• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Press Briefing, June 27, 2006

Multi-National Force-Iraq

Monday, 26 June 2006

Defense Department Briefing with Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, spokesman, Multi-National Force - Iraq; and Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander, Multi-National Division - Baghdad
Topic: Recovery of Two U.S.Soldiers
Location: Combined Press Information Center, Baghdad, Iraq Time: 7:00 A.M. EDT
Date: Tuesday, June 27, 2006

GEN. CALDWELL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today, Major General J.D. Thurman will provide an operational overview concerning the extensive search for and ultimate discovery of the remains of our two missing soldiers and the subsequent operations to identify their murderers. But before he begins, we need to discuss for a few minutes the hopes for Iraq's future as articulated by Prime Minister Maliki on Sunday.

In proposing a national reconciliation and dialogue, the prime minister launched a process by which all Iraqis can heal, the nation can mend, and the future can be written in the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. He noted: The government program (became clear ?). There is no distinction in it between one Iraqi and another. The differentiation between Iraqis is now on the basis of whoever gives the most and best to his people and homeland.

Iraqis throughout this country give their most and their best each and every day, from the date palm farmers in Tarmiya to government up north in -- when you go to Nineveh, Governor Kashmoola, to the tire shopkeepers on the edge of Sadr City and to Lieutenant Ashra (sp) manning a checkpoint here in Baghdad. The prime minister's initiative includes them all and needs them all and strives to motivate them all.

The announcement of the government of Iraq's pursuit of national reconciliation dialogue is but a beginning in a long road requiring hard work, patience, cooperation and resolve. The process stems from security so citizens can live and work and pray in safety. The process emerges from economic policies fostering opportunity, but also addressing the basic needs of all Iraqis from water, electricity, jobs and education. The process must include frank talk, constitutional legitimacy, respect for human rights and the earnest participation of the people and their leaders.

Prime Minister Maliki underscored the need for a capable Iraqi security force to establish order, enforce the law and protect his people. The coalition supports this daily. He vowed Iraqis must tackle illegal armed groups on political, economic and security levels. The basic tenets of investing in legitimate Iraqi authority, civil and military, will further the war on terror and undermine the insurgency. For a national reconciliation and dialogue, Iraqis must lay down their arms, and they must uphold the political process. With national reconciliation and dialogue, Iraqis can demonstrate partnership with their elected leaders. Iraq can stride forward in peace and prosperity whole, healed, capable, and hopeful.

Now, what I'd like to do is turn this over to Major General J.D. Thurman, who will provide an operational overview of the last 10 days focused now in the Yusufiya area.

J.D.

GEN. THURMAN: Thank you, General Caldwell.

Good afternoon to everyone. The purpose of the briefing that I'm going to provide this afternoon is to provide you the information as we know it regarding the murders of Specialist David Babineau, Private First Class Kristian Menchaca and Private First Class Thomas Tucker, and to reaffirm our commitment to tracking down those responsible for their brutal slayings and bringing them to justice.

First off, I want to express my deepest condolences. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of these great soldiers. We will remember their sacrifice. Their commitment and contribution will never be forgotten.

These soldiers represent the human dimension of war. It serves as a reminder that it's the soldier that's at the point of the spear that's allowing all of this to happen to give us a free and independent Iraq, and so we all can enjoy the freedoms and liberties that we all have every day.

I have directed a formal investigation. And I'm not going to speculate today until all the facts are known. But I will give you some details today which led us to their discovery in the operations that we conducted and continue to conduct to go after the perpetrators and continue to defeat the terrorist networks that are operating in south Baghdad.

We will provide a full accounting when the investigation is complete. I also want to reiterate the point that we never leave a fallen comrade on the battlefield, and we pulled out the stops to go find these two soldiers that were missing. And so I just want to reiterate that. That's -- we take this very serious. And as I stated up front, we will be relentless in pursuing the perpetrators of this event.

