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Coalition Mounts Several Operations Against Al Qaeda, General Says

11 June 2006

Gen. Casey says Iraqi government focusing on increased security for Baghdad

Washington -- The al Qaeda network in Iraq has been hurt badly by the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and Iraqi and coalition forces have moved swiftly to exploit intelligence from that operation to identify other terrorist cells and increase security for the Iraqi people, according to General George Casey, commanding general of Multinational Forces in Iraq.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday from Baghdad June 11, Casey said, "We have had a steady drumbeat of operations against the al Qaeda network here in Iraq since the Zarqawi operation."  He predicted that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would undertake efforts at  "enhanced security" in the coming weeks, with a particular focus on the Baghdad area.

Zarqawi's death is "a major blow not only to the network in Iraq but to al Qaeda," Casey said on CBS's Face the Nation. Iraqi and coalition forces are conducting a series of operations based on the intelligence gained during the weeks spent tracking Zarqawi and his associates, he said.  (See related article.)

Casey expressed confidence in the growing capability of the Iraqi military, noting on Face the Nation that the army has grown from less than a handful of units able to "take the lead" in security operations to 60 combat-capable Iraqi battalions today -- although they still require communications and other logistical support from coalition forces.

He acknowledged that the Iraqi police are still vulnerable to intimidation and infiltration by armed militias and other illegal groups, but said he was encouraged by the commitment and energy of the newly appointed Iraqi interior minister, Jawad al-Bolani.

On Fox News Sunday, Casey said that immediately after his appointment, Bolani spent that night inspecting Ministry of the Interior checkpoints in Baghdad.  "And that's what the Iraqi security forces need to see," Casey said. "They need to see an aggressive leader who's interested in them and who is interested in national unity."

Casey refused to speculate on possible reductions in U.S. troop levels, but said he believed that, with the full support of the coalition, the new national unity government has "the capability to move this country in the right direction."

For more information on U.S. policy, see Iraq Update and Response to Terrorism.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)