Operational Briefing, Oct. 26, 2006
Multi-National Force-Iraq
Wednesday, 25 October 2006
Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV
Spokesman, Multi-National Force - Iraq
BRIEFING BY MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM CALDWELL, SPOKESMAN, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR STRATEGIC EFFECTS, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ TOPIC: SECURITY OPERATIONS IN IRAQ LOCATION: THE COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER, BAGHDAD, IRAQ TIME: 8:00 A.M. EDT DATE: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2006
GEN. CALDWELL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and everyone in the Islamic world, "Eid Ramadan mubarak." The Multinational Force wishes all Iraqis unity, prosperity and peace.
On Monday evening at approximately 7:30 p.m., a U.S. soldier was reported as "duty status and whereabouts unknown." Soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade and the 4th Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team, along with Iraqi national police and security forces, mounted an intensive effort to locate this soldier, using all available means, to include aviation assets and unmanned aerial vehicles. The soldier was last seen inside the International Zone at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Monday. He is assigned as a linguist, with duty at the provincial reconstruction team here in Baghdad. It is believed that the soldier left the IZ, International Zone, to visit with family members. He was reportedly at a relative's house when three cars pulled up the residence. The men, who were described to have dark-colored rags over their nose and mouths, handcuffed the soldier and forced him into one of their vehicles. He is an American of Iraqi descent.
The soldier's relative who claimed to have been at the residence when the abduction occurred reportedly contacted by the alleged kidnappers using the soldier's personal cell phone.
Upon notification that a soldier was designated "duty status and whereabouts unknown," Multinational Division Baghdad took decisive actions to locate him. Intensive operations were launched in Baghdad, to include targeted raids on suspected locations. These locations did include the Al-Feri (ph) TV station and the Sadid Al-Deris (ph) Mosque.
Coalition forces and Iraqi security forces used checkpoints to close down roads and bridges in central Baghdad and are searching vehicles in the area. Security forces are continuing to conduct searches through homes and buildings in an effort to locate our missing soldier.
We are continuing to conduct operations based on actionable intelligence, including raids and checkpoints. The soldier is still considered as "duty status and whereabouts unknown." The name of the soldier is being withheld for the safety of family members that are still here in the Baghdad area.
We have detained a number of personnel for possible connection with or knowledge of this kidnapping.
We're using all assets in our arsenal to find this American soldier, and the government of Iraq is doing everything it can, also, at every level. Make no mistake, we will not stop looking for our servicemember. We ask for you to remember him and his family in your prayers.
On Tuesday, Ambassador Khalilzad and General Casey shared their views on progress here in Iraq. I hope you found their perspectives as valuable as I did. They shifted focus from day-to-day struggles and successes to show a broader picture of the profound changes being accomplished by the people of Iraq and their government.
Two things stood out from their statements.
The first is that the end goal we share with Iraqis remains the same: the building of a free and strong country with a representative government that respects and protects the rights of all its citizens, a country that can be a valued ally in the fight against extremism and terror.
The second thing that came into greater focus is that the nature of our cooperation towards this end goal is in transition. The role of our forces is in transition. Our partnership continues to evolve as we have always evolved. The multinational force in Iraq has moved from a leadership role to a role of support and assistance to the government of Iraq. While we can help create the conditions that are necessary for progress, the achievement of our shared goal is ultimately the responsibility of the Iraqi people and their elected leaders.
Slide and chart, please.
Baghdad remains the center of gravity here in Iraq. The security situation is a complexed and layered problem that involves an active insurgency, al Qaeda, sectarian violence, criminal activity and militias. The violence is focused along Sunni-Shi'a ethnic fault lines, predominantly outside the cleared focus areas. With the end of Ramadan, we have seen a decrease in the levels of violence, but this has only been in the past few days, and we'll have to wait to see if this decrease proves to be a trend.
Security operations led by Iraqi security forces with coalition forces in support continue to be effective in the focus areas. If I could, I'll direct your attention -- just to go back here for a moment -- obviously, as we've stated before, those areas which are in green are in fact the cleared areas, and we've discussed them before. Those areas that we have the slashed yellow line, those are the areas in which patrolling continues but have not been cleared. The key statistics at this point that indicate how many buildings and facilities have been cleared, weapons seized, registered and caches found is listed over there.
