Press Briefing, Nov. 2, 2006
Multi-National Force-Iraq
Wednesday, 01 November 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: 7:00 A.M. EST DATE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2006
GEN. CALDWELL: Good afternoon. "As-salaam aleikum."
Every week we come together to discuss the events and show the phases of transition we're going through as Iraqi people build their country. As we go through this process, there will be achievements and setbacks. Transitions are never without hiccups.
This transition is no different. This one faces its own unique challenges because there are those who are threatened by the very idea of a unified and democratic Iraq.
But through these challenges, one thing has not changed and will never change. We remain committed to helping the Iraqis achieve our common goals: an Iraq that can govern, defend and sustain itself. Towards that end, I'd like to take a few minutes to make sure that the people of Iraq have a complete understanding of why Iraqi security forces and coalition forces have engaged in some particular security operations over the last nine days here in Baghdad.
On October 23rd, at approximately 7:30 p.m., a coalition force soldier of Iraqi descent and serving here as an interpreter was reported as duty status/whereabouts unknown and later alleged to have been kidnapped.
Slide and chart, please.
His name is Ahmed Qusai al-Taei. He is 41 years old. He moved to the United States when he was a teenager. He is a specialist in the U.S. Army Reserves currently serving on active duty. He joined the Army Reserves in December 2004, was mobilized in August 2005 and deployed to Iraq in November of 2005.
Upon notification that a soldier was designated as duty status and whereabouts unknown, Multinational Force Division Baghdad took decisive steps to locate him. Intensive operations were launched throughout Baghdad to find our soldier, using all means available, to include aviation elements and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Ahmed was last seen inside the International Zone at approximately 2:30 p.m. on the 23rd of October.
Ahmed left the international zone to visit his family, including his Iraqi wife. Ahmed was at a relative's home when three cars pulled up to the residence. The hostage-takers handcuffed him and forced him into one of their vehicles. One of his relatives, who claimed to be at the residence when the abduction occurred, was reportedly contacted by the alleged kidnappers using the cell phone that was in Ahmed's possession when he was seized.
Iraqi security forces and coalition troops are working around the clock to return him to safety and to return him back to his family, and also to catch the perpetrators of this crime. Search operations are based on actionable intelligence, and there has been a particular focus in areas east of the Tigris River. Elements of five brigade combat teams, more than 2,000 coalition forces and more than 1,000 Iraqi security forces, are directly involved in this search operation.
Slide and chart, please.
As you can see here on this chart, the intent here is to demonstrate to you where operations have been conducted. Each of these yellow dots indicates some piece of actionable intelligence that was received by coalition forces, and a follow-on operation was conducted at that location. Altogether, we've received more than 240 tips to date, which have resulted in 37 specific missions to find our soldier. You'll notice that our operations are primarily focused between Sadr City and the Karada Peninsula. Primarily in this area here is where most of the actual tips in fact have been received and acted upon to date.
So far, 32 suspects have been detained. One coalition force soldier has been killed, eight U.S. soldiers have been wounded, as have two Iraqi security force members during these operations.
We do have credible intelligence that indicates who might be associated with this kidnapping, and we are vigorously pursuing every lead. At this time, we believe the ones who kidnapped Ahmed currently still have him. We are using all our assets at our disposal to find him, and the government of Iraq is actively supporting this effort and doing everything it can, too, at its level.
Make no mistake, we will never stop looking for our servicemembers, and intensive efforts will continue as we pursue finding our missing soldier, Specialist Ahmed al-Taei. We ask you to remember him and your family -- his family in your prayers. I'd like to broaden our discussion also to cover the security situation across Iraq. Weeks ago, we discussed the historically elevated level of criminal incidents that occurred during Ramadan. We saw that again this year. Last week, casualties did decrease with a nationwide drop of approximately 23 percent. But over the last four weeks, casualties were higher than the levels seen in the months of August and September. Last week, there was a 41 percent drop in sectarian killings within Baghdad. Additionally last week, IED activity was at its lowest level in seven months. However, IEDs still produced the most casualties.
During the Ramadan period, where violence was at its highest, perceptions of security among residents in the focus areas here within Baghdad continue to improve, with just over 50 percent of them saying the security in the neighborhoods had, in fact, improved, with over 70 percent of the residents responding they felt somewhat or very secure in their neighborhoods.
This, however, did not reflect the same across the city of Baghdad. The reduced violence is likely in part due to the end of Ramadan, to increased calls for peace and reconciliation by Iraqi political leaders, clerics and sheikhs, coalition force operations, and Eid al- Fitr celebrations.