Now let me take you through the sequence of events. And I'm going to talk about the attack as we know it, our initial actions, the search operations, our recovery efforts, an assessment and the battle damage assessment that we made as a result of conducting that operation and a way ahead.

And if I go to the -- next slide.

What I want to describe is the attack site. The attack site, which is located on the site that is being pointed out on the slide, is roughly 30 kilometers southwest of Baghdad in the vicinity of Yusufiya. The southern Baghdad area is just over 900 square kilometers and has been a hotbed of terrorist and foreign fighter activity. There have been limited coalition operations in the past rotations before the 2nd of the 101st, which is currently commanded by Colonel Todd Ebel -- before his brigade assumed responsibility in October of 2005. Since that time, there's been a total of 2,296 attacks in that area. We've encountered 1,630 improvised explosive devices; we found 915 due to the great work of his great soldiers and the Iraqi security forces that operate side by side in south Baghdad.

The area had been used as a support zone for al-Qaida to launch attacks into Baghdad. We conducted a division-level operation in March to disrupt the al-Qaida cells, and we continue to disrupt those cells that are operating in south Baghdad.

Throughout the course of our time here, we've established six patrol bases in the area of operation that are fully manned and resourced to conduct counterinsurgency operations. We've continued to see strong resistance in this area during our first seven months of being inside of the Baghdad area of operation.

I might also add that we also have responsibility for the Babil, Najaf and Karbala provinces also, which are under the Multinational Division Baghdad responsibility.

The next chart.

This starts the events that occurred on the 16th of June. At approximately 7:55 p.m. on the 16th of June, the coalition company that operates in that area heard small-arms fire and explosions in the vicinity of the observation post overlooking a canal. We had placed an armored vehicle launch bridge across a canal which would allow us access over that as we conducted our operations in that area. That overlooked a canal and joined the Euphrates River. The coalition platoon that was in that area with the coalition company that operates in that area, was unable to gain communications with the three soldiers that was in an up-armored humvee that was along this traffic control point in a stationary position. They heard the shots and they subsequently responded with a Quick Reaction Force.

At 8:10 p.m., the Quick Reaction Force arrived at the canal site and they find one soldier that's been killed laying near the canal in the water, and two missing soldiers. At that point it was reported to the brigade commander, who subsequently notified the -- my headquarters. And the brigade commander in control of that area, he ordered a complete and immediate closure of the traffic checkpoints in the area. At that time, he called me and told me what was going on. So we knew we had to reposition some forces to make sure we had crossing sites across the Euphrates. And on this map it shows the Jurfa Sukhayr (ph) patrol base and the Jurfa Sukhayr (sp) bridge. That's the area that goes over into the west side of the Euphrates River, which we have blocked. So we started repositioning coalition combat power down there at that point, and repositioned an infantry battalion that operates in there closer to the scene, and also repositioned a combined arms battalion that was operating out of Iskandariyah and maneuvered it north to block those crossing sites and be prepared to conduct cordon-and-search operations on a series of villages that are on the west side of the Euphrates River.

At 8:29, we surged reconnaissance and surveillance assets in that area and started to focus a search, because we did not know the demise of the two soldiers at that point, and we started a intensive search at that point to try to find our soldiers. At 8:48 p.m., we alerted our Division Ready Reaction Force to be prepared to be air assaulted in. We coordinated with Special Operations Forces, Iraqi Special Operation Forces, and dive teams and recovery teams, because we did not know, after we had found the soldier in the canal, that they may be in a canal down in that area.

At 11:20 p.m., the combined arms battalion on the west side of the river, we ordered him in to conduct a cordon-and-search of areas south of the attack site, while elements of the air assault battalion operating on the east side of the river conducted cordon-and-search north of the site. In less than five hours, approximately 400 soldiers completed localized searches in three objective areas in the vicinity of the attack site.

Shortly after midnight, at around 12:37 a.m., Special Operation Forces air assaulted into the west objective, on the west side, and northwest of the attack site and joined in the search efforts.

