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PRESS CONFERENCE: Reconstruction/Security, July 23: Dr. al-Sheikhly, Brig. Gen. Perkins

Multi-National Force-Iraq

Dr. Tahseen al-Sheikhly, civilian spokesman for Operation Fardh al-Qanoon, and Brig. Gen. David Perkins, spokesman for MNF-I, discuss reconstruction projects in Baghdad and security operations in Iraq.

PRESS CONFERENCE:
Brigadier General David G. Perkins, Spokesman, Multi-National Force – Iraq
Dr. Tahseen al-Sheikhly, Civilian Spokesman, Operation Fardh Al-Qanoon

DATE: July 23, 2008

TRANSCRIBED BY: SOS INTERNATIONAL LTD.

PARTICIPANTS:
Dr. Tahseen Al-Sheikhly
Brigadier General David Perkins

REPORTERS 1-10

*REP1 = REPORTER 1
*INT = INTERPRETER

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: We are glad to…that we’re meeting you today. And I’m very glad today on this press conference to be with my friend and colleague, Brigadier General Perkins, the spokesman for Multi-National Force – Iraq. I want to welcome him on your behalf, on all of the press’ behalf, and on the Iraqi government’s behalf for him, the first press conference here today in Baghdad. Our press conference is going to discuss many topics today, but I want to…I would like to start with reconstruction, reconstruction of Baghdad City in general and the reconstruction of Shola City and Sadr City in particular. As you know, that is a special case. It’s a particular case. And we…the government has allocated money towards the two cities in Baghdad. The reconstruction of Baghdad cities has continued and it’s part of the budget of the ministries, the minis-…the government’s ministries budget, and also the provinces. We have allocated 3 billion [dinars?] towards the reconstruction of Baghdad over three years. We have relied on the plans that…the three-year plans instead of one-year plan because the reconstruction process is going to take more than one year. And also it’s better to have it on three or allo-…or funding reconstruction process on a three-year plan instead of one-year plan. This plan will include opening new roads inside the city, building residential areas inside the city. incr-…. The number of residential units that we’re hoping to be built through the upcoming years will be able to actually drop down the crowded problem that we are having…the housing problem that we’re having with the people…the population here in Iraq. And also a big part of this budget is going to go towards the reconstruction of the infrastructure of the city. This city has suffered…the infrastructure of this city has suffered years and years of negligence and now it’s…we are required not only to requalify the city and reinnovate the city, but also rebuild the city. And that’s why we wanted to…when we started on working on the, you know, infrastructure as far as the water lines, the sewage lines, and the electricity. Also, we are trying to put the lines that…the electrical transmission lines beneath or underneath the ground, not only over the ground. And this is the new modern thing that we are following, just like other countries. Also the Baghdad City – and I think this is something all of us know, everyone who is observing the city know – the city is illuminated at night and we have a lot of lights…solar…by using the solar system. We have completed big parts of the city with the solar system. And this has helped at least to reduce or drop the, you know, the need of using the electricity and helped to illuminate the city at night. And I think our citizens and people are seeing that in neighborhoods after 11:00 p.m., we are seeing…people are…[unintelligible] improvement in security will see people…we’re seeing people on the streets. And this is something we are glad to see because the city is going back to normalcy again. And the prime minister was clear from the beginning that this is the year of reconstruction. This is the year of essential services. And anyone who is watching the Iraqi affairs will see that now we are not focusing on operations or military operations or security operations. After the government completed…the government is complete and everything is complete, now we are talking about investment. We’re talking about provincial elections. And we are encouraging people to go to election