We continue our aggressive patrolling in the focus areas and other locations outside the focus areas aimed at disrupting sectarian violence, preventing the emplacement of improvised explosive devices and other anti-Iraqi force activities.
Our operations have been most effective in the areas we have cleared and continue to protect. Murders there have decreased since operations began.
Slide and chart, please.
From October 14th to the 25th, Iraqi security forces with coalition forces in support conducted 26 missions, focused the death squad that resulted in the capture of three death squad cell leaders and 68 death squad members. Of these 26 missions, 19 were in Baghdad. In addition to those shown here on the map, we have six outside of Baghdad city, five of them being within the Baghdad provincial area. And again, I just draw your attention total number of operations was 26. Of the 19 shown here on the map, each operation here indicates the location where the operation occurred during the last two weeks.
Since mid-July, operations specifically focused against death squad activities have resulted in the attention -- detention of just over 400 death squad cell members. Security forces continued also to pursue al Qaeda in Iraq. From October 12th to the 25th, there were approximately 70 focused operations, specifically against al Qaeda in Iraq, that resulted in 18 terrorists being killed and 290 -- (2)19 suspected terrorists being detained. Of these operations in the Tigress River Valley, we had 20 of them being focused against the al Qaeda leadership.
Of note, on October 19th, security forces apprehended seven suspected terrorists associated with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack that occurred on the Kadila (ph) bridge in Habaniya the date prior, that it killed two Iraqi soldiers, wounded two other Iraqi soldiers and four civilians. On October 21st, coalition forces captured a senior al Qaeda Iraq leader in Ramadi going for facilitating the movement of explosives and participating in multiple operations against Iraqi and coalition forces. Credible intelligence indicate he is responsible for coordinating access to weapons and finances for foreign fighters and for media production and propaganda distributed by the al Qaeda in Iraq element.
On October 23rd, coalition forces detained a suspected terrorist in Mosul during a raid targeting a high-level al Qaeda leader considered to be one of the main terrorist facilitators here in Iraq. In Baghdad alone, 30 of these operations were focused against al Qaeda in Iraq that resulted in the capture of several key terrorists. Some of these resulted in the disruption of a network of terrorists involved in the production here of vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. Baghdad does remain the center of sectarian violence and local al Qaeda and Iraqi leaders continue to portray themselves as the protectors of the Sunnis.
In addition, they continue a campaign of employing suicide vehicle improvised explosive devices to achieve sensational attacks that inflict indiscriminate casualties amongst both civilians and security forces.
Not only is al Qaeda in Iraq under pressure from Iraqi security forces and coalition forces, they are experiencing increased pressure by tribal sheikhs in the Al Anbar region who are dissatisfied with al Qaeda's presence and their current actions. Since early August, they claim to have now killed just over 60 al Qaeda in Iraq members.
In regards to foreign fighters, so far this month there have been 44 foreign fighters killed and 12 captured. We project by the end of the month of October will have been comparable to September, if not exceeding, the total number of foreign fighters both killed and captured.
Foreign fighters in al Qaeda in Iraq are also finding it harder to store their weapons of terror. Iraqi security forces and coalition forces continue to uncover weapons and munition thanks to increased cooperation and greater assistance from the Iraqi people.
The last two times we got together, we talked about caches found during operations southwest of Baghdad. I'd like now to point out the real significance of this operation, which is to deny and disrupt a significant terrorist operational hub in the Shakariya Triangle, an area between the towns of Shakariya, Abu Faris (ph) and Kargul (ph). What we have accomplished in this area is to cause a disruption of a large terrorist cell that is now denied access to a significant amount of their weapons and ordnance and now unable to organize and launch operations from this known hub in Baghdad, otherwise known as Operation Commando Hunter.
This combined operation involved an Iraqi security forces and coalition forces. To date they have netted just over 130 caches, five terrorists killed, and the capture of five Iraqi suspected terrorists.
Slide and chart, please.
Commando Hunter began on October 2nd, when security forces secured the town of al Fariq (sp) in order to open a critical ground route from Yusufiya into this known terrorist sanctuary. Based on intelligence, Iraqi soldiers from the 4th Brigade of the 6th Iraqi Army Division secured this area in here, known as Objective Eagle, and began to search for weapons. This is the town we're talking about right here. This is where the operations first commenced, up here with Objective Eagle, Iraqi security forces from the 6th Iraqi Army Division. This is the area down here. This is Baghdad up in here. Down to the southwest is where this operation is ongoing.
