OPERATIONAL UPDATE BY ARMY MAJOR GENERAL RICK LYNCH, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ
Multi-National Force-Iraq
OPERATIONAL UPDATE BY ARMY MAJOR GENERAL RICK LYNCH, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ LOCATION: THE COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER, BAGHDAD, IRAQ TIME: 8:00 A.M. EST DATE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2006
GEN. LYNCH: You know I appreciate you taking the time. There's a variety of things I'd like to talk about, and more importantly I'd like to talk about whatever you -- whatsever's on your mind.
But before I go any further, let me pause to congratulate the people of Iraq on a successful election, of which the results are certified this week. Over the next days and weeks, the elected representatives of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people will form a government, a representative government, that truly meets the rights of all Iraqis. Very important. And you got to applaud the Iraqi citizenship as they've worked over the last year through three successive elections, as they've marched from tyranny to democracy.
First graphic, please.
I'm going to try to spend some time and put attack trends in perspective. Every Thursday I stand up and I tell you here's how many attacks there were yesterday and here's how many there were last week. And just to continue that trend, there were 67 attacks yesterday; there were 545 attacks within the last week. And that attack trend is, indeed, up; that's 17 percent more attacks than we experienced the week before. And the most significant increase was in Al Anbar Province, and there was a 57 percent increase in the number of attacks that week compared to the week prior.
Now let's -- in a soldier's vernacular, let's back away from the map and look at the bigger picture, and that's why I'd like to show you attack trends over the last six months in the aggregate.
Eighty-five percent of the attacks against the coalition forces, the Iraqi security forces and the people of Iraq take place in four provinces: Al Anbar, Salahuddin, Nineveh and Baghdad. And you can see their attack trend numbers.
On average, 21 attacks per day in Baghdad. There were 29 attacks in Baghdad yesterday.
On average, 22 attacks per day in Al Anbar. Yesterday there were 15.
And in the north, on average, about an aggregate of 29 attacks when you combined the northern provinces.
But 85 percent of the attacks take place in four of the provinces. And if you look at the rest of the provinces, 12 of the provinces average less than one attack per day, and 10 of those provinces almost no attacks.
Wasat, 0.2.
Dhi Qar, 0.2.
Qadisiyah, 0.2.
An Najaf, 0.1.
So the point is, the attacks are indeed taking place, and we continue to average about 70 attacks per day against coalition forces, Iraqi security forces and Iraqi civilians, but they are isolated attacks -- four provinces where only 40 percent where the population of Iraq live and work.
Operations across Iraq continue.
Last week we conducted 435 company-level operations and above. Thirty-one percent of those operations were independent Iraqi security force operations -- operations they planned and they executed independent of the coalition force members. And I'd like to talk about a couple of those.
In Diyala Province, with the Fifth Iraqi Army Division last week, that battalion commander and his staff had intelligence that in this isolated area where insurgents that were planning to conduct IED attacks; there was an IED-making facility. So they planned this operation. They conducted the operation. As they entered the first house -- the assault team entered the first house -- they immediately came under armed contact with four insurgents, and a gunfire ensued. The assault force left except for one Iraqi army sergeant who stood behind, killed one insurgent, wounded two others, and he left and then he (attracted ?) himself, joined up with his team, they continued the assault. In that assault, they killed two insurgents, they captured 102 insurgents, of which 25 of those insurgents were on the most wanted list of the Iraqi security forces. Fifth Iraqi Army Division, planned and executed at the battalion level, successful operation, detained 102 insurgents. And an Iraqi Army sergeant with strong courage and conviction stood his ground against those armed insurgents.
In another -- in another case --
(As an aside.) Can we get the picture, please?
This was in north Babil. This was a coalition operation, a reconnaissance operation. And in north Babil, this coalition force came across this weapons cache in northern Babil. And look at the magnitude of the amount of weapons that they found: 950 mortars, 26 cases of ammunition. What was unique about this was the condition of those mortar rounds -- extremely good condition, well-placed so that people would have -- insurgents would access to them as they needed to. So that's 950 mortars that were intended to rain havoc on he people of Iraq that were taken away from the insurgents and destroyed by coalition forces.
Next graphic, please.
The enemy also has successful operations. I talked about 545 attacks last week. Of those, 131 attacks were successful -- were effective -- in that they resulted in a casualty -- either a coalition casualty, an Iraqi security force casualty or an innocent Iraqi civilian.
And as I've told you, we had 29 attacks in Baghdad just yesterday. Six of those attacks happened in the morning hours. Three IEDs and three VBIEDs spread across Iraq, starting at 8:00 in the morning and working their way until 12:16 in the early afternoon. And you can see the results of each of those attacks: civilians, Iraqi police killed and injured.