centers. And we’re talking…we’ve started talking about essential services. And we are talking about, too, to the departments responsible about…for essential services. And we’re trying to encourage them to do it in the right way. And as far as Sadr City and Shola City, now we have passed about projects for 99 million Iraqi dinars, and we…to…and that’s as far as actually building or establishing clinics, medical clinics in Sadr City. Two clinics in Shola City also. Building car parks. Also renovating about 50 schools. Also providing Sadr City schools with 10,000 computers and 400 copiers…copy machines. And also started working on building new schools in both areas and renovating streets. We contracted to get 260 generators. We’re going to distribute about 200 in Sadr City and 60 in Shola City. And it’s going to be given to unemployed college graduates to work on investing these things with the neighborhoods…within their neighborhoods in order to earn a living in their areas and to help provide electricity, and at the same time provide income to those unemployed college graduates. And we’re trying to get rid of unemployment problem by building projects in those areas. We’re trying to build also residential areas and residential units in this…in those areas, too. Also, we are renovating the infrastructure of four sectors. And they’re going to be used as models for those…for the projects. After actually completing those four sectors, we’re going to work on other sectors until we finish all the sectors. Also, we are going to work on the microloans program that we…that’s going to be given to the college graduates after providing their…or submitting their plans and for the projects that they are willing to work on. And those projects are… or the plans are going to be submitted to a committee that’s going to study these projects in order to help them with funding those projects for them and help them. We are focusing on the young people in those areas. We’re also trying to create recreation or parks and clubs for those young people. We are…we have put about…or allocated 50 million to 150 million dinars towards this thing. And also we have projects related to people’s lives. As far as projects…small projects. Like it’s possible that we give those young men there like stands and…where they can use it to…or small shops where they can use it to…or motorcycles, we can provide them with motorcycles in order to use it instead of using, you know, those little things. And we’re helping about 1,000 young men in that city. And this is part of helping to elevate the social and economic life in the city. And as you know, Sadr City and Shola City was one of the…two of the major cities that was not served and was neglected by the former regime. And it wasn’t provided any essential services before. And that’s why this should give us the push to actually work in order to provide essential services to, not only to those cities, but also to other places like Adhamiyah, like Karkh, Azaliyah[ph] area, Amariyah area as well, and Sa`adiyah area, and Doura. Projects are being implemented on the level of, you know, using those young men and employing those young men and trying to get rid of the unemployment problem. Those projects can actually help to get rid of the…or absorb the unemployment problem that is creating a problem in this society. There is another question maybe that also… the also we’re having these religious ceremonies coming pretty soon about Imam al-Qadim. And we are…our security forces is working to get…we’re working with security forces in order to protect those visitors and the pilgrimage to…and provide all the services that can be provided to the visitors through their visit. And also Anbar Bridge is going to be opened pretty soon in…to the visitors. And maybe first we’re going to open it just for people, and then we’ll open it for cars and vehicles to pass through. We had…we worked together with all the ministries and departments involved in order to help reopening this bridge and link Adhamiyah and Kadhimiya area in particular. I wish this…I covered the services with my speech today. And I’ll defer to my friend and colleague, Brigadier General Perkins, to talk about the operations and the activities of Multi-National Force.