During their search they found a gravel truck, as we discussed, that contained weapons located in a false bottom under some gravel.
This vehicle had been used to transport weapons and ordnance in and out of this area. The Iraqi army soldiers continued their search to a nearby canal, finding nine additional stockpiles. Insurgence operations spread into other areas, as we now indicate in all three of these locations here on the map in red.
Uncovered terrorist documents clearly showed a well-organized and structured operational hub. Among these documents was a map that led security forces to caches that included anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, hand-held and surface-to-surface rockets, large quantities of bulk explosives and ordnance for fabricated improvised explosive devices and homemade bombs, dynamite, sniper rifles, machine guns, partially completed improvised explosive devices, mortar and artillery rounds and a sizable amount of rifle and machine gun ammunition. The weapons and ordnance that the terrorists kept in this operational hub were well-maintained. In addition, security forces also seized uniforms and terrorist documents along with U.S. military equipment that clearly indicated an association with attacks on U.S. forces and with two of our downed U.S. helicopters. The amount of ordnance that we found, we estimate, could have been used to fabricate in excess of 1,000 improvised explosive devices.
Iraqi security forces and coalition forces continue to comb this area for further caches as well as to ensure the citizens of Al Tariq are secure against intimidation and attacks by terrorists, who now have been denied the use of this sanctuary.
Slide, please.
A key component of Operation Commando Hunter occurred on Monday, when Iraqi security forces, supported by coalition forces, seized the abandoned Yusufiya Thermal Power Plant shown here in the slide. The plant was also known to be a staging area for al Qaeda attacks on the citizens of Baghdad and was also a fortified position used by the terrorists for directing large-caliber firing at civilians and security forces. Additionally, they found cages on the compound that appear to have been used as torture sessions.
The capture of this terrorist stronghold is significant. It means that Iraqi security forces have again denied al Qaeda in Iraq a safe haven, and it represents another example of Iraqis rooting out foreign influences and creating their own new bases from which they can attack the terrorist networks. It is often difficult for the outside observer to grasp the broader picture of the progress the Iraqi people are making here. I'd like to illustrate a few recent examples.
Slide and chart, please.
Just like in Operation Commando Hunter, Iraqi security forces continue to develop into a capable force and continue to take the lead. On Tuesday in Ramadi, the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Brigade of the 7th Iraqi Army Division assumed responsibility in its area of operations.
This now makes 90 Iraq army battalions in the lead. In total today, there are six of 10 Iraqi army divisions in the lead, 30 of 36 Iraqi brigades, and 90 of 112 Iraqi battalions in the lead. And we operate in support of them. All across Iraq, we continue to see an increasingly capable Iraqi security force continuing to take the lead.
There have been isolated clashes recently in locations around Iraq between the militias and government of Iraq forces, such as in Amarah, Diwaniyah. We've seen sectarian violence in Balad and Saba al-Bor, primarily between Sunni and Shi'a. These clashes have garnered sensational headlines, however, they are not clashes that had uncontrolled continued violence. What we saw, to the credit of Iraqi security forces and local leaders, was some action. In each case, Iraqi security forces, acting on their own, played a critical role in quelling the violence within days. Local leaders, both political and religious, in coordination with Iraqi security forces, came together to take action necessary to prevent the violence from spiraling out of control.
So what we see in actions taking place all over Iraq is that Iraqis are taking charge of their country, and they're doing it valiantly. Violence will flare up again in areas that are under Iraqi control. The question will be, can they handle these situations themselves? In all these incidents they did; they responded and they returned calm to the areas. The Iraqis brought an Iraqi solution to an Iraqi problem, which is precisely the strategy for Iraq.
Progress and violence do coexist here in Iraq. The security situation in parts of the country are complex, but the Iraqi government is constantly persevering to find solutions in the face of difficult challenges. We, the coalition forces, are constantly adapting our efforts to enable this government to continue to make the difficult choices and to set the conditions for an Iraq that can govern, defend, and to sustain itself.