These statistics are promising, but as I've said before, one week does not constitute a trend, and we'll continue to monitor and assess the overall security situation. Every incident of violence is one too many, but they are an expected part of the transition we are discussing. As the stakes grow, those who oppose freedom and unity will even more take desperate measures and attempt to derail this process.
Slide and chart, please.
Iraqi security forces and coalition forces continue to pursue death squads in Baghdad and across other parts of Iraq. As you can see from here, as we've discussed previously before, too, where operations have been conducted over the last week, they netted four cell members and 70 -- four cell leaders and 70 cell members. Specific operations were conducted at these various locations throughout the city.
Most of these operations were in Baghdad Province, with 11 in the city itself, as depicted here on this map. There are three others conducted outside the Baghdad Province, one in Fallujah, one in Baqubah and one in Basra.
The focused effort against al Qaeda also remains a priority. During the month of October, operations included 181 assaults on terrorist sites that resulted in 85 terrorists being killed and 427 alleged terrorists being detained. They also included the rescue of one kidnap victim. Terrorist insurgents continue to use improvised explosive devices to inflict casualties on innocent Iraqi civilians. Iraqi security forces and coalition forces continue to counter this threat and to target the terrorists and their production facilities.
Slide and chart, please.
On Tuesday of this week, security forces conducted a raid on a terrorist facility in the vicinity of Arab Jabur, south of Baghdad along the Tigris River, where as we talked about last week in the Shakariyah Triangle, the result of a tip from an Iraqi citizen. Although this terrorist facility was unoccupied when the assault force arrived, they did discover a sizable amount of explosive material such as ammonia nitrate and alcohol-based liquids and other paraphernalia intended for use in home-making -- in making homemade explosions to be fashioned into improvised explosive devices.
Specifically, here you can see the location where the operation was conducted right down here. These are pictures of the various things that were picked up at the location, the different types of ammonia nitrate and alcohol-based liquids found in those containers, and then also some artillery shells that were obviously going to be utilized too.
After clearing the area of all civilians, security forces conducted an air strike on this IED facility, which resulted in the complete destruction of the facility and all the explosive-making devices.
These are just a few examples of the operations conducted by an ever- growing and increasingly capable Iraqi security force. Capable Iraqi security forces are required to continue aggressive operations against terrorist and death squad members. To do this, the prime minister has stated his desire to immediately form several new headquarters with units that can be quickly moved around the country as part of an aggressive modernization program.
As has been previously announced, the prime minister serving in his capacity as the commander in chief of the Iraqi security forces recently authorized the Iraqi military to add an additional 12,000 troops to the existing force structure, so that the 112 currently existing combat brigades in the Iraqi army can each be staffed to 110 percent of their current authorized levels. This increase will help offset temporary absences created by attrition and normal leaves.
On Tuesday, the government of Iraq also announced another initiative by the prime minister -- to grow the Iraqi military by approximately 18,700 more troops. This initiative will be financed solely by the government of Iraq. It will provide the prime minister in his role as commander in chief with three additional division command headquarters, five additional brigade command headquarters, 20 additional battalions and one additional special operations battalion.
These forces will provide for him the ability to add additional combat power in the most heavily contested areas in Iraq; to provide additional units to allow his commanders to establish a tactical reserve that can be deployed around this country. It'll also provide an additional brigade to the 9th Iraqi Army Division to establish an operational reserve that also can be quickly moved around this country. And it will also provide sufficient redundancy within the Iraqi army divisions to allow them to move units from operations periodically, to rearm, refit and retrain as part of their long-war strategy.
The recruiting phase for this is complete, and training has already begun. These initiatives reflect solid, tangible steps taken by the prime minister to enhance the combat capabilities of his armed forces. The initiatives ultimately support the goal of equipping, training and employing independent Iraqi security forces.
The first step is to train and equip the force, as we just discussed. Step two is to sustain and enhance the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces to put the Iraqi units in the lead, of which we're about 75 percent done. To date, there are six Iraqi division headquarters, 30 brigades and 91 battalions in the lead. The last step is for them to conduct independent operations with minimal coalition support.
Another milestone in this process was reached Monday when the 4th Brigade 8th Iraqi Army Division Headquarters officially assumed control of its area of responsibility from the 4th Infantry Division in Baghdad. With this transfer, the 4th Brigade now joins its sister brigades in the 8th Iraqi Army Division to fall under operational control of the recently created Iraqi Ground Forces Command.
Slide, please.