BRIG GEN PERKINS: Thank you, Dr. Tahseen. It’s a pleasure to join you here today. I have previously served in Iraq in 2003 as commander of the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. And during that period I witnessed a newly liberated Iraq coping with the end of an era of oppressive dictatorship and seizing the opportunity to rebuild everyone’s lives. It was a privilege to see Iraqis celebrate a new-found freedom and the prospect of a new Iraq for all Iraqis. Since 2003, Iraqis have faced challenges in rebuilding their country. Not only did they face the inevitable difficulties of establishing a representative, democratic government and reconstructing the degraded national infrastructure, Iraqis faced enemies bent on destroying the country. More specifically terrorists, criminals, and foreign-sponsored special groups took advantage of Iraq’s new-found freedom to launch indiscriminate violence from…on innocent Iraqis. Rather than help build a new Iraq and support a government for all Iraqis, these groups were willing to go to barbaric lengths to impose their ideologies and selfish interests. The Government of Iraq and the coalition forces faced these challenges head on and remain firmly committed to establishing security and embracing the rule of law. The strategy was to surge coalition forces in numbers by adding five brigades to help support the Iraqi security forces, and then establish security by living amongst the people. This increase in security would then allow the government’s military, political, and economic institutions to surge forward. The last of these surge brigades to leave the past week was coincidentally the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division. It is interesting that the first brigade into Baghdad in 2003 is the last brigade to leave from the surge force. I visited my old brigade earlier this month in Hawr Rajab as they were preparing to return back to Ft. Stewart, Georgia. What this brigade has experienced is a microcosm of what has happened across the entire country of Iraq. As I met with residents of Hawr Rajab, Iraqi Army soldiers, and the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, they described how Hawr Rajab had come back to life in the last eight months. A year ago Hawr Rajab was a ghost town. Al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists had destroyed farms, kicked residents out of their homes, overrun houses to store weapons, and used the community to stage violent attacks against security forces. Those residents who couldn’t flee were practically held hostage in their own homes by the brutal tactics of al-Qaida in Iraq. But as the Iraqi security forces, partnered with 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, moved into the neighborhoods, established a close presence, and worked with local residents protecting the community, the terrorists began to lose their strongholds and were forced to flee. As AQI retreated, local citizens – the Sons of Iraq – stood up to secure their neighborhoods to prevent the return of the terrorists. We are currently at the lowest level of security incidents in more than four years in Hawr Rajab. However, part of the mission of security forces in this area was to sustain security gains with reconstruction projects and economic development programs. Besides protecting the local population, Iraqi and coalition soldiers learned how to help revive the local economy and help return people to work. They supported the delivery of 6,000 chicks to poultry farmers. They helped rebuild fish farms. They organized date palm spraying. And they helped form agricultural unions and local governance councils. More importantly, Iraqi and coalition forces facilitated trainings so that residents could rebuild their communities themselves. When I met with the soldiers they were celebrating the graduation of their second class of students who had completed a three-month vocational training course. With the third class now in session, many Sons of Iraq and local residents in Hawr Rajab are training to be electricians, masons, plumbers, and carpenters. After graduating, they begin working directly on projects constructing homes in their own community. They have decided to put down their guns and pick up hammers and wrenches. Security forces have learned that security means much more than fighting the enemy and that protecting the local population can only be sustained by reconstruction support for the local communities. The coalition first surge was one of many surges that have come together to produce programs and progress across Iraq. The coalition’s surge has been accompanied by a surge in Iraqi security forces. The surge of support from the Iraqi people. The surge in political and government progress. And the surge in revitalization of the economic sector among others. The Iraqi security forces surged an additional 150,000 trained troops and increasingly have taken responsibility for security operations. The recent security operations in Basra, Mosul, East Baghdad, and Amara have [been] planned, led, and executed by the Iraqi security forces; a clear testament to their professionalism and capacity to enforce the law. With violence around Iraq at its lowest level in four years, Iraqi governance and the provision of services has also been able to progress. Since January of this last year, the Council of Representatives approved 20 major legislative measures including the accountability and justice law, the amnesty law, the Ministry of Interior penal code. This past week multiple parties reconciled vacant ministerial seats and completed the government cabinet. Security responsibility has been transferred to provincial Iraqi control in 10 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. With the demand for electricity rising – a good sign of security and stability – electricity generation improved in meeting this demand from a year ago by an increase [of] 13% nationwide and 25% here in Baghdad. Daily oil production increased from an average of 2 million barrels a day one year ago to the current average of 2.5 million barrels a day, a 25% increase. Transportation infrastructure improved with the opening of the Basra-Baghdad railway. The Basra Port is operating and growing in capacity with some 24,000 tons unloaded in July, up from 14,000 tons in June. Airports in Mosul and Najaf were inaugurated in the past 6 months. Small- and medium-sized business loans were approved by government ministries to over 18,700 Iraqi businesses. The beginning phase of an over…this is the beginning phase in [an] over $1 million economic stimulus program by the Government of Iraq. Also Iraq’s diplomatic relations with its neighbors have improved. In the last several weeks four countries have pledged to re-establish embassies in Baghdad. One regional neighbor recently forgave some $7 billion of Iraq’s foreign debt. We can all agree that the progress has been uneven in many places, and it remains a tough fight to continue to build on this progress. Terrorists, criminals, and special groups are still capable of launching high-profile attacks to defy the rule of law. However, as security continues to improve, Iraq’s political progress and economic opportunities will continue to make progress. Indeed, these surges are linked together in providing Iraqis with opportunities to work, send their children to school, and live in a secure environment. As coalition forces, we are committed to our partnership with the Iraqi security forces and we will continue supporting the processes and institutions that will allow Iraqis to rebuild Iraq. Thank you and now we’re prepared for questions.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: We’re going to open for discussion, and please go ahead.