The day before yesterday in Baghdad, a suicide bomber wearing a suicide vest filled with ball bearings approached a group of innocent Iraqi civilians who were standing in line to cash in food vouchers for money, detonated himself, killed 25 civilians and wounded 30 others.
So we continue to have effective operations across Iraq, as does the enemy. Zarqawi and his network continues to focus his attacks against innocent civilians. We have seen over the last several weeks about a 15 percent increase in civilian casualties, and we've seen about a 30 percent increase in attacks against Iraqi security forces. So we're seeing the insurgent move his target, his (sight ?) group, away from the coalition forces to the Iraqi security forces. And Zarqawi's (sight ?) group is specifically on Iraqi civilians -- innocent men, women and children of Iraq.
Next graphic, please.
Last Thursday I stood up as Ashura began, and the people of Iraq were commemorating Ashura, the death of the third Imam. As the day progressed, 2 million pilgrims participated in the event with no attacks and no casualties against the pilgrims.
Compare that to the previous years. In 2004, in Karbala and in Baghdad, suicide attacks and explosions killed 130 people and wounded 200 more. In February of last year, attacks against mosque in Baghdad killed 10 and wounded an additional 80. This year, no casualites. This year, no attacks. Why? As I said last week, the Iraqi government planned the security for the Ashura commemoration. The Iraqi security forces executed it, and it was indeed an Iraqi success.
And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have today.
Please?
Q Toward the end there you referred to a couple of statistics, a 15 percent increase in civilian casualties and a 30 percent increase in attacks against the Iraqi security forces.
GEN. LYNCH: Right.
Q What as the time frame for that, again?
GEN. LYNCH: That's what we've seen as a trend line over the last several weeks. So we have indeed seen the insurgents turn its (shot ?) group against the Iraqi security forces and increase the attacks against them by 30 percent. And we've seen attacks against civilians increase by 15 percent. Liz?
Q To follow on from that, 15 percent over what? Because like last summer we were seeing much higher casualties every day than we are now, I think. Did the civilian casualties drop and then they're now going back up again? Or is this a 15 percent increase over historical record highs?
GEN. LYNCH: No, it's a 15 percent increase, Liz, over recent activity trends that we've seen. This is not a comparison over the last year or two years, but in recent -- if you look at a data group of about the last several months, we've seen an increase in attacks against civilians and an increase in attacks against Iraqi security forces over the last several months.
Q And you can't be more specific than several months?
GEN. LYNCH: No, I can't, Liz, but we'll chase down the numbers for you. Okay?
Please.
Q Just a clarification. Paul Sham (ph), AFP. Just a clarification on the first graphic. These are just attacks on --
GEN. LYNCH: Put it back up, please.
Q These are just attacks on coalition forces?
GEN. LYNCH: No.
Q These are attacks against --
GEN. LYNCH: No, the first one, with the map, please.
Yeah, those reflect attacks against coalition forces, Iraqi security forces and Iraqi civilians. And what's reflected in the box are the average number of attacks per day over the --
Q All kinds of attacks, not just attacks on coalition for Iraqi security forces.
GEN. LYNCH: That's correct. Over the last six months.
Q Okay. I just wondered. I would have thought Diyala and Tamin would have been a bit higher, just from the reports we get daily from them, because they're quite low compared to the others.
GEN. LYNCH: What we can do is we can show you the trend line to show you where those numbers come from, but from an average over the last six months, that's what we're seeing, predominance of attacks in four provinces. The next two higher provinces are indeed Tamin and Diyala, with averaging five attacks per day. Q And my other question was about the -- you made the comment about the mortar shells were in really good -- extremely good condition. What's the conclusion on that? I mean, are they recently imported, or -- I guess why do you single out the fact that they're in such good condition?
GEN. LYNCH: Yeah, because they were prepared for immediate use.
Q Okay.
GEN. LYNCH: These weren't munitions that and been buried for the last several years and people had forgotten about them, but rather these were munitions that were prepared for immediate use, so insurgents could move, grab the mortars and employ the mortars.
Q Are they being imported from somewhere or are these all from -- (off mike)?
GEN. LYNCH: It's a combination of both. I mean, there are indeed caches that have been out there for at least the last three years, and there are indeed munitions still flowing into Iraq for use by the insurgents, some of which we're disrupting and some of them are finding their way to the caches and later to use.
Liz?
Q I might have missed a bit of this, so maybe you did explain it properly. But you said that 31 percent of the operations were independent Iraqi army operations.
GEN. LYNCH: Yes.
Q Has there been a net increase in operations as a result of the Iraqi army taking on operations, or has the fact that there's now 31 percent of them are being done by the Iraqi army mean that the Americans are doing fewer operations?
GEN. LYNCH: An excellent question. What we're finding is, first off, the Iraqi security forces are much more capable of conducting independent operations.