Yesterday at Numaniyah training base, the 4th National Police Brigade completed phase two of its national police transformation and will soon be reintegrated into current operations. The four-phase transformation plan launched by the minister of Interior does include all nine national police brigades. The plan is to design -- to shape the national police into a police force capable of maintaining public order and providing a civic -- civil protection to citizens in accordance with the rule of law and international standards of human rights.
The use of a police force guild in bridging the gap between the military and police services is common to many cultures around the world, including the Gendarmerie in France and the Carabinieri in Italy. The next unit to undergo this training will be the 8th National Police Brigade in a few weeks.
Iraqi security forces are an integral part of the coordinated coalition and Iraqi force effort to build Iraq into a country governed by the rule of law, with order secured by an effective and honest security force, and with a justice system administered by a free and fair judiciary.
As I said earlier, last week we talked about ways this transition would become apparent. We saw three good examples this past week. Prime Minister Maliki's announcement of the government of Iraq's Iraqi security forces expansion plan, which will add new boots on the ground and provide him greater flexibility to respond to situations around the country. We saw it in greater cooperation on security measures in Baghdad when the prime minister, Ambassador Khalilzad and General Casey coordinated adjustments to the checkpoints and crossing points to address the disruptions to essential daily life activity for the citizens of Baghdad. We see it in increased coordination on achieving our common goals, that of accelerating the pace of training the Iraqi security force, the assumption of complete command and control over Iraqi security forces, and acceleration of the transfer responsibility for the security to the government of Iraq.
A transition is not always a pleasant thing to watch as it happens. But when common goals are achieved, speed bumps and differences of opinion along the way are soon forgotten. Every great work of art goes through messy phases while it is in transition. A lump of clay can become a sculpture; blobs of paint become paintings which inspire. The final test of our efforts will not be the isolated incidents that report daily, but the country that the Iraqis build.
And with that, I'll take whatever questions you all may have.
Yes, sir?
Q Thank you, General. (Name and affiliation inaudible.) Yesterday we were listening to a report in Al-Iraqiyah -- (word inaudible) -- that belongs to the Iraqi government speaking about the coalition forces released a detainee called Atta al-Sadun (ph), that he's responsible about death squads in Diyala, and he's responsible about migration for thousands of Shi'a from Diyala. Under the coalition forces, after capturing him, they released him. What's your comment about this information?
GEN. CALDWELL: Your report is correct, he was in fact released yesterday. There is a very thorough process that's gone through when people are picked up and detained. That process was followed, and the evidence was not sufficient enough to continue holding him. And so in accordance with the rule of law, with insufficient evidence to detain him at this time, he was in fact released.
Next question, please.
Yes, sir?
Q (Through interpreter.) Shakel Ahmed (ph) with the BBC, the Arabic BBC. There are some mechanisms worked out by the American and the Iraqi administration like equipping the Iraqi security forces with weapons. Have you activated this process?
GEN. CALDWELL: The question is, is there an ongoing process by which we're having a dialogue in how to equip the Iraqi security forces, if I have your question correctly. Is that right?
And the answer to that is, yes, there is, in fact. And there is a -- as you just heard recently from the discussions that the prime minister had with the president of the United States, there was an agreement and a high-level commission has been formed specifically to take on addressing both the acceleration of the equipping and manning of the Iraqi security forces, accelerating the passing of the command and control of those Iraqi security forces to the government of Iraq, and that committee has been formed as officially this week.
Yes, sir?
Q General Caldwell, Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times. Just a couple points of clarification. You said that the 100,000 force, the additional 100,000 force, the recruitment phase is over for that?
GEN. CALDWELL: I don't think I said 100,000. What I specifically stated was that the prime minister had previously announced that he was going to add 12,000 additional troops to the current existing force structure of 112 combat battalions by giving a 10 percent overage to each of those battalions. That's 12,000.
And then he announced here on Tuesday that he's going to add 18,700 and, I think it was, 96, additional soldiers that will be new force structure that did not currently exist within the Iraqi security forces structure, and then specifically, as we talked about, you know, what they're going to add in that force structure, but giving them some additional divisional headquarters, brigade headquarters, 20 new battalions that currently do not exist, and the one special forces -- special operations battalion.
And the intent there is these battalions will be added to current divisions which are going to be more rapidly deployable, giving him the capability, when he needs to move forces within the country, these have been organized, trained, equipped and put into place understanding that that's how they're going to be utilized. That's about 18,796 additional more soldiers, for a total of 30,000 soldiers.
Those 30,000 have already been identified, the recruiting has already occurred, and 10,000 of them began training on the 1st of October and will be available sometime in late November to be put into the force, and then the next group of 10,000 will start through their training.