REP1: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: Dr. Tahseen, you talked about the end of the period and we’re starting a new phase in Sadr City and Shola City. Now…until now we see that the, you know, the control in Shola City, it’s kind of like, if you see like, there’s a…obviously a, like, sort of a siege. You can see, like, the city is sieging[sic]. You can see for yourself. And you also can…we also can see that the cooperation or the way that the Ministry of Defense deal with people is more…is harsher than the Ministry of Interior and how they deal with the people. Is there any plans…future plans to replace the MOD personnel with MOI?

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: Thank you very much. I think this question has…is related to the human rights. And as far as the security part of it, we always leave the security parts to the experts. And I can’t just presume that the officer can take a doctor’s, for instance, position, and a doctor can take an officer’s position. But for some people, in order to ensure…make sure the security of people, we want…we say that there are certain places and certain checkpoints and it needs to be in some places for some reasons, and then they can be removed later on when security gets improved. And as far as the human rights violations you talked about, all of our institutions that’s, in fact, we value a lot for one reason: because they were formed and put in countering insurgency and terrorism groups rapidly and very fact[sic] and that’s why we respect those institutions. In order to work with people, we need a big awareness as far as human rights and how to respect one another. And believe me, we are working… we’re continuously working on that. If I’m talking about MOD, MOI, or the Baghdad Operation Command, we are supervising this directly. But as far as requalifying people and working with them, it needs time. It takes time. And the culture of human rights takes time to…for people to be able to adapt to it and be part of their behaviors. But as far as we consider the press as the essential authority here, and if you see any…as press, you see any violation of human rights, you need to talk about it quickly and raise it up to the attention of the authorities. And this is what I would expect and I think it’s essential. And I don’t…I wish that those violations will stop. And we should also reduce it as well.

REP2: [Asks question in Arabic.]

INT: Dr. Tahseen, you talked about projects…accomplished projects and projects that’s going to be accomplished in Sadr City and Shola. Can you give us the percentage of the completed projects so far, projects that’s been implemented completely? Considering you are the former…formal spokesman. Also, my question to General Perkins. You talked about Sons of Iraq and the Awakening Councils. And as we all know that they contributed to the security stability in hot spots. Now, the Iraqis are cal-…they are calling to get the political positions in the government. So if in the case that they don’t get those positions, do you think those Awakening groups are going to turn against the coalition forces? Are you…do you have any assurances from them that they’re not going to turn against you?

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: As far as the social services projects that the committee in Shola City is working on. And now we’re in mid-July, we have finished all the contracts that I talked about. And a part of it now it’s undergoing[sic]. And I hope that the end of this month we’ll have a tour. And, God willing, we’re going to have a tour up there and we’ll see all the things and the improvements and the developments of those projects. It’s about 99 million Iraqi dinars. It’s not…it’s a lot of money. And we are working to employ this money to serve the people in the right way. Now, the committee is meeting all the time and we are…we don’t want to spend money on projects that is part of the budget. There are a lot of people suggesting projects and some of those projects are part of the government’s budget to be implemented, let’s say, for instance, next year. So we don’t want to use the project’s money or the allocated money to other projects that can be done next year. We’re trying to implement rapid, quick projects that can serve the people directly, that can revitalize life in the city. Things that deals with essential services like requalification of four sectors. We’re trying to build those, you know, providing…trying to provide services and divide…break down the work to different, you know, to sectors. And try to do it sector by sector in order to provide essential services, even the parking lots. We started with that, you know, trying to also distribute cars to people, small cars. And also motorcycles that can, you know…. Also stands and shops. And all that we worked…started working on. All the contracts are in place and we paid the money for that and the funds. Also for the Ministry of Youth as far as the recreation parks and clubs and all that for young people. The other question I think Brigadier General Perkins can answer that for you.

BRIG GEN PERKINS: Well, the Sons of Iraq have played a vital role, as I said, in the decrease[sic] in security, very brave Iraqis. And their courage is admired by us in the coalition as well as the other security forces. So their future is very important to us to show that we value what they have done for this nation and to make sure that the transition is smooth and orderly. There are a couple of ways that that is being taken care of. One, as I stated before, we are working very closely with the Government of Iraq and the prime minister to develop a series of plans, both educational and vocational training, such that we can off-ramp them from their current role, in a security role, and then provide them the background they need so that they can then become part of the vibrant economic development that is taking part in Iraq. A second portion of that, a certain number of them will be brought in to the regular Iraqi security forces and, therefore, under the normal command and control of the Iraqi government and its security forces. And the third thing is, as you mentioned at the end, we are working with them as are other local leaders so they can understand how to organize political…take part in the peaceful, democratic process that has taken part throughout Iraq now: how to register to vote, how to organize and submit candidates so, again, they can be assimilated peacefully into the democratic process. So again, very important for us that they get education, jobs, and are assimilated into the democratic process here in Iraq.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: I just want to comment. The, you know, being a good citizen is an identity for all Iraqis that they were victims for terrorism in Iraq. And our Sons of Iraq, they are part of the good citizens. And they…also their constitutional rights and think all the constitutional rights that has…any other citizen has. I think is they have to be part of the political process and they can be part of the government. And positions are not given. This is part of a constitutional process and it’s a detailed process.