And with that, I'll take whatever questions you may have.
Yes, Ellen?
Q General, Ellen Knickmeyer with The Washington Post. I think the five deaths today among the American forces were in Anbar province. And there seems to be a general increase in -- or a surge in deaths among Americans in Anbar province. Can you give an idea of what's going on there that we're seeing kind of this flare-up of violence again and this increase in American casualties there? GEN. CALDWELL: That is correct, our most recent casualties were out there in the Al Anbar province. And what you're seeing out there is a very concerted effort by the Multinational Force West to go ahead and conduct their very deliberate and conscious operations in the city of Ramadi, which they in fact are doing.
They're continuing to have progress. They, in coordination with Iraqi security forces, are on a daily conflict with the insurgent elements out there. But they are in fact moving forward. They're doing it very aggressively out there. There's been a very deliberate plan that's been ongoing now for several months that the Multinational Force commander had laid out back in early May-June time frame that he's been executing. And it's an aggressive offensive approach to taking back the city of Ramadi, to return it back to Iraqi security force control.
Q So these deaths were in -- sorry. So these deaths today -- were they all in Ramadi? And have the bulk of the previous deaths among the Americans been in Ramadi?
GEN. CALDWELL: I'd have to go back to look at the exact location. I just received the report before I came out here, about the five deaths out there. It said Ramadi, but I have not actually seen it posted on an operational map.
Yes, sir
Q John with Fox. Last week you mentioned that the spike in violence coming during Ramadan, which -- we normally or previously have seen violence -- also, no coincidence that the surge against coalition forces coincides with increased presence on the streets and the run-up to midterm elections. Do you think there is a link between the casualties and the electoral process in the U.S.?
GEN. CALDWELL: What I can tell you is that we had always predicted, talked about it for quite some time, that during the period of Ramadan, we were going to see an increase in violence; they were going to -- there would be an increase, we said, at least by 20 percent historically of the number of attacks that will occur during that time period than what you see prior to.
We talked before too that we had seen the three weeks before and in the first three weeks into it at least a 22 percent increase. So in fact by historical norms, we were seeing the increase.
We are out much more actively patrolling in the streets of Baghdad today. We have seen an increase in the number of U.S. casualties that occurred within the city of Baghdad, due to our more deliberate presence, more active involvement out there. There is no question too that we're much aware that there has been chatter out there amongst insurgent elements, you know, as we know that Abu al-Masri said in early -- the month of September kill one American a day. I mean, he actually put an edict out to his people to go out and try to kill American soldiers. And in fact you saw what we think was some of that result that occurred later into the month of September, probably carrying on beyond that.
They're also very much aware of the upcoming elections, our midterm elections that will occur in the United States. I can't say how much that's going to influence their operations, but I would say that I think we do know that they're very media-savvy. They are very much aware of that.
They do have, you know, as we've seen recently with -- as General Halvorsen (sp) talked the other day, that capture of that one vehicle, the sniper vehicle -- you know, inside the sniper vehicle, mounted on a rail, was a motion video camera there that was being utilized to ensure they captured everything they were doing. So I mean, that is an integral part we've seen of some of their operations, so -
Q But do you think that's -- I'm sorry. But do you think they're directing these attacks to influence the sort of political debate in the U.S.? You talk about grabbing headlines and so forth. Are you seeing a strategy on the part of the insurgent groups to actively do that?
GEN. CALDWELL: I would say it's been ongoing all the time. There has always been an ongoing effort to create sensational attacks that will garner media headlines. It does happen there happens to be a midterm election coming up in the United States, but that -- it's been an ongoing effort that we've seen for some time period over here. When you start conducting indiscriminate attacks against innocent civilians that has no outcome in terms of establishing some political or economic type of power struggle other than just to kill people that will garner sensational headlines, you have to ask yourself "Why are they doing that" when it's not necessarily targeted at -- after one specific group or another. So it's been ongoing for some time.
Yes, ma'am.
Q (Name inaudible) -- LA Times. General, yesterday the raid into Sadr City, there was speculation that it was a raid to try and free this missing linguist, the American linguist. And related to that, immediately after Maliki came on TV and said, you know, there was a misunderstanding or some kind of miscommunication between Iraqi officials and the U.S. military in terms of this raid, and there was -- that he was going to take it up with you guys. If you would care to comment on that.