It's about a five-week training program with a week before it and a week after it, probably a total of seven weeks when you look at it, counting in-processing, out-process and all that that takes place, so it's about a two-month process with a week turnover between each class. So by the end of tomorrow, the first 10,000 will be fully trained and equipped and moved into the Iraqi security forces, and then another 10,000 for the next two months each.
Q And another -- just a quick clarification. In terms of the decrease in attacks and casualties last week, could you just be a little bit more specific about what time frame that covers and whether that also it was the end of Eid al-Fitr and the holidays and so on. But also, do you think that the -- you know, the widespread security crackdown on the -- I know we've touched upon this before -- on the Shi'ite neighborhoods might have also had an effect on that general decline in sectarian violence?
Thank you.
GEN. CALDWELL: I would tell you, if we could find the one thing that would definitely reduce the amount of sectarian violence, we would absolutely go forth and put full effort to implement that. It's a cumulation -- it's cumulative affect that occurs out there. So there's not one thing that we can say did it. Historically, we knew that the level should drop anyway. If you go back and look over the last two years, this same time period we had -- did see in a reduction in the level of violence in the country. So just by historical norms we had anticipated to see some reduction in the level of violence. But then we -- when you take everything else, each one has additive effect of some kind, I'm sure. We're certain about that.
But we do put a tremendous amount at stake in what's been going on with the reconciliation process. The prime minister has been very actively working behind the scenes. You know, there is things from the -- the Mecca document that was signed by the religious leaders when they all got together and signed that document. There is still the prime minister's initiatives. He held the Al Anbar sheiks' conference here about three weeks ago on a Saturday and brought all the sheiks in from Al Anbar, sat down and talked to them. I mean, there's an intense effort ongoing by this government to be more inclusive and bring more people into the process rather than be exclusive. And to us, that's going to have the greatest long-term effect for success in this country than anything kinetically ever will. Q (Off mike) -- dates, it's the 23rd to the 30th? Is that the week that you're talking about?
GEN. CALDWELL: Today is the 2nd -- yes, that'd be Monday to Monday, so that's correct, this past Monday.
Yes, sir.
Q Thank you. Chris Bodine (sp) from AP. President Talabani in Paris today was talking about a two- to three-year sort of timeline for U.S. troops to leave Iraq. He thought that would be possible for all U.S. troops to leave by that time. I just wanted to get your response to that. Is he basing this on any sort of information that has been shared between the U.S. and Iraqis?
Thank you.
GEN. CALDWELL: Well, I think we're all moving very positively in the right direction toward standing the Iraqi security forces up in sort of that third phase where they're totally able to conduct independent operations with minimal coalition force support. The prime minister has been very clear in discussions with the president of the United States just this past week that he wants to accelerate that process, that he wanted to add additional force structure, and both those things are, as we speak, being put into place. And he's made the announcement about increasing the force structure, which will be at 30,000, and we're already working the plans in coordination with the government of Iraq on how to accelerate the transfer of authority on a faster basis than was originally envisioned perhaps being done.
I mean, the bottom line is we're here as guests of the government of Iraq. We're going to support the prime minister in his endeavor. There has just been a high-level committee that's been formed now to specifically address those issues, and we just as much as everybody else wants to see them move forward and be successful.
Yes, sir.
Q Ammad Ahmed (sp), NHK TV. A lot of sniper attack at your soldiers in recent days -- could you tell me how vigilant you are against those attacks? And are these attacks increasing?
Thank you.
GEN. CALDWELL: We obviously take any type of an attack against any security force coalition or Iraqi security force member very serious, and there's multiple different kinds of threats that are out there. One of them is, obviously, as you discussed, sniper threats. It's always been there in existence. It's one we look at very carefully. And obviously, as any type of threat ever increases in intensity, we take much greater efforts in countering that.
To talk specifically about it would be inappropriate, only because of the operational concerns associated with any particular threat, just like we don't talk specifically about IEDs. We don't talk really about any specific kind of threat like that, other than to say it's out there, we are concerned about it, we take it very seriously, and as threats do increase, we take very specific actions against them.
And in fact I -- you know, we had talked about -- and I -- we'll -- that question keeps coming up. I think we can probably work to show you a couple examples of some of the actions that we've taken specifically against that particular threat already recently that we could probably share next week with you all, that we would not mind doing.
Yes, ma'am?