So as their plan, either in isolation or with the coalition forces, we're finding them more prepared to conduct those operations independently. And indeed, last week 435 operations across Iraq at the company level and above, and 31 percent of those were independent Iraqi security force operations.
We're seeing now that less than 30 percent of any of the operations -- our combined operations, coalition forces and Iraqi security forces -- or correction, less than 30 percent are independent coalition force operations, that 70 percent are either a combination with the Iraqi security force or ISF independent. The numbers of operations, to get to your specific questions, are about the same routinely, about 435 last week, and that's the trendline we're seeing.
Q Does that mean Americans are going out on the streets and putting themselves in the way of harm less often than they were before? And are we seeing that reflected in the casualty figures?
GEN. LYNCH: Across Iraq, two divisions, eight brigades, 37 battalions had the lead in counterinsurgency operations in their respective areas. So in those areas, you're not seeing coalition force members planning, conducting counterinsurgency operations in those areas. In other areas where the coalition force members still have control of the battlespace, you still see us on the streets.
So the answer is to your question is it's a combination of both, depending on the area.
Q (Off mike) -- that you've seen a drop in casualties as a result of Americans not being out there so much?
GEN. LYNCH: Yes, we are, Liz. I -- a couple weeks ago -- and we'll get the data for you -- I reflected casualty figures and a significant reduction we're seeing in casualty figures, and we'll get those to you.
Jeff, please make sure Liz has those.
(Name inaudible) -- how are you?
Q Good, thank you.
We always see the violence spike during, you know, elections or important dates here in Iraq. I wonder -- and we also hear comments from Sunni Arab leaders who say, "Well, if there's not more inclusion and engagement for us in the political process, you know, there's going to be violence." Do you see any link there between the violence and these kinds of statements that we hear from Sunni Arab leaders?
GEN. LYNCH: We still believe that the insurgency has two primary objectives, and that's to derail to democratic process and discredit the Iraqi government. So it is predictable that in this transition period -- the results of the election were just certified, the elected representatives of the people of Iraq are working to form a government, and that's going to take days, weeks, potentially months. And in that period of time, that transition period, the insurgents want to attack because they want to discredit the government's existence and they want to derail the democratic process.
So seeing spikes in attacks during this period of time was not indeed unpredictable and was predicted. And our continuing dialogue with the leaders of all persuasions to emphasize that they use the political process as opposed to a violent process to embrace the democratic principles, we're seeing that take place across Iraq.
Q But do you think that they're using both -- both violence and the political process?
GEN. LYNCH: In the period of time we're in right now, we see a combination. We don't see anybody saying, "Okay, I'm going to stop the violence and purely participate in the political process," or vice versa. And that's what we're going to see over the next, you know, period of time.
Please.
Q You've discussed a bit about political outreach and military and the political trends. Do you think the recent revelations about new photographs from the Abu Ghraib is going to harm those efforts? And do you think it will increase hostility towards U.S. or coalition forces in Iraq?
GEN. LYNCH: We're not seeing any increased hostility as a result of those pictures being released. We're not seeing that.
Remember, those pictures were pictures of criminal acts that took place many years ago -- rogue soldiers doing an activity that wasn't supported by their chain of command, and those rogue soldiers have been punished.
Over the course of the last year, 25 soldiers, officers and enlisted, have been prosecuted and punished as a result of those incidents.
For the pictures to come back out now, all that was a reflection of what happened before and not a reflection of what's happening now. And we believe the people of Iraq understand that. So we see no repercussions of the pictures coming back out -- of the new pictures coming out.
Please?
Q Along the same lines, do you think that there will be any repercussions to the report by General Peterson that they found a Shi'ite death squad within the police?
GEN. LYNCH: We watch all these trend lines very carefully. I talked to General Peterson extensively what took place there. You know, there is no denying that there are militias present in Iraq and that some of those militia forces have displaced loyalties, and some of those militia forces have indeed integrated with the Iraqi security forces. And that's what happened in that incident.
Those kinds of incidents could indeed inflame passions across Iraq, and we're watching those very closely. When it happens, like that particular incident, immediately an investigation is launched. The four individuals that were part of that death squad are currently at Abu Ghraib facing prosecution. And other investigations continue.
Q Have they found any more besides that one?
GEN. LYNCH: The minister of Interior -- to answer your specific question, no. That was the one that we're aware of, and that is the one that's being, indeed, investigated. The minister of Interior has launched a broader investigation to see if there's any other opportunities for things like that to occur.
Please?
Q David Curley from ABC News.
GEN. LYNCH: Hi, David.
Q Hi. Let's stay on that topic. I have several questions -- GEN. LYNCH: Sure. But you got to do them one at a time.
Q That's fine. Let's start with the death squads. You say this one is the only one you know of. This one they stumbled upon because they came to a checkpoint. Is there any doubt in your mind that there are others out there?