GEN. CALDWELL: I think there's probably two things here. One is the raid on Sadr City itself. That was a raid that was conducted -- if I could, can I have my back-up chart on Sadr City? Just to show you the location where that was conducted, this is obviously an area up here in Sadr City, Fawah in the north portion of the city; the specific location of the target was right here. That military operation was conducted by Iraqi security forces with coalition advisers. They entered the area about 0420 in the morning. They arrived on location going after two different target sets. From those target sets based on intelligence, they gleaned off those. They called what we call flex -- they moved on to two other (close-in ?) target sets, where they are -- can finish conducting those operations.
As they were exiting the target location area, they received intelligence, separate and distinct than why they conducted that operation, that led them to understand that our American soldier whose duty status and whereabouts unknown might have been in a location near there. So they moved to that location, got there at about 5:45. Iraqi security forces entered that mosque, departed at about 6:10; did not find our -- see our American soldier there, and then moved on out of the area.
I think when you talk about the statement the prime minister made yesterday, what we were actioning on on this target here in Sadr City was a preapproved target that we had made with the government of Iraq. Notification was made to the government of Iraq, but it's apparent that it didn't make it to the prime minister, and that the U.S. coalition forces and the government of Iraq security element will go back and review our procedures to understand why the prime minister, as he states, had not been personally notified.
Yes, sir?
Q Kirk Semple from The New York Times. Just to follow up on that line of questioning regarding that raid. What is the -- well, could you explain the protocol the U.S. military command follows to alert the Iraqi government to an imminent military operation? And was that protocol followed in advance of yesterday's series of raids?
GEN. CALDWELL: Kirk, what I'd say, we all need to remember, it's their country. It's a sovereign nation. These are democratically elected leaders who represent their people. And whenever we're going to conduct any kind of significant operation of any critical importance, there's been discussions at high level what kind of things the prime minister would like to know about before those are conducted. If we're going to conduct operations, as we showed you -- (to staff) -- Can you show me the "Iraqi army in the lead" slide, please? You know, if we're going to go into areas where clearly, like in the 4th Division that now is under the Iraqi ground forces control, we're going to make sure we coordinate all activities with them before we go to operate in their operational area, because in fact the Iraqis are in the lead there; they have their own command and control structure that runs from the individual Iraqi soldier all the way to the prime minister of the country. So we'll, for sure, coordinate any activities that we're going to execute inside those areas with them.
But our protocol is such that if we feel it's of a real sensitive nature, something that you would notify a senior person about, then we're going to notify them. You know, each day we're conducting over 300 different operations across Iraq, I mean there's operations all over this country occurring every single day. And what you have to do is sort out if it has tremendous military sensitivity, political sensitivity, who probably needs to know and who should be notified, and you sort of follow the commonsense rule about when do you notify your boss and the boss above that person as to what you're doing. But we do have to remember, this is their country. That's the whole point of -- we're in a period of transition here. U.S. forces, coalition forces used to be in the lead.
The government of Iraq, their security forces are moving more into the lead, and we are in support of them. I mean, that's all part of that deliberate phase to turn over -- back to the government of Iraq control of their country as they take that responsibility on themselves.
Q Just to follow up on that --
GEN. CALDWELL: Okay.
Q -- in the case of that particular series of raids, then, who was the senior-most member of the Iraqi government who was directly notified by the American command?
GEN. CALDWELL: We're going back and taking a look at that right now. It was a pre-approved raid, though. That was a pre-approved target. There's certain targets, we know, that we want to go after -- we or the Iraqi security forces want to go after. This was a raid that was conducted by Iraqi security forces. This was not conducted by coalition forces. There was coalition force advisers present during the operation.
But the key thing is, there's obviously certain target sets out there that if intelligence comes -- makes us aware of where they are, we want to action them as rapidly as we can. And so you sit down and talk ahead of time about certain types of targets. And that had been done with the government of Iraq. We're going back now and looking exactly who was notified when, because that's one of those things we would like to have told the prime minister that we were going to go in and do.
Yes, ma'am?