REP3: [Asks question in Arabic.]

INT: Dr. Tahseen, you said that electricity has increased about 25% in Baghdad. But Baghdad obviously is lacking electricity and suffering from lack of electricity and shortage in electricity.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: I think this is a problem. I do not rely on reports. I rely on asking people directly and going on the field directly. Electricity has increased and improved about 25%, and this is reality. By the way, it’s not only distributing electricity to people. But we also met…we visited all the substations, power stations in…outside Baghdad and we [are] trying to follow a fair distribution plan for people. But there are certain areas that are suffering from unfair distribution of electricity. And I see some areas now are getting, for instance, four hours of electricity and…or two hours of electricity every four hours. And other areas I see they get electricity like one hour every seven hours – one hour on, seven hours off. And this is the problem now. We’re suffering from the problem of unfair distribution of electricity. We don’t have electronic supervision. We have manual supervision. And this is the problem. I can tell you one thing: if each house…you’ll see, like if you want to count how many houses in Baghdad, like about 1 million house[s], if each house can turn off one light bulb, like 40 watt…megawatt light bulb, that’s going to solve a lot…save a lot of electricity.

REP3: [Asks question in Arabic.]

INT: I live in one…Zayouna area. I…the electricity used to be good. Now it’s very bad.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: At the times when your…I think when your neighborhood was good and electricity was good in your neighborhood, I think other areas were suffering because of the unfair distribution for electricity in your neighborhood. And I think that’s why you are seeing that. There is a schedule for electricity.

REP3: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: I think it’s very important to have a schedule for the distribution of electricity to regulate. Electricity is important to regulate the traffic on the roads also because the traffic lights will work and will help in the traffic jams as well.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: And I think…we wish that’s going to happen.

REP4: [Asks question in Arabic.]

INT: Dr. Tahseen, you talked about $3 billion to renovate or reconstruct Baghdad City, and you talked about [the] infrastructure of Baghdad City. But the projects of infrastructure here, who are the people or the companies [unintelligible] implementing those projects are companies, of course, foreign companies or international companies who has experience so we can reach…Baghdad can reach to the right level or right standards. I’m sure there’s so many projects who…that’s been assigned in Baghdad. But so far we have…you have not revealed the identity of those companies who is implementing these projects, let’s say, for instance, the projects in Al-Rashid Camp, about six residential areas or complexes that’s going to be built there. Who’s building these…who’s doing these projects? Who are the companies that actually won those contracts?

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: We don’t want to reveal the identity of those companies. Of course, we…of course, when the project will start. This is still…we’re still in the procedures…the process of doing this project. We selected the companies. We did not assign things to companies. The infrastructure projects in Baghdad City takes more than 3 billions [dinars?]. In Iraq…in order to rehabilitate Iraq, we need about 400 billion [dinars?] in order to improve the, you know, electricity, sewage, everything in Iraq. We need about 400 billion [dinars?]. If you use all the budgets like the operational budget and the investment budget and, you know, all that, it’s not going to reach about 70 billion [dinars?]. So we need more than that. We…if you’re talking about trying to implement the projects with what we have of allocations. At the same time we’re encouraging investment like, for instance, prime minister now is meeting in Berlin to talk…with companies to talk about investment in Iraq, invest in the electricity sector, in the infrastructure or social services sectors. All those things that can contribute to help reduce the time or the period for building this country. But we are talking about $400 billion in order to rebuild Iraq from scratch. This is something…this is a huge number and it cannot be implemented with the kind of budget that we have. And it cannot be done unless we use investment. And what you’re talking about in Al-Rashid Camp, this is part of this initiative. We need millions and millions of residential units in all Iraq’s cities in order to put or implement about 150,000 residential units. This is out of the capability or the ability of the local companies. So it needs to be an investment company and they can help. That’s why the prime minister opened the door for investment companies and selected a few companies that are able or capable of implementing that. And this is going to be revealed to the press later on. Ladies first. We don’t want ladies to be upset with us.