We continued with these assets, including elements of the 2nd Brigade of the 101st, and elements of the 4th Infantry Division continued to conduct cordon and search operations throughout the night while we continued to occupy blocking positions in and around the perimeter of what we call the Shaqari (sp) Triangle, which has been a very dangerous area down there that's normally ladened with IEDs and where we see several terrorists and foreign fighters.

Early on the 17th at approximately 6:30 a.m., combined operations involving Iraqi army units and elements of the -- a coalition air assault battalion conducted a cordon and search of a town of Karguli (ph), where local nationals started providing us information which led us to a site in the vicinity of the Yusufiya power plant.

About 7:20 a.m., a light infantry company found evidence along the road heading north from Karguli (ph). Elements of the 101st continued to find additional evidence along the route that led us into the power plant, confirming the villagers' information that we had found -- that was first reported at approximately 0720.

At 8:40 a.m., the company that was operating in the vicinity of the power plant reported discovery of a Bongo truck at the Yusufiya power plant complex with evidence in the back of the truck indicating that soldiers had been present. This power plant complex is an old, unfinished project occupying approximately one square kilometer with various industrial buildings, facilities to include power stations, substations, generators, storage tanks, towers, tunnels and switching substations. It's a large complex.

At 9:10 a.m., the infantry company operating in this area found evidence near a canal indicating that perhaps our missing soldiers had been along this canal, which is right at the entrance of the power plant. At that time, we ordered pararescue dive teams in because we did not know that our soldiers may have been thrown in the canal there. We did not know. And at that point, we still didn't know their -- whether they were alive or dead.

We continued on. By early afternoon, at approximately 1:47 p.m., Iraqi special operations forces landed at the power plant, and we conducted a thorough, detailed search of that facility.

At around 4:52 p.m. that afternoon, Iraqi special operations forces reported that they'd cleared the power plant. They had found two caches and two terrorist vehicles. One of the vehicles included a suicide vest-suicide belt in it and IED-making materials. The amount of evidence found at the power plant led us to believe that the soldiers were taken to that facility. At that point, several operations were ongoing and being conducted simultaneously. We conducted several air assault operations and conducted several searches of the canals and the villages in and around the area.

At -- as we continued here, a total of 14 local nationals were detained at that point on the 17th, including the detainee who provided the information that eventually led to the recovery site where we found our two soldiers.

And if you'd go to the next slide.

On Sunday morning, we continued operations west of the Euphrates; however, we started encountering several improvised explosive devices in and around some of the villages over there as we continued to maneuver north on the west side of the Euphrates River continuing to search for these soldiers. Early on the 18th at approximately 0700 a.m., in the morning, Multinational Force West provided the 2nd Marine Battalion to assist in a cordon and search northwest of the power plant in the vicinity of the Zaidon market, and they joined in the search.

As this was ongoing, we were conducting rivering operations along the Euphrates also with boats as we continued to search the Euphrates River. By mid-afternoon, at 3:30 p.m., elements of the 10th Mountain Division and we alerted them to conduct a battalion air assault into a town of Rustamiyah, which is southeast of the power plant, to conduct another cordon and search. We detained two local nationals at that point, and they corroborated information that also led us to more tips to begin the -- narrowing down the location of where our two soldiers were. So that told us to continue to focus our efforts in what we call Rustamiyah, another village that's in that area.

So we continued on, and then, on the morning of the 19th, Monday, at 0600, one of the detainees that we had in custody talked about the remains being on a road near the Muffaragee (ph) village, which turned out to be a couple of kilometers away from the eventual site. At 10:10 a.m. that morning, a local national reported to us that remains were in the vicinity of a market in Shakariyah (ph), and so we had at that point started narrowing down that we were in the vicinity of where these soldiers -- where we would find these two soldiers that were missing.