Q Thank you. Jamie Tarabay from National Public Radio. I have two questions. You said earlier that some of the isolated violence that you've seen -- there's been a lot of Sunni versus Shi'a. But recently -- in Amarah, for example -- it's been a lot of Shi'a on Shi'a. And I was wondering if you'd seen any more of that and if you could say anything else about that.
And also the 400 cell -- the death squad cell members that you've detained since mid-July -- could you tell us anything about their backgrounds, their affiliations, you know, if they were, you know, demographically -- captured in the same area? What can you tell us about, you know, the people that make up these death squads? Thank you.
GEN. CALDWELL: As far as the death cell members, I have to go back -- and I've not specifically asked that question to our intelligence folks to see what they have available from that. Most were from the -- were picked up in the Baghdad area, Baghdad City mostly, proper, itself, since July time frame.
Q And are they like affiliated with any particular militia or political party?
GEN. CALDWELL: I'd really have to go back to the see what kind of statistical data they have on that. I know there are some from both sides. I know what you're driving at, but I'd have to go back and see what they -- you know, you always have to question, too, when somebody tells you something, is that in fact the honest truth. I mean, how do you go back and verify that information? And we can make suppositions about a lot of things, but I don't know what factually we know for a fact. But I'd have to go back and look at that. I'm just -- I've not dove into what the makeup is of those approximately 400 people that were detained.
As far as what went on down south, you're right; that was a Shi'a-on-Shi'a conflict.
But it's something the Iraqis handled. I mean, again, this is -- the coalition forces did not get involved in this thing. We are ready there to provide support, which is the intent and purpose behind building them up to the point where first we build a force, then we make it a capable force where they take the lead and they're responsible. And when this situation flared up down near Amara, the Iraqis handled that themselves. Between the Iraqi government officials, local officials, religious/tribal figures and the military figures -- it was a situation that did not involve coalition forces. So I mean, that's a very positive step forward.
Are other acts of -- you know, violence like that going to flare up around this country where Iraqi security forces have assumed the lead? Probably. But the thing is, how do they handle, how do they respond to it? And what you saw down there was a situation that did not go out of control. For two or three days, you saw the violence occur, but they were able to bring it back under control, they were able to do whatever they did between negotiations, dialogue, presence, to bring back calm to that area, and that's a very positive step forward. That's the whole purpose of the effort we're making is to put the Iraqi forces back in the lead.
Yes, ma'am?
Q Thank you. Claudia Parsons with Reuters. I wanted to ask a bit more about the missing soldier. Can you tell us things like how long he'd been in Iraq? I think he was working on reconstruction projects. Can you tell us any more about what specifically he was doing? Was this, as far as you know, his first visit to his family? Had he been out before? Are these kind of visits authorized in general
GEN. CALDWELL: The information we talked about right up front is really all we'd like to release at this point.
Obviously, it's an ongoing investigation. We have the utmost concern for the safety of our American soldier, to get him returned safely, and for his family members that are still here in the -- within the country of Iraq -- and so therefore, we'd really, until this situation's resolved, not go into really much more further detail than that. But clearly once it's all been resolved, we'll be much more willing to share the information associated with it. But I think you can appreciate for purely safety reasons and the safety of the soldier specifically, it'd be inappropriate for us to say much more at this point. Yes, sir?
Q (Through interpreter.) From Sumaria TV. No group has claimed responsibility so far about the abduction of the soldier. Can you tell me -- okay, did you get it, General? Hello? General?
GEN. CALDWELL: I'm in the translation booth. Would you all repeat that, please?
Q Yes. Yes, okay. He says that so far, no group, as far as you know, has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the soldier. Do you know if there is any group that have claimed responsibility for the abduction of the soldier?
GEN. CALDWELL: As I understand, your question was, do we know which group -- or has there been a group that has claimed overall responsibility for this. At this point, there has not been, that we know of. There has obviously been contact, like we discussed up- front. But any other contact beyond there would be inappropriate for me to discuss at this point only because it's an ongoing investigation. Obviously, there's a lot more information we know at this point, but are just not going to release yet.
Yes, sir?
Q Hi, Mark (Yukas ?) from Time Magazine. Do you continue to suspect that the missing American is in Sadr City?
GEN. CALDWELL: Again, I think it would be inappropriate for me really to discuss what we think at this point. There's an intensive ongoing search still that's being conducted to find him, and we will continue that until we clearly establish his whereabouts.