REP5: [Asks question in Arabic.]

INT: Dr. Tahseen, you talked about huge sums of money, talking about 99 dollars…million dollars…million dinars to build Baghdad or Shola and Sadr City. How…you know corruption is entrenched within the Iraqi government. Is there any certain committee that can supervise the spent[sic] of this money?

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: In fact, the month that we’ve been delayed, was part of the delay actually was part of this thing is we’re trying to put the regulations in place in order to…as far as, like, to make sure there’s not corruption. As far as selecting those contractors, putting the bids together, assigning those bids, it’s all par-…it’s all actually under the Iraqi regulations right now. And as for…and the day, of course, implementation of this project is going to be supervised as well. And in order to be able to overcome this problem, the corruption problem, this is our main goal. And as far as if you’re talking about there is corruption as far as implementing the project or executing the project, of course we are going to face it, God willing. And…okay.

REP6: [Asks question in Arabic.]

INT: Dr. Sheikhly, you indicated statistics and numbers. And a lot of numbers you didn’t even mention in regards to areas that used to have the security operations in it. It might look satisfactory but as far as the numbers you’re talking about for Sadr City and Shola area. What about the areas that have been dis-…people [have] been displaced and people has not returned to their homes. What about Doura, Hijamya[ph] area? What about the areas that you didn’t mention also? My other question is to General Perkins. The surge of force has been withdrawed[sic]. Was it because of the…? Is this going to have…are we going to have more withdrawals because of the visits that we had from the American politicians like, for instance, Obama lately?

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: Thank you very much for your question. All what we worry about and care about is…. We talk about the two cities in Baghdad. We’re talking about one-third of the population of Baghdad. That’s why we are focusing on the two cities because it’s very crowded areas and they are unserved areas by the way. And in fact…actually I want you to go by yourself and see the misery, the sufferings that the people are suffering from, the negligence that they have been going through. How can those people live this way? And they’re living in the capitol of this…of Iraq. We’re trying to get them to live to…just like other people. And of course in Shola. We are going to help all the other cities and other areas. But those two areas are special cases because they are unserved in the for-…previously and they need to be served. But I invite you tomorrow at 12:00 with the minister of…. In this room, we’re going to have a meeting with the minister of this displacement. And I don’t want to talk about it and give you more details to give you the opportunity to talk to the minister tomorrow at 12:00. I’m sorry. General Perkins needs to answer his question.

BRIG GEN PERKINS: Yes, sir. As we said, we have just completed the redeployment of our last surge brigade combat team. And so what is going to happen now is General Petraeus – in consultation with his other commanders, in consultation with the Iraqi security forces, and with the Government of Iraq – will do an analysis. As we deploy our forces, we have to rearrange our forces on the ground. We will make adjustments. We anticipate that the enemy, the terrorists, the criminal groups may in fact make adjustments as well. And we’ll go through a period of analysis. And probably sometime around the end of August or September, General Petraeus will make a recommendation as to future force structures based on the conditions at the ground at that time and what he sees as the ability of both the American forces here, of the coalition forces, and Iraqi security forces to continue on. Obviously if the trends continue in a positive direction in that security is continuing to become better, security incidences are being reduced, economic progress continues, then it is possible, based again on conditions both of our forces and the enemy, to possibly recommend some further reductions. But that recommendation will not come until after a very intensive and specific analysis, probably at the end of August, the beginning of September.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: Thank you. I’m sorry. Yes.

