Tribal Leaders in Western Iraq Are Working Against Al-Qaida
29 September 2006
Coalition forces in Ramadi setting conditions for Iraqi security forces' success
Washington – Defeating an insurgency requires long-term perseverance, says a U.S. Army official, and that kind of perseverance is paying off in western Iraq where tribal leaders are turning away from al-Qaida.
U.S. Army Colonel Sean MacFarland told reporters September 29 via videoconference from Ramadi, Iraq, that the change in the tribal dynamic is new and important. “The people are beginning to recognize that the coalition and the Iraqi security forces mean business … and … they’ve come to recognize that al-Qaida offers them nothing,” he said.
There has been a surge of interest among local community leaders “in cooperating with the coalition and the Iraqi security forces in the fight against al-Qaida.” MacFarland described this development as encouraging.
As tribal leaders step forward and cooperate with Iraqi security forces against al-Qaida in Iraq, MacFarland said the insurgents are finding themselves suddenly trapped between coalition and Iraqi forces and resistance from local civilians.
MacFarland listed a number of improvements that he has witnessed lately, including greater Iraq army unit readiness, increased Iraqi police recruitment and a modest decline in the number of attacks against coalition and Iraqi forces. He said the number of attacks have dropped from about 20 per day to 15 per day.
MacFarland, who leads the 1st Brigade Combat Team with the 1st Armored Division, also said public works projects are generating quality-of-life improvements. He predicted a doubling of basic services within another five months. “Water and power projects are moving forward,” he said. (See related article.)
RAMADI PARK WILL REPLACE RUBBLE
Another project to bulldoze uninhabitable buildings in Ramadi’s government center has been completed and MacFarland said the process of hauling away the millions of tons of rubble is beginning. Iraqis will be hired for the clearing process, and the plan is to turn the cleared land into a park, he said. (See related article).
McFarland also praised the coalition-trained Iraqi security forces, who are now taking the lead in parts of Ramadi and its suburbs.
As examples of their increasing abilities, he pointed to two incidents that occurred on September 29. In the first, Iraqi police intercepted a vehicle of insurgents thereby eliminating the threat that they posed and confiscating their carload of rocket-propelled grenade launchers. In the second, MacFarland said, Iraqi police found and disarmed a car bomb.
Since Iraqi police are recruited from and serve in their own or surrounding neighborhoods, he said, their intelligence-gathering skills are especially valuable. Al-Qaida forces tend “stick out like a sore thumb” when they try to blend in neighborhoods that are not their own, the officer said. “Everybody knows who the terrorists are,” he added.
The U.S. commander said his mission is to set the conditions to allow the Iraqi security forces to succeed. He said his forces are determined “to drive the level of violence in Ramadi down to a level that the Iraqi security forces will be able to manage after our departure.”
For more information, see Iraq Update.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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