Yes, sir?
Q Jay Price, McClatchy Newspapers. General, I know you don't want to go out too far on a limb statistically with the dip in violence you described after Ramadan, but could you at least characterize the numbers you're seeing for two or three days, two and a half days? Or if not, at least a small drop, a big drop?
GEN. CALDWELL: We did, in fact, see a tremendous downturn in the number of murders within our cleared areas, which we are trying to watch very closely. I was trying to remember the exact statistic here, Jay. Shoot. I'd have to come back. We've got that, Jay, and I'll be glad to give you that statistic. It's between 10 and 20 percent that's occurred already in downturn in the overall numbers within the cleared areas. But we'll get you that statistic on the number of murders.
Yes, sir?
Q Thanks. Chris (Bodee ?) from AP. If I can go back to Prime Minister Maliki's remarks from yesterday, he sort of dismissed talk of deadlines and benchmarks and things as the result of electioneering in the States. And that raises the question of how the American election now and the incredible focus it's put on Iraq may be affecting your relations with the government or your own work. Or put it this way: Do you feel like you're under a microscope now? And is that in any way affecting your operations here?
GEN. CALDWELL: What I would tell you is, you know, this is a democratically elected government. You know, they're here to answer to their people. That's what a democratically elected government is all about; you have a direct responsibility to the people with whom you represent. You know, they're not here to answer to the United States. We're partners with them here, working very closely with them.
I mean, I would take you back -- there's on President Talabani's website, he is the one who laid out here about a week and a half ago a timetable. As I call it -- I'm just trying to remember the exact title on it, but it's a timetable aimed at the necessary steps, as we talks about, for bringing his country to reconciliation, national unity among the Iraqi people. And he lays out in there the key pieces of legislative action that have already been passed, the five pieces that have already been passed at this point and what they hope to achieve between now and -- he actually lists the month of December. And then it's a little more vaguer -- vague after that what they're going to do next year, but he does list a couple other follow-on actions that will occur in 2007, such as the Constitutional Review Committee completing its task in the forming of independent bodies as stipulated in the constitution.
But this is something President Talabani put out. This was not something that the United States did. So it's his timetable. He's an elected representative of this country. And I think that's probably what most people are looking at right now; at least I know we are.
Q But in terms of all the attention now in the U.S. on Iraq, and we saw President Bush's news conference yesterday was all Iraq, do you feel like that's putting you -- forces here under additional pressure, more second guessing, or in any way interfering with your work?
GEN. CALDWELL: No, I don't. I'll tell you, the Iraqis are making a lot of progress forward. And there is a tremendous amount of attention that seems to go on looking at just the violence that occurs, but in fact this is a five-month-old government. They have pulled together a unity representative body that's starting to pass laws. They're having debates. They've worked the investment law piece, which is perhaps one of the most critical things they could have done to solicit and encourage outside investment into this country.
I mean, there's a lot of positive things that are start ing to occur. It's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take time. It's going to take patience. But we really -- it's their country, and we see them taking the controls more and more all the time. And that's a very positive step forward. You know, we talk about, you know, progress amidst -- you know, progress and violence can coexist and they do in this country as the people keep moving forward, but the important thing is there is forward progress. Everybody has their own definition of how rapidly that should occur, but it is occurring and it continues to occur. And that's the real aspect I think we should stay focused on, is the things that they are accomplishing and what they are being able to achieve.
And the prime minister is very committed to this. I don't think anybody who has the opportunity to meet with him on a regular basis would tell you that you don't see the determination and the commitment on his part that he wants to see this through for his nation, too.
And so we're here to support him.
But no, if you're asking me for any additional pressure, there's none that I know of. I'm just -- we're just doing honorable business as we always do on a day-to-day basis. Very determined, very committed, though, to help them however we can.
Yes, sir.
Q (Through interpreter.) BBC Arabic. Mr. Caldwell, as you know, there are some militia who could be connected with political entities in the government. Do you think these political entities, you know, could put pressure on the government and could affect its effort to do something about the militias and then destroy the militias? Do you think the political entities, you know, in the government might have pressures on the government to not put enough pressure on the militias?
GEN. CALDWELL: As I understand, your question is: Do I think there are political entities within this government that will preclude the elected officials and taken action against militias.