REP7: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: To start with, you mentioned 99 million…billions [dinars] to rebuild Shola City and Sadr City. How did the government allocate this money? I’m talking about the 150, not the 99. My other question is is there any cooperation or interference from the coalition side as far as selecting or allocating those projects. We heard that some of…the coalition has granted some, you know, gra-…or loans to fake companies and the company didn’t do anything. They didn’t work. My third question was…is to you talked about giving loans to newly graduated college graduates. And how are we going to do that? How can people do that? How can they register for that? Also, my fourth question, talking about the services, you know, we see Baghdad Amanat fixing curbs and fixing roads and…. But I think people…I think the Iraqi people need more, bigger projects like fixing electricity, fixing…building residential areas and residential units. But all we’ve seen so far is changing curbs or fixing or painting roads. And simple things; things that I see makes no sense. Like we need to see more or bigger projects. And like, for instance, the Baghdad Airport Road that we allocated…I think the government allocated 150 millions [dinars?] towards that project and spent 50 million [dinars?] so far. All I’ve seen is just painting the road, nothing added to the work and nothing is done to the road. So those companies, are they working? What’s the…what are these companies doing? What are the projects? I mean those projects…they…are you understanding my question?

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: Thank you, Ms. Neva[ph]. And in fact, I didn’t want to interrupt you when you were talking, so I…because I want you to talk about…I wanted you to talk about it. We’re talking about the 99 millions…billions [dinars] as to for projects to be implemented. Only Shola City and Sadr City. And the coalition is our partner in this as they were our partners in helping us in our military operations and countering terrorism groups. And now they’re our partners in rebuilding and reconstructing Iraq. We’re now talking about projects. These projects has been selected through studying the reality of the city. The…what…so visiting the city and talking to the people and knowing the needs of the people, trying to provide help and quick help. Believe me, we went and we knocked on doors and we talked to people in all the sectors in Sadr City. I had press with me at the time and media coverage. Also that’s in Sadr City and in Shola City. That’s…as far as services. The second thing is Baghdad is not all about painting curbs and putting new curbs. Baghdad has Al Quddis[ph] project for sewage. Baghdad has six…rebuilding six bridges. Baghdad has re-…complete rebuilding or rehabilitation for the sewage system. Baghdad…in Baghdad we’re having a rehabilitation project for the water lines in Al Jihad area. And you can see there…you can see for yourself in Al Jihad area and you can see they’re changing the pipes, the water pipes also. We are using all the projects and investing all the allocations in Baghdad. You…I don’t want you to interrupt me because I didn’t interrupt you. You cannot serve people without building the real infrastructure for that city. In order to provide pure water for you or clean water, drinking water to you, I have to build and fix and rehabilitate the water lines. In order to fix the sewage problem, I have to fix the sewage lines and sewage pipes. In order to help rehabilitate the electricity for you here, I have to have the system… the power system and the transmission lines has to be fixed. And what…at the same time, we still need to illuminate roads. We still need to plant trees and greens and grass. We still need to clean the streets. We still need to change those curbs and paint them in order to help people to see a better picture of their city. All the things that we mentioned are things that’s needed to people. And you can see it now. For instance, in Zayouna area, parks and for people, recreation parks. You’ll see it’s decorated recreation parks. And people see that as a luxury but I think people…Iraqi people deserve this and deserve to see this. And Iraqi people deserve to…that we clean the streets for them. Ma’am, Iraqi government is working, working very hard to provide secure…essential services to the people, but if there are corruption you’re talking about, we have corruption. And this is something that I cannot deny. But we still have supervision. And I think supervision can help reduce and mitigate the level of corruption here. And when we have active, civil institutions in the society, the government will be able to reach out for the…reach to the corruption problem and resolve it. And I hope this is…I answered your question.

REP7: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: Now the projects for the young men in Sadr City.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: This is for Shola and Sadr City only. We have a committee and at the city and in the ministry as well.

REP8: [Asks question in Arabic.]

INT: I have two questions to General Perkins. My first question is the Ministry of Interior mentioned that they are working on preparing themselves to put the…to transfer the security case file to all…to the security forces, the Iraqi security forces in order to…. Is the Iraqi security forces are capable of protecting or…? And is there any mechanism in place to transfer the security case to the Iraqi security forces? And the second thing is you have talked about or disclosed an operation, a security operation in stopping the smuggling of weapons in Southern Iraq. What’s the outcome of this operation?