Q General Caldwell, Ellen Knickmeyer with The Washington Post. The Iraqi government in the past couple of weeks has reiterated -- Prime Minister Maliki and others have reiterated that they think the U.S. is concentrating too much -- is putting too much pressure on them to go after the militias, and it's distracting from the aim of going after the Sunni insurgents. And once again this week, it's stopped the U.S. forces from operations in areas where the militias are based.
With this in mind, how much is -- how much concern is there that by what you are doing in speeding up training and speeding up the transfer of authority is training a sectarian -- an army that's going to be used for sectarian means?
GEN. CALDWELL: Ellen, let me first of all say that the decision that was made this week was a decision that was made between the prime minister, the ambassador and General Casey. Tuesday morning they got together, they had a discussion about the checkpoints. The prime minister made the request to General Casey to remove them. He looked at the whole situation, assessed the utility that had been already gained from them, took into consideration all the facts that the prime minister had laid out, and he made the decision and ordered shortly thereafter to have the checkpoints removed that day. And then much later in the day it officially was announced, but the order had already been given out in the past and was being executed that morning.
So I mean, when -- that was done in close cooperation with each other. I mean, a lot of times I don't think people fully appreciate the amount of discussion that goes on between the prime minister, General Casey and Ambassador Khalilzad in terms of talking the various concerns, the issues, the activities that are being worked here in the country. But there is a very open dialogue that continues at a regular basis, several times a week that it takes place. And so that was one of those examples there. Obviously, as we move forward with the acceleration of training the Iraqi security forces, it's up to the government of Iraq to make the decisions on how fast they want to go. And then we'll -- of course, we'll support it the best that we can, too, to get -- to help them achieve that goal. And we're going to continue with the careful vetting process that goes on. We'll stay very vigilant with our teams that are embedded with those units and helping identify any type of illegal activity or inappropriate professionalism that occurs by any of the members of those organizations and bring it to people much higher up in the chain's attention when that occurs.
So, we will stay very vigilant on that. It's not something we're going to relax. We'll continue with the same efforts we've been doing in the past.
Yes, sir?
Q General, you have been speaking about a high-level committee that has been established this week between the Iraqi and the American forces. Can you tell us who's the fellow in this committee from the Iraqi side and from the American side? And it is the same committee that has been made by President George Bush under Prime Minister Maliki?
GEN. CALDWELL: I'll need to get you the exact composition of the organization. I do not have that right now, but I will be glad to get that for you. I'll need to verify from the government of Iraq side exactly the members that are on it. But we'll be glad to go ahead and go back and coordinate with the government of Iraq to have that released so people can know who's on that committee.
Yes, sir?
Q Yes, General, Christian Caryl, Newsweek. I was just wondering if you could give us an update about any plans the U.S. might have to establish permanent bases in Iraq. We keep hearing details from time to time about infrastructure being built, you know, fiber optic networks under construction. Is there any kind of update you can give us about that? Thank you.
GEN. CALDWELL: I can tell you, I'm included in all the discussions that go on in country, and there's none that I've heard of associated with that.
Q No plans to build any permanent bases?
GEN. CALDWELL: None that I'm aware of whatsoever. Doesn't mean that -- you know, I think you've heard the administration talk -- I don't speak on behalf of the U.S. government administration, I speak on behalf of the Multinational Force. But within the Multinational Force, there are no ongoing plans.
Yes, sir?
Q General, hi. John Anderson from The Washington Post. Two questions, quick questions, about your missing soldier. He's an Iraqi-American who lived in the United States and was posted here as a soldier. Is that correct?
GEN. CALDWELL: That's correct.
Q Was there anything, then, preventing him from getting married to a local Iraqi woman? That's my first question.
The second question is, there have been two names that have been circulated pretty widely now about who's got him -- a guy named Abu Rami and another guy named Abu Darah (ph). Can you tell us -- it's obviously no secret to the people who have him that you're looking for him. Can you tell us who's got him and where you think he is?
GEN. CALDWELL: According to the information we have right now, he was married to his wife before he deployed over here.
So there was absolutely no -- I mean, nothing precludes you from being married to whomever you want to get married to. So that's -- I don't think that's really an issue.
I -- as I understand the -- I was trying to see if I had the actual -- he was married in February of 2005, and he didn't arrive in theater until November of 2005. So he of course has every right, as an American soldier, to marry whomever he wants.
Q There's been a lot of reports that he was somehow not permitted to be married as long as he was in country.
GEN. CALDWELL: But -- yeah, no, no, he was married before he ever deployed into country.
Q Okay.
GEN. CALDWELL: It just -- that is, at the time he was abducted, his wife was in country here, in Baghdad.