Q (Through interpreter.) (Off mike) -- the Iraqi government that not to deal seriously with the matter -- with the issue of maybe putting an end to these militias.
GEN. CALDWELL: Well, I'll tell you what the prime minister has said. You know -- and I'm listening very carefully to him since he is the elected official here. It's your country, and he's the one who's out there stating militias are not going to -- they're not helpful in this country, that there's only supposed to be one security element in this country and that's the Iraqi security forces. And that he's working -- because you know, any solution to militias is a political solution and a military solution. It's not one by itself. And if you can politically solve the issues with militias, that's obviously the most optimum way to handle the problem, and he's working very diligently at that.
But he's been very clear about his position on militias and that militias will not exist long term in this country and is something that they're starting to tackle already and they're dealing with in their own process that they're going through right now, and they continue to engage on it. STAFF: We've got time for one more question, please.
Q General, I have some more questions about Sadr City. It's been sealed off -- or at least the canal street part of it for two or three days. Do you think that has anything to do with the drop in the murder rate, in the death -- in the killings in the past two or three days?
And the other question is, that raid on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, do you think you did any kind of damage to Abu Dura's gang? I assume you didn't get him. Did you get any leaders or did you get any -- were you able to get any significant players?
And the other question is, from your chart, it looks like there's only been one mission in Sadr City against death squads. And, obviously, that's a big area where death squads operate and originate from. Have you not been able to get the political permission from the Iraqi government to do more than that?
GEN. CALDWELL: Well, first of all, I'll go back and try to start with your first question about the blocks across the army canal. Probably, whatever you've seen recently may in many respects be associated with our ongoing operations to find our duty status and whereabouts unknown American soldier, as we're trying to find him. So those operations are being conducted throughout Baghdad, obviously more heavily in certain areas where we may pick up some kind of actionable intelligence that he may be associated with there.
As far as who did we pick up in the raid the other night, we have not, in fact, released the names. Personal identification, as we call that, is still ongoing at this point. But we did, in fact -- I want to say it was 10 people came off that target site when we -- (word inaudible) -- off there. We took 13 persons off the target site. Ten of them were specifically from the first two targets, and the two additional ones that we (flexed ?) to associated with them, and then three were from the mosque, separate and distinct, in which case we went there looking for our American soldier. So but 10 of them were specifically with that original reason for going into Sadr City to conduct that raid. There was an additional 10 others that were killed. And we have not publicly announced yet the final results, as positive identification is still ongoing at this time.
And then your other question was about the number of raids within Sadr City. Each extrajudicial killing-type EJK raid that we conduct against death squad members is based on actual intelligence. As you know, General Casey directed some time ago that we form a special cell that works -- it's an intelligence element that does nothing but collect, analyze and process data specifically focused on going after personnel that are conducting death squad activities within the city. It's a very focused effort. As those -- out of that cell, obviously from other sources, too, but specifically there, as they get definitive actionable intelligence, then we conduct those operations in the city. And so we conduct them where we've gotten the information from at this point.
Q Do you think the drop in the murder rate in the past couple days has anything to do with Sadr City being sealed off for the past couple days?
GEN. CALDWELL: Obviously, you know, everything has a very complex nature over here. I'm sure some has to do with the Eid period that we just went through. I'm sure some has to do with, as we've always seen at the end of Ramadan historically, a decrease in the amount of violence that occurs here within the city as we looked at that.
We do have a far greater presence with extremely more checkpoints out right now, specifically targeted at trying to find our missing soldier. That's the reason for those. And if there's a beneficial effect that may have come, secondary effect from that, the intent behind those was to find our missing soldier. So it could be a multitude of things, Ellen, that is bringing the level of violence down right at the moment.
Q If you're able to have that kind of effect on the murder rate possibly from being out there in increased presence, doesn't that speak for being out there in increased presence all the time? Because it's been a kind of dramatic drop.
GEN. CALDWELL: Ellen, we're in fact looking at that very closely. I mean, obviously everybody's asking the very same question you're asking right now, would this have occurred anyway naturally or is it due to the fact that we in fact have established and are conducting these additional operations with raids, checkpoints and aggressive overhead imaging as we look for our missing soldier.
Okay. All right, thank you very much.
END.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