GEN. LYNCH: You have to be very candid and very realistic. There are indeed militias, and the Iraqi law wants to integrate those militias into the Iraqi security force or disband those militias. Some of them did that, some of them still have displaced loyalties that have joined the Iraqi security forces.
But the answer to your specific question, they are indeed there. There are members of the Iraqi security force with displaced loyalties, and they could conduct the same kind of thing that we saw in that particular event.
Know it to be true that the minister of Interior is sensitive to that and has launched an investigation to see what he can do to preclude that from happening.
Q But how damaging is that in trying to get the Sunnis to participate if they're going to be targets of death squads?
GEN. LYNCH: You got to believe that the Sunni leadership and the Sunni population is going to look at a broader perspective and not specific instances. As long as they have confidence in their government to look specifically at that incident and take appropriate actions, I don't think it will be a broad repercussion.
Q On the pictures, General Myers said in an affidavit, in trying to hold those back from public view, that their release would endanger American lives, soldiers' lives, and spark Arab uprisings across the world.
Was his thoughts -- were they incorrect, from what you've seen?
GEN. LYNCH: We have not seen, over the last 24 hours, specific indications that the locals have taken up arms as a result of seeing these new pictures.
We believe that they realize that these pictures are indeed pictures of an event that happened before, and it was an isolated event and that the people that were involved in that have indeed been punished.
Q So how do you square with what General Myers had to say in his affidavit and what's actually happening on the ground?
GEN. LYNCH: Yeah, all I can say is what we're seeing, and we're not seeing any specific repercussions as a result of the release of the new pictures.
Q And to your 31 percent of the operations by Iraqi forces, what is that compared to? If that was last week, what was it the week before?
GEN. LYNCH: I think -- we're seeing a trend line. Last week, it was, like, 25 percent. No, it's at least a quarter of the operations that take place at the company level and above across Iraq are now ISF independent operations planned and executed by Iraqi security forces without coalition force membership.
Q (Off mike) --
GEN. LYNCH: Yeah.
Please.
Q Just back to the death squads, do you -- the ones who are in Abu Ghraib now, do you have any reason to believe they may have been responsible for other killings that we've heard about, but didn't know who was behind them?
GEN. LYNCH: We have -- Liz, we have no indication that they were responsible for other things, as we understand it, based on interrogation of the individuals and the authorities that were involved. There were 22 individuals all told -- and they were members of the Iraqi Highway Patrol -- and at the point of the event, they were dressed as Iraqi Highway Patrolmen, but only four of those individuals were planning to conduct a kidnapping and subsequent murder of a Sunni individual -- only four of them. And those four are the four that are now in Abu Ghraib. We have no indication they've this in the past, but this -- all we know is this is an isolated incident. We're not saying that it couldn't have happened, but we're not aware of it. Q From your previous responses, it seems like you're relying on the Iraqi security forces to address this problem on their own. Is the coalition force going to have any involvement with reining in these militias?
GEN. LYNCH: In -- we have extremely close cooperation with the minister of Interior and the Ministry of Interior forces. And when incidents occur, we ensure that an investigation is conducted, and we are indeed part of that investigation. The investigations don't happen in isolation. We are involved in them, and we are familiar with the outcome.
Q I may have missed the result of this, but there was the -- those prisons found in -- the Ministry of Interior prisons, where it appeared that abuses had taken place. The Ministry of Interior launched an investigation and concluded there were no abuses. The U.S. launched an investigation. I was curious. Was there results to that? And the second part of that question is, can you trust a minister that doesn't see any abuses in Jadriya to clean up the militias from his security force, because it could be, perhaps, he has slightly different standards than what you're looking for.
GEN. LYNCH: Remember what happened with the bunker. The prime minister personally got involved. The prime minister said: Okay. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to do a detailed investigation of the bunker. More importantly, we're going to spend however long it takes to investigate all detention facilities across Iraq.
We're participating in those investigations of detention facilities across Iraq.
As to the bunker complex itself, I'm not aware of an independent U.S. coalition investigation. I could be wrong. I'll check that for you. I'm not sure the status.
Q (Off mike.)
COL. LYNCH: We are actively involved, as we speak, in inspections of detention facilities across Iraq. In fact, an investigation, inspection, took place today.
In terms of the bunker itself, I'm not sure the status of that investigation. But I'll find out and let you know.
Q And the second part of the question about the minister himself pronounced the bunker totally fine, and I'm wondering if -- (off mike) -- going to be able to -- (off mike) -- get death squads out of his service.
COL. LYNCH: We work with the elected Iraqi officials and the ministers that have been appointed, and we work with the minister of Interior and continue to push to ensure appropriate investigations are conducted and the responses made known.
We have time for one more question. (Pause.) Nothing else. Okay.
Thanks, folks.
END.
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