But as far as who may have him, we're not revealing -- we're not releasing any of that information at this time still. We're obviously vigorously pursuing that. We're working very closely with the government of Iraq, and they're working at various levels to assist. So there's ongoing kinetic operations, but there's also a lot of -- tremendous amount of political activity ongoing, too, to help secure the release of our soldier.
Yes, ma'am?
Q Marie Colvin with The Sunday Times. (Inaudible) -- that. Marie Colvin, Sunday Times. A lot of Iraqis are saying one of the problems with the American plan to secure sort of neighborhood by neighborhood Baghdad is that when you go in, it does -- the violence does decline, but the bad guys, so to speak, have, you know, hidden their weapons, left, and when the Americans leave, they simply return. There are suggestions that it would be better to hold a neighborhood.
And so I guess my questions are, is there any discussion of changing that tactic, and would that require more troops?
GEN. CALDWELL: Well, I can tell you, from the very beginning, we've talked about the plan as being one of -- you know, we secure it, then we protect it, and then we build it. And those activities are going on. The intent never is to completely uncover an area once it's been cleared. We have had to go back in, like into the Dura area. There's been at least two additional clearance operations that have been conducted in there since the initial one. It's not -- you know, the first time you go in to conduct operations, you want to eliminate all the illegal arms, caches, and pick up and remove whatever shouldn't be there. But you may not get it all the first time, and if indications are something's been smuggled back in, or we're picking up indications that there's still stashes there -- like in the Dura area, we went back in and did two more complete sweeps in that location.
But the idea behind the protect phase is, you know, after you've -- if you've done the clearing, then you protect it. And that's where the whole development of the Iraqi security forces or police forces becomes so important, because eventually the local police forces need to assume their responsibility. They need to be well trained enough and professionalized enough and armed well enough that they have the capability to provide the security for the residents of that neighborhood, to have established the relationships, to have gained the trust and confidence of the people, and to be serving as the protectorates of them.
That then allows all the Iraqi army forces and coalition forces to leave the area.
We have not totally uncovered any one area yet; except, if you look over in the Karrada peninsula proper, the Iraqi police in fact do all the security in that area now themselves. That's probably one of the few areas in Iraq and Baghdad area where Iraqi police are back and fully in control now. But the goal is to -- in all those areas that we call the focus areas to turn over to the Iraqi police. And then the build phase is ongoing, and we can provide you tremendous amounts of detail about what projects have been started in the last 90 days and what programs are going to start in the next 90 days in an effort to go back and look at all the basic services for the people there: looking at water, sewage, electricity, roads, schools --- the things that the people need to function on a daily basis to help their life return to some normalcy. And that's what those efforts are.
Q This is Paul (Meeker ?). Is there any plan for -- I know it's been discussed, but where does the discussion on further troops for Iraq stand? Will there be more American troops or extended leaves? Where does that stand?
GEN. CALDWELL: You mean, will there be additional troops added to the Baghdad security plan?
Q Additional American troops.
GEN. CALDWELL: There are currently no plans to add additional American troops per se, but that option remains open at all times. If General Casey decides he wants to move forces within theater, obviously he can easily do that. I think what you're going to see -- the effort is to turn over more to the Iraqi security forces. There's still ongoing dialogue and discussion with the government of Iraq about what additional Iraqi security forces might be made available to operate inside Baghdad city some time in the near future.
Yes, ma'am.
Q Nancy Youssef with McClatchy Newspapers. You mentioned earlier that you're here to support the prime minister, but both he and members of his party have complained that they feel that the U.S. administration here hinders his effort to build the kind of army that he would like to build. What is your response to that? And given that friction, are there concerns about whether Maliki is the best person to carryout the U.S. objective of creating a national unity government?
GEN. CALDWELL: Well, I'll tell you, the decision who's the best is decided by the Iraqi people, and they in fact made a decision through a duly-elected process, and the prime minister was appointed to his duties. He's the prime minister of this country. He's the person that people have elected, just like we do back in our country; we decide who's going to be the president of the United States. It's not for somebody else to make that decision.
As far as the decisions about what's going on, we are in a tremendous state of transition in Iraq right now. More and more the coalition forces are turning over more things to the government of Iraq than ever before. But when you start going through a period of transition, as we are in, there are going to be times where miscommunication occurs, people don't quite understand what somebody thought the other one was going to do. When do the authorities pass? When does the command pass? When does the control pass? And you have to maintain a constant ongoing dialogue to ensure that we address those things.
But that is occurring. That's what -- a lot of times, what we see -- and I'm not sure people fully appreciate -- this is a period of transition, and it's going to continue for some period of time. I mean, the more transition we have, the better. That means the Iraqi security forces and the government of Iraq are assuming more control over the destiny of their country, and we in fact want to do that.