So we continued efforts in that area and throughout the day, and at 3:00 p.m., a local national narrowed down the previous description that he had given us at 10:10 that morning, which led us to a set of grid coordinates, which led us to the site and eventual recovery of two bodies. At that point, we alerted the division rapid reaction force that we have, QRF. We air assaulted them in and began to secure that site and start a deliberate clearance operation because we knew we would run into improvised explosive devices in and around that site. We continued to exploit that site throughout the night and started to clear that area. And we did that throughout the night, as I stated, and we found our two soldiers, what we believe were our two soldiers. We recovered them. We cleared the IEDs that were in the area, and we put an aircraft in there, and we extracted the remains and brought them back into Baghdad International Airport. As we were doing the search operations from the 16th to the 19th, we encountered a total of 29 IEDs, of which we discovered 17, and 12 detonated and destroyed -- didn't destroy, but damaged some of our equipment.

Go to the -- on the battle damage assessment here. We ended up killing two al-Qaida operatives, which we believe one is a senior al-Qaida lieutenant. We questioned 76 total personnel. We detained 36, 20 of whom have direct or indirect links to the attack. Thirteen continue to provide valuable intelligence information to us, and we continue to exploit that. And as you can see on the slide there, we found over 300 documents, CDs and video tapes, and we also found a global positioning system.

Go to the next chart.

This was a true combined and joint effort that we put forth to go find our missing soldiers. And this, as you can see, we committed 8,000 coalition, Iraqi security forces, policemen, Special Operations Forces, and Iraqi Special Ops Forces. We conducted over 25 combat operations. We cleared 12 villages; conducted 11 air assaults. And we continue to exploit the information and the intelligence that we've gained out of this area.

The way ahead that I'd tell you is we will complete the ongoing investigation that I ordered into the facts and circumstances surrounding this event. We'll continue to interrogate the detained personnel. We continue forensic exploitation of vehicles and documents. And we'll continue the target development of personnel responsible for and linked to this attack. And I will tell you, we will be very relentless on finding out who did this act.

We continue our leader and soldier emphasis on established manning and equipment standards.

And lastly, what I'd like to say in closing, if I could just tell you a couple of points up-front. We regret the loss of these three soldiers, along with all the soldiers and families who have sacrificed in our efforts to establish a free Iraq. I want to thank the Iraqi people who courageously came forward. I want to thank the Iraqi security forces who fought courageously side by side and took it very personal that we had lost -- and had three American soldiers killed.

These events demonstrate what a ruthless and brutal enemy and the tough nature of this fight that we're in today as the terrorists continue to try to disrupt the formation of this government. They continue to intimidate the Iraqi people, and they continue to conduct violence against the Iraqi people. And we will continue to target these elements and we will bring them to justice because they're operating outside the rule of law and that will not stand. We've severely disrupted the al-Qaida operations in southern Baghdad, and we will not stop, as I stated, until all these individuals involved in this incident have been brought to justice.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes my presentation today.

GEN. CALDWELL: Please wait for the microphone, and state your name and organization.

Q Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times. I have two questions. One, what was the evidence that you saw along the road into the power plant in the Bongo truck and along the canal that led you to believe the soldiers had been there?

And also, how did it come to be that the Humvee was by itself? Where were the other two or three Humvees that were supposed to be with it protecting it?

GEN. THURMAN: In response to both those questions, that's -- I am not going to go into the evidence. I have a criminal investigation ongoing now, and I'm not going to disclose the evidence. As I said, once I complete the investigation, then we'll disclose that.

On your second question, that's why I'm doing the investigation. I'm going to get to the facts and circumstances of the vehicle and the tactics, techniques and procedures that that unit was operating under.

Q General, Mike Betcher with NBC. Do you think this was a -- that the insurgents had planned this as a well-coordinated operation to kidnap American soldiers?

GEN. THURMAN: Mike, I'm not going to speculate on this. I will tell you the enemy that we encounter down there likes to kill people. They like to kill Americans, and that's a dangerous area, and that's why we're in there to clean this terrorist activity up. But I can't speculate if that's what their motive was. And we're looking at every lead and every bit of intelligence we got, and we'll get to the bottom of it, I guarantee you that.

