al Rashid district, said Col. Kurt Fuller, brigade commander. The brigade crossed into Iraq in March to secure several key cities along Highways 8 and 9, and is now tasked with maintaining a secure environment for coalition forces in south Baghdad, an area that is home to approximately 1.5 million people.

Fuller said those loyal to former dictator Saddam Hussein are "really no longer a major threat," but added that a new enemy has emerged -- groups of religious extremists who do not support coalition efforts or the will of the Iraqi people to rebuild their country.

Extremists are calling their followers to form their own unofficial and unrecognized governments that reflect the aims of singular portions of the population and do not represent the Iraqi people as a whole, he said. Task Force Falcon is working to reduce the extremists' influence on the people of Iraq by working directly with local leaders, he added.

Commanders have been working with Iraqi Police, the Facility Protection Service, and the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps to search for weapons and weapons-making materials hidden inside Iraqi religious sites, said Capt. Tyson Voelkel, commander of Company A, 3rd Battalion, 325th AIR.

Without the assistance of Iraqi forces, buildings, such as a mosques or temples, would be inaccessible to coalition forces, as Islamic beliefs here forbid foreigners and non-believers from entering their sacred places of worship.

Voelkel, who recently worked with Iraqi Police Service officers in Baghdad to detain a local religious leader responsible for anti-coalition violence, believes the task force is seeing a different breed of opposition now than earlier in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"The guys we're working against now, they're better trained," Voelkel said. Some of these extremists may be foreign instigators "trying to persuade younger Iraqis to turn against the coalition," he added.

The events surrounding the detainment of an Iraqi religious leader accused of crimes against coalition forces and the people of Iraq are proving to be what Fuller calls a "watershed event."

" . . . (The extremists) have been able to convince large numbers of followers that the issue is a religious one and not a legal one," Fuller said. "How this plays out will more than likely determine the future of the conflict and of Iraq."

Any movement by the brigade combat team against extremists is carefully planned and handled with sensitivity to prevent a violent response from their followers and to show respect to the Iraqi people, said Fuller.

The threat these extremists pose is extremely difficult to counter, said Fuller, but the majority of the Iraqi people are making tremendous progress towards forming a representative government and setting the conditions for peace and prosperity.

Increasing coalition patrols and search and seizure operations, the 82nd is working to engage the unconventional forces operating in south Baghdad.

"Just as the enemy has adapted to us, we have adapted to them," said Capt. Sam Mokhiber, plans officer, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 325th AIR. "We are making measured success in each operation."