The prime minister made the decision he was going to enlarge his armed forces. He made the announcement this past week. He said he wanted more command and control headquarters, he wanted more deployable forces, he wanted a Special Operations battalion. He made all those decisions and made the announcement, and they're going to go ahead and increase the size of their force by about 18,796 to achieve that goal. So I mean, he is making those decisions.
So I think when -- you know, the importance of having the ongoing dialogue, to maintain that coordination between us so that we can ensure that each side understands what the other wants and as rapidly as possible -- we want to pass both the authority and the control back to the government of Iraq.
Q If I could -- you mentioned common goals that both the Maliki administration and the U.S. administration share. Is one of those creating a national unity government?
GEN. CALDWELL: Yes, I believe it is. The ideas -- the common goals is the ability to govern themselves, the ability to defend themselves and the ability to sustain themselves. You know, we normally talk in terms of unity, prosperity and security are the three goals that we're going out to achieve: a unity government that represents the rights of all the Iraqi people and protects each one out there; a prosperity -- without security, you're not going to have the prosperity -- you have to have the security and then the prosperity so that the Iraqi citizens can go back to having the basic services, that they can see an increase in the amount of electricity for their country, that they have potable water, that they have the basic sewage systems that work, and I think you'll see everybody working towards that end.
MODERATOR: We've got time for one more question.
GEN. CALDWELL: Yes, ma'am?
Q Jamie Tarabay from National Public Radio. Given all the focus on additional Iraqi forces and security, et cetera, what do you make of the comments by the prime minister last week in an interview in which he said that he was too afraid to put his police up against militias because they didn't have enough weapons? I mean, he even said the police had to share rifles. So how does that, you know, jibe with all the focus on bringing in new forces and making sure that they're ready?
Thank you.
GEN. CALDWELL: Well, look, what I'll tell you, Jamie, is we maintain continual dialogue, and we need to have more dialogue, as was clearly evidenced by the fact that there has been some disconnects that have occurred in this transition period. We're listening very closely to what the prime minister and his government are asking for, and we're going to make sure that we're continuing to address those issues.
The whole purpose behind this high-level commission that the president of the United States and the prime minister agreed upon is specifically so he can walk into the room there and have the president of the United States' representative, the ambassador from the United States there, along with General Casey, commander of the multinational force, where he can raise these things at the highest level to ensure that they are properly addressed and adequately responded to in the way that he would like to see them done.
Q Do you know of any reports where the police actually have to share rifles?
GEN. CALDWELL: Jamie, what you'll normally find, the Ministry of Interior has established a level of police forces that are authorized at different stations at different levels. So there may be a police station in Sulimaniyah that's authorized 400 police; there may be 600 police operating there, though, because somebody has made the decision to put two additional members into the police force there.
The what we call the commander of the police training team has made sure that there's enough weapons to do what the Ministry of Interior directed, and that's have 400 police equipped and trained at that location. If there are additional folks there, then that's where the police station there, the governor, whoever added the additional police, needs to go back to the Ministry of Interior to make the decision if they want to have those people in fact armed and equipped at the same level which the Ministry of Interior has had directed to be there.
So that's where we have normally seen the disconnect occur. It's not in the levels that the Ministry of Interior set, but that somebody at the lower level has increased the numbers and the Ministry of Interior has not approved that yet.
So it's more of an internal Iraqi issue than it is for us. We're trying to take and coordinate all that through the Ministry of Interior, who has the overall guidance and direction for the size of those forces authorized out there in the police stations.
Ellen?
Q I had just a couple follow-up questions on different issues. One of them, a couple weeks ago, two or three weeks ago we were talking about how many Iraqi forces were out because of attrition and casualties, and you said there were about 120 available out of a force that had been 138, I think. So is this 18,000 something -- this 18,000 new troops, is that something that had already been in the works some time ago? You said they had been recruited and they were being introduced, the first 10,000, I think, was being brought on line. Is that the same group that you're talking about now?
And the other question is, has there been any contact from the kidnappers of the -- from the people who have the American soldier?
GEN. CALDWELL: I think the number you're referring to -- and it does get confusing as people talk. There is also ongoing right now for attrition, the normal losses that have already occurred in the Iraqi security forces, to replace about 18,000 of those, too. And the two 18,000 numbers can get confused very quickly.
But that's one effort that's ongoing for individual replacements, different than the 10 percent overage; different than the prime minister's 18,796, I think it is, additional new units that are going to be formed out there that will comprise that.