Q Solomon Moore, Los Angeles Times. General, can you tell us whether the investigation that you're conducting -- has it had any effect so far on jobs within the U.S. military? Has anyone been dismissed or reprimanded? And are you looking at any criminal charges against Americans in this --

GEN. THURMAN: As I told you, that's why I'm investigating this, to get to the facts and circumstances surrounding that. The investigation will give me some recommendations, and I will look at every little fact associated with this, and we'll do the right thing.

Has it affected us with our operations? Absolutely not. We are very heartened. Our hearts are very deep over the loss of these three soldiers. I take personal the loss of every soldier that's over here with us, and that's Iraqis, that's also our great American soldiers and Marines that serve side by side with us. But it has not -- we continued conducting our mission that we'd been given, and we're determined to get the mission done.

Q Okay. Thank you, sir.

Q Sam Dagher with AFP. General, first, sorry about your loss. I have a number of questions.

GEN. THURMAN: Okay. Let's take one at a time, so I --

Q Sure. Sure.

GEN. THURMAN: -- so I don't try to answer six at a time here.

Q Sure. You had sent out some sort of a statement yesterday detailing this search and recovery operation, and in that statement, you mentioned that the remains of the soldiers had been booby-trapped. Is that the case?

GEN. THURMAN: I think the way the statement says, that they'd been traumatized.

Q No, the statement said that actually IEDs were attached to the remains of the soldiers.

GEN. THURMAN: I'm not going to get into what the remains are in respect for the families, the loved ones, and the dignity and respect that we owe the soldiers and their families. I won't get into that today.

Q Sure. And in the statement also yesterday, you mentioned that one of those killed was from the Islamic Army, which is an insurgent group here in Iraq. And there's been talk, since the prime minister announced the amnesty or his reconciliation plan -- he did announce an amnesty for detainees who have committed no crimes. But since his announcement of their reconciliation plan, there's been a lot of talk by Iraqi members of parliament about negotiations or discussions with certain insurgent groups, and this Islamic Army was one of those groups mentioned by several MPs. What do you feel about that?

GEN. THURMAN: Well, first off, I'm not going to get in to the make-up of the terror cells that we're currently exploiting. Any terror cell that's operating outside the rule of law, that's disrupting the formation of the government, and is attempting to provide intimidation and fear and threat to the Iraqi people will be targeted. And if they're operating outside the rule of law, then we will make sure that we detain those personnel and bring them to justice through the Iraqi government.

In regard to your question about reconciliation, I'm not going to get into the details of the reconciliation plan. My purpose today was to talk to you about the facts as we knew it that led to the killing of three American soldiers.

Q I appreciate that --

GEN. CALDWELL: Sam, I can --

GEN. THURMAN: Yeah, go ahead, Bill.

GEN. CALDWELL: As far as your question goes with regard to amnesty, if you go back and read the prime minister's 24-point plan, I don't believe you'll find the word "amnesty" in there. I think he talks about a pardon, and specifically talked about pardons for those who are currently criminals who are being detained. And what I think he goes on to specify is he says if you conducted criminal acts, if you in fact were a terrorist, or if you conducted crimes against humanity, then that pardon does not apply to you, is what he said.

So I think what's real important to understand, the prime minister -- he's starting a dialogue. This is not an end-all discussion. This is a beginning of a long, tough process that the Iraqi government is going to going through with all its leaders. And so I think it would be premature for any of us now to say that they are or are not going to do a particular thing with regard to particular group. But rather I think we should let that process evolve, just like it does in our country back in the United States. It's a democratic process that will allow the leaders time to discuss and evolve over the next few months as they go through this.

Q General, Kim Gamel with AP. You talked about -- I know you don't want to go into the evidence that was found along the way in the search, but you talked about there was evidence that the soldiers had been along the canal and in their truck. Do you believe then that they were in fact kidnapped and that they weren't killed in the attack?

