NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894
October 28, 2004
Release Number: 04-10-69
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEAPONS BUYBACK ENDS IN SADR CITY
FORWARD OPERATING BASE WAR HOPE, Baghdad - Soldiers of the 306th Iraqi National Guard Battalion, local Iraqi Police, and the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team worked with local city leadership to facilitate a weapons buyback program as a part of continuing efforts to make life safer for the residents of Sadr City.
Beginning Oct. 13, three locations in eastern Baghdad were designated by the Iraqi government as collection points where thousands of Ak-47 assault rifles, anti-tank mines, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other arms were collected through Oct. 22. Anti-aircraft weapons and explosives commonly used in improvised explosive devices were also collected.
In return, those who turned weapons in were issued vouchers for cash payment of an amount based on the type of weapon that they turned in.
While the program was run completely by Iraqi Security Forces and the Iraqi government, Soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team were positioned several hundred meters away from the turn-in sites to provide additional security.
"Any weapons we can get off the street, is great," said 1st Lt. Lael Eason, a liaison officer with the 306th Iraqi National Guard Battalion. "We haven't received [an incoming] mortar here in. I'd say two weeks. I'm not sure why that is, if it's the weapon buyback program or . the political things that are going on."
Eason noted that there had been a large quantity of mortars turned in during the buyback program.
"What we've seen are a lot of 60-millimeter mortar with the base plate and also [122 millimeter mortars]," he said.
Regardless of the reason, Soldiers at Camp Hope have experienced a period of relative calm since the program started.
"The weapons buyback program is the result of an initiative by al-Sadr's militia to disarm and disband," said 1st Brigade Combat Team spokesman Capt. Brian O'Malley. "The Iraqi government is running the weapons buyback to support the initiative taken by the militia."
O'Malley said that based on independent surveys conducted in the area, the majority of people in eastern Baghdad want the fighting there to stop. He said if hostilities cease, his brigade could begin restoring essential services to the area.
"We are still cautiously optimistic," O'Malley said. "If there's no violence, we are going in and setting up infrastructure projects, all over Sadr City."
1st BCT, alongside various Baghdad municipalities, has already organized several hundred thousand dollars in infrastructure projects in the southern half of Sadr City, where security is better. O'Malley said projects estimated at over one hundred million dollars are planned if the area remains stable.
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