There has already been identified, and recruited, and 10,000 trained of 30,000 personnel, and additional recruiting is ongoing now, as we speak, to take into account the prime minister's latest new force structure initiative to go out and recruit and start working that too. The 10 percent overage was already accounted for, but not the 18,000 new force structure.
Does that -- (laughter; cross talk.)
I know. I know! (Laughs.) We have -- we have been through this amongst ourselves. There's 12,000 that are the 10 percentage overage. Those have been identified and they're in the recruiting system. There's 18,000, that we talked about last week, and it's not the 18,700, it's about 18,000 that are for attrition that has already occurred through combat losses, through severe wounds, or no longer serving in the Iraqi security forces. That 30,000 has been identified, been recruited, and 10,000 are in training.
Separate and distinct over here are 18,796 as part of a new force structure that the prime minister has just announced this week. Those have not yet been recruited or trained. But, obviously, we'll start working with the government of Iraq to do that now.
Is that -- ? We've been through it ourselves. (Chuckles.) I know exactly what you all are asking on that question. And that's the reason I make the distinction of 18,700 and 18,000, because of that very reason.
Q And any contact from the kidnapper, from the people who have the American soldier, directly or indirectly?
GEN. CALDWELL: There is ongoing dialogue that is being done at different levels at this time, but it would be inappropriate for me to state with whom or at what level.
Yes, sir?
Q Thank you. Matacz Zavatski (ph) from Gazeta Wyborcza Polish daily newspaper. I would like to ask you about Muqtada al- Sadr. About two years ago, General Kimmitt told that he'll be captured or killed because he was inciting his people against American -- against coalition forces. So then I somehow lost the plot. Is he wanted now, or he was exempted, or it turned out he was innocent? What is his status now?
GEN. CALDWELL: I think what you'll find is that he is a part of the political process of this nation and in fact has 30 seats in the Council of Representatives from his organization. So he's a part of this political process. And from the comments he's made recently, he wants to see violence reduced; he wants to see greater peace and security for Iraqis, from the recent statement he put out, I mean. So he is stating openly that he wants to see greater reconciliation and dialogue, and he is a part of the political process here.
Q (Off mike) -- a follow-up. But the warrant for his arrest is still outstanding, isn't it?
GEN. CALDWELL: No, not that I know of. I'd have -- there is no outstanding warrant for his arrest that I am aware of at this time.
Q So we -- at some point, we revoked that warrant, or --
GEN. CALDWELL: You know what? I'll need to go back and get you details. I'm not aware of one existing currently. I'll be glad to double-check that for you, though.
Q That would be -- thank you.
GEN. CALDWELL: All right.
Okay. We'll take one more. Yes, ma'am?
Q This is actually a question that I asked you last week and I'm going to ask you again this week, especially since you announced some more arrests and detentions of the death cell -- squad members.
GEN. CALDWELL: Right.
Q And last week I asked you if you had any information on their backgrounds or affiliation. GEN. CALDWELL: Right.
Q Anything you can tell me this week?
GEN. CALDWELL: I do not have anything that I can give out to you at this point. We have gone back and specifically asked what we call Task Force 134 to do that research. That was not a readily accessible kind of database that existed, but they are looking at that, and we should have something for you.
Q (Follow up next week ?).
GEN. CALDWELL: It's a due-out to you, all right? I know you want that information --
Q Yes.
GEN. CALDWELL: -- and there's no reason we can't really pull that data out and provide that. I understand exactly what you're looking for. And we have made that request to our task force, and they did not have it back yet, or I should say that the initial data back wasn't such that we felt it was ready to come out publicly with it. We'll continue working that to get that to you.
Okay.
Q (Off mike.) (Laughter.)
GEN. CALDWELL: We'll take one more and then we'll wrap --
Q Just to -- is there any information about this Ansar al- Sunna figure that was captured, reportedly, this morning in Kirkuk? Do you have any information on that?
GEN. CALDWELL: There's nothing, but it may have been if I just wasn't paying attention -- it was not part of the morning update brief that I --
Q It was Iraqi sources --
GEN. CALDWELL: Yeah. I don't have anything right yet, but we'll sure look at that.
The latest thing we did put out just recently was the two pack mules we just picked up in -- out there in Diyala province, carrying a large cache of mines, that were heading --
Q (Off mike.)
GEN. CALDWELL: -- yeah, pack mules, the two donkeys. But they found the two men that were there evaded capture, but they were carrying 53 anti-tank land mines and one anti-tank projectile. Okay. With that, thank you very much.
END.
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