GEN. THURMAN: I told you that one was killed on the site, and then we did not know the whereabouts of Specialist Tucker or Private First Class Tucker and Private First Class Menchaca. And at that point they were missing, and we have a, what we call "duty status unknown" at that point, because we did not know. And that's why I'm investigating it -- brought in forensic experts and criminal investigators to get to the bottom of this. And we will not stop until we got the facts as we as we know them, and I don't want to speculate on that.

Q All right. And also, in the statement that came out yesterday, it talks about that your questioning has yielded valuable information. Can you give us an idea of what kind of information has come out of that questioning?

GEN. THURMAN: Please restate the question. Q In the statement it said that questioning of some of the detainees has yielded valuable --

GEN. THURMAN: Yeah, I'm not going to discuss intelligence information, due to operational security measures. I'm not going to do that. I don't think you want me to do that.

Q General, Miguel Marquez with ABC News. Good afternoon.

It was a little unclear during your briefing. You said that either remains or evidence were found in more than one location prior to finding the bodies. I was curious if you could maybe clarify how many locations you actually found either remains or evidence prior to finding the bodies.

And then you said 36 either directly or indirectly related to their deaths. Do you have a breakdown how many directly, how many indirectly, and have any been charged yet?

GEN. THURMAN: I think I told you that, but I will go back and recap that.

We detained 36; 20 have direct or indirect links to the attack, we believe; and 13 continue to provide us information.

Q Any charged yet?

GEN. THURMAN: As I told you, that's why we're investigating it. We've got to get the facts out before we start speculating and making sure that we've got the facts straight.

And the first question you had?

Q How many locations did you find evidence or remains of the soldiers before finding --

GEN. THURMAN: We're still looking at each one of the sites. As I told you, we found evidence at the power plant and evidence along a canal road that led up there, and a couple other sites. And that's about as far as I want to go with that today.

Q General, Rod Nordland from Newsweek. There have been reports that there were a number of casualties in Operation Fallen Eagle. Can you give us the total and provide how they came about?

GEN. THURMAN: Yes, we sustained 12 casualty coalition casualties.

Q Were there any fatalities?

GEN. THURMAN: Mainly to IEDs.

Q From IEDs? GEN. THURMAN: Not small arms. Our largest casualty producer over here is IEDs.

Q And were any of those fatalities, sir?

GEN. THURMAN: We did not have any fatalities there.

Q And just a general question. Has there ever been a case that you're aware of in this conflict in which American soldiers have been treated as prisoners of war under the rules and standards of warfare?

GEN. THURMAN: Has there even been a case?

Q When they've been captured by insurgents.

GEN. THURMAN: I don't have knowledge of that. I just know -- I've got knowledge of my area of operation, and I'm not going to speculate how prisoners have been treated in the past and all of that. That's not what I'm going to get into here today.

Q Yes. (Name inaudible) -- from Reuters. Sir, can you tell us when the soldiers were killed? And do you believe al-Qaida was behind this attack?

GEN. THURMAN: As I told you, this is a terrorist and foreign fighter area where al-Qaida operates. And I will tell you I believe al-Qaida is associated with the majority of the attacks in south Baghdad, and in and around the area where we found the soldiers.

Q And the first question, how long after they were captured do you believe they soldiers were killed?

GEN. THURMAN: As I stated before, I don't know. I told you before, as I stated, that we found one soldier whose remains were found in the vicinity of the up-armored humvees at the attack site, and I don't know yet today. That's why we're investigating it. You know, we go through intensive efforts to look at DNA, to look at autopsies and things like that to make sure that we can determine the cause of death and that sort of business.

Q (In Arabic.)

GEN. CALDWELL: With regard to that incident, the Iraqi government had the lead on that, and we were prepared to support them however they wanted coalition forces' support. We in fact did respond later on with some forces up in that area.

I think the final report has been that there may have been 12 or 18 people that were actually kidnapped, of which two were killed. I'd have to go back and check, but there was tremendous amounts of different reporting coming out of that incident. But from the Iraqi government, what they have stated, is about 24 hours ago it appeared there was about 12 to 14 that were actually kidnapped, of which two have been killed. We can get you some more precise numbers. But the report unfortunately got very exaggerated and very convoluted. And what you'll find -- and General Thurman can talk to this one -- they responded up to that location, spent a considerable amount of time there. From reports of the people they found nothing initially. We then were told that it could have been in a different location. General Thurman's forces went to a different location. They spent time down there and they found nothing down there. We went back to the original location. So there was nobody that you could find that could collaborate the reporting that was coming out with these large numbers. And in an eventual end, the government of Iraq themselves have said it was about 14 people.

Q General Thurman, John Burns, New York Times. There was an Internet posting, which was not entirely authentic, as far as we could determine, but in which al-Masri, the putative succeeded Zarqawi as the al-Qaida in Iraq sheik leader, had himself participated possibly even in the murder of these two soldiers. I'd like to ask whether that you consider to be authentic evidence, whether you think that al- Masri is a suspect in this.

And, secondly, we were told by people in the area, and subsequently I believe by people who we thought to -- in the 4th Infantry Division who we thought were probably reliable, that this whole thing began with a deliberate diversion which drew some American troops away from these three soldiers who died. I'm wondering if there is anything that you can say to us on that.

GEN. THURMAN: Well, in response to the latter portion of the question, what I would tell you, John, is we get attacks down there every day in that area, and that has continued throughout the whole time that this brigade has operated in there. They have complete freedom of maneuver in there. Was there a diversionary attack? I'm not going to speculate on that. That's why I've got a detailed investigation going on to get to the facts and circumstances of what actually occurred there. What I told you today is what I know -- they are the facts as I know them today.

And in response to the al-Qaida, I will tell you al-Qaida operates in that area, and we are going to continue to target them and prevent their activities there. And I think we've hurt them very bad down there, and I'll tell you that. I believe we have.

Q Josh Partlow from The Washington Post. Can you tell us how long you think the three soldiers were alone there at the checkpoint, if you know that at this point?

And also I have a question for General Caldwell if he could answer if the pardons don't apply to people who committed crimes, how is that going to stop the violence, in your opinion?

GEN. THURMAN: Well, in response to your question, once again, that's why I'm investigating it: to get the detailed chronological event as we know it. And we're interviewing all -- anybody and everybody that's associated with this incident -- so we can get the complete facts. And I'm not going to speculate on that until I know it. I'm the kind of guy that gives you the straight facts as I know them, and I don't make up things. And that's where we're at today. And as soon as we get the facts and complete the investigation, I will let you know about that.

He's got another question.

GEN. CALDWELL: Yeah, in response to the second part of the question, what I would tell you at this point is this is a process. And I think what the prime minister was trying to do -- he was very clear that this is going to evolve over time, and what exactly the final outcome will be will be determined by the government of Iraq and its elected leaders. But he was giving a start point for discussion for them to take and further develop and have dialogue on. So we're actually very excited that they have started the process, but I think it's going to be -- it's going to be a long hard road ahead of them. This is not going to be easy, and they're going to find a lot of differences in opinions as they move through this process. But we welcome them taking that on now as a challenge to look at.

MODERATOR: We're just going to take two more questions here from people who haven't -- Nancy?

Q Nancy Youssef from Knight Ridder. You mentioned that there were 300 documents and CDs recovered in the course of your investigation. And on the purported video they said that they would post videos of the killing. Did any of those documents or CDs yield any information that documented the killing of these soldiers?

GEN. THURMAN: First off, I have not seen any videos. Secondly, that is sensitive material that we're exploiting, and we're determining the intelligence value of that. So that will inform us on the information that was recovered at that site as we exploit it.

Q And, if I could follow up, you described the killings of these soldiers as "ruthless," and I wanted to know what sort of efforts are being made in the Yusufiya area to help soldiers in terms of their reactions such that they don't lash out at all at the people of Yusufiya in their anger over how their comrades were treated?

GEN. THURMAN: You know, we're all about values, we're about standards in our military, and our soldiers are disciplined. And I know that our commanders are constantly reiterating those type of things. As you know, we're conducting values training; we've just about completed that inside of Multinational Division Baghdad for over 29,000 soldiers -- nearly 30,000 soldiers. And we'll continue to talk about -- as we find out the exact details of what happened and how it actually happened, we will review -- do a complete review of all those tactics, techniques and procedures. And, I might add, we do that all the time, because to fight this type of enemy, this is a thinking sport over here and you've got to be constantly inside this enemy's mind and looking at his operational patterns and that sort of business. And we do that. We do that constantly, because we're doing this 24 hours a day around the clock, seven days a week.

Q (In Arabic.)

GEN. CALDWELL: To start with, what I would tell you is we don't see this as turning into civil war right now. Clearly there's a security challenge, and I don't think anybody would deny that. If you listened to what General Aziz said in his press conference on Monday, he's a little more optimistic about what is happening in Baghdad right now in terms of the security situation. There are still innocent people every day -- 70 percent of the casualties are innocent Iraqi civilians; 30 percent are coalition forces. So clearly the innocent Iraqi civilians are the ones that are taking the brunt of this campaign that is being waged by anti-Iraqi elements out there against this country and against this leadership of this country. And that's who we are targeting. It's not going to happen overnight. We have been very upfront about the fact that the Baghdad security plan is a very deliberate, conscious process. General Thurman is involved in the middle of that. But it's going to take some time.

We do not see an upward trend. We in fact see a slight decrease, but not of the degree we'd like to see at this point. But we're going to keep getting at it. It's an Iraqi-led effort. The government of Iraq has the lead. The coalition forces are working in support of them. And as they continue -- I know they were having meetings yesterday. I know General Thurman was involved in another very high- level meeting today with the government of Iraq on this. So it's something they're continuing to address. The prime minister has given his personal attention. So we're feeling very comfortable and confident that over time we're going to see some difference there, but it's not going to happen immediately.

But the encouraging part is that you see the people of Iraq making a difference out there on the street. And you see the Iraqi security forces taking the lead, and you see them coordinating with each other, working with each other. Those are things that six months ago, a year ago, you would not have seen to the degree that it's happening today. So we're very optimistic about what can happen here. We are very hopeful that we'll see a turn of events even more downward as they continue with this.

GEN. THURMAN: The only thing I would add is, you know, this is a total effort, and what's also required in this is the Iraqi people. This is very important. This is about Iraq. It's about everyone joining together. And it's about the three principles that General Casey continues to talk about, that the prime minister talks about, the ambassador talks about -- and that's prosperity. If we want a prosperous Iraq, we have got to have security. Therefore, security means that it's the Iraqi security forces -- Iraqi police, Iraqi national police, Iraqi army -- that's trained, equipped and confident to provide that level of security in here. There can't be a bunch of extra armed groups and people with weapons operating outside the rule of law. We can't allow people to hold the rule of law in contempt. And that's what's going on. And we're going to adjust efforts inside Baghdad to lower this violence. We're committed to that.

To have security, we have got to have national unity. And this is where Iraqis join together for one Iraq and swearing their allegiance to the Iraqi constitution and the government of Iraq. And I remain very optimistic about what the prime minister is trying to do in here. I see commitment from him, and I see commitment from the Iraqi security forces that I deal with, the leaders that I deal with. That's what I'd tell you.

Now, as I stated, thanks for having me here today. The loss of one soldier on the battlefield, as I said, we take that very personal, because these are human lives. Every human life that's lost over here we -- I'm saddened by it. And, like I say, it just describes the horrors of war that we are faced with every day, and you know I think there's been enough violence over here. I think it's time for everybody to lay down their arms over here and let's look to a prosperous future inside of Iraq. And that's what I'd tell you.

Thanks very much.

END.