BRIG GEN PERKINS: The first question with regards to the Iraqi security forces, each day that continues to be more of a transition to where the Iraqi security forces are in the lead, conducting operations, and providing security for Iraq. We continue to work with them and increase their capability, their equipment, and training. And that will be one of the components that General Petraeus will look at here in the coming weeks to determine what is the capability, how much of the…how much of the security operations that the coalition is doing can be handed off to the Iraqi security forces, and the timeline. So that will all be worked into his recommendation as to what the further force structure will look like with the coalition forces as to the capability and the long-range potential of the Iraqi security forces. With regards to the operations down in the south, we continue to push into areas that were previously held by special groups criminals and other insurgents. [We] continue to find large numbers of weapons caches. [We] continue to interdict the flow of weapons and munitions down there. And that continues to be a process and a focus so, in fact, that peace can return to that part of Southern Iraq. And again, [we] have worked very heavily with the Iraqi security forces who, in many of these cases, are in the lead. Right now about 70% of the Iraqi security force’s battalions are in the lead in those operations down there. So we’ll continue to work with them, put them in the lead, and interdict those munitions and weapons down there.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: Two last questions.

REP9: [Asks question in Arabic.]

INT: I have a question to Dr. Tahseen and another question to General Perkins. My question to you, doctor, because since you talked about the civil work, institutions…civil society institutions. Are they part of the, you know, the civil work institutions? I mean they are not being…their work is not being facilitated by the government and especially in the IZ. My question to General Perkins. Sadr City is a high[ly] populated city and now it’s sieged with concrete barriers. And there are, you know, entrances to those…to the city, only few ones, and you can enter it only from Al Bizlan[ph] or Baladiyat or Qufa entrance. Is there any plans to open it in the future, open those entrances?

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: In fact a role that the civil institutions is actually very active role and it’s very important. And the civil part of it is very important. And I’m talking…the civil part needs essential services being provided to the people. And security has not only been achieved by security operations in Baghdad, but also by the cooperation between the Iraqi people and the security forces as well. And the Iraqi people can also, I mean, be the role that the civil institutions working as far as raising awareness for Iraqi people and try to educate Iraqi people against the bad ideologies and bad terrorism culture and all that. This is the role the civil institutions can work and organizations can work in the society and the impact that they can have on the society. I mean the…this is…a lot of organizations, we help them. We help them to help, you know, build or open orphanage houses and widows…and then help widows as well. And a lot of civil society organizations were helping people with, you know, with providing aid and food and medical care as well to the people. And we help them. We work with them. And we value their work as well.

BRIG GEN PERKINS: With regards to the security situation in Sadr City, that is a great example of the strategy that we’ve used, not only there, but throughout Iraq. And that is to first of all secure the area, secure the population so they are not intimidated or attacked by insurgents, criminals, terrorists. We then want to hold on to that area so that they cannot come back in, the criminal elements, terrorists cannot come back in. And then lastly, start to build. And Dr. Tahseen has already talked about a lot of the projects that have begun or are going to continue in Sadr City with regards to build. While we are in the building phase, we want to make sure that we don’t regress and lose any of the terrain that we have already secured or have been able to hold onto. So that is part of the assessment that we’re going to continue to do. We want to make sure we maintain security there so that we allow economic and building to continue on economic progress. We will continue to talk to local leaders, discuss with the Iraqi security forces. As we bring in additional Iraqi security forces, we’ll continually make an assessment. And when it is appropriate, we’ll continue to adjust the security situation there such that it has minimal impact on the people, but still allows us to maintain the security needed so that we continue with our build phase.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: Thank you. Yeah, please.

REP10: [Asks question in Arabic.]

INT: Doctor, thanks for your comments and allowing for our questions as well. I want to thank…to ask...you said there is a need of…there is a need for $400 billion to rebuild Iraq completely and return to normalcy again. And you mentioned that the prime minister has talked or asked the national capital and the investment… international investment to come to Iraq and work in Iraq. I think there is two points. The national capital is actually migrating outside of Iraq. And the middle class people also are leaving Iraq and going out of Iraq. And this is something. Is there any intention…are there any intentions to put legislation in place in order to protect the…an amount…or foreign capital that’s trying to come to Iraq, but are worried about coming, are concerned about coming because of the security issue?

REP10: The other question for the Brigadier Perkins. You talk about the enemy. Can you explain for me whom do you mean and who is the enemy now? And what is his size? Thanks.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: Thank you very much. When I talked about this number, this number has been mentioned by a lot of Iraqi officials before and the capital is not only the money. I’m talking about the knowledge as well. As where you [are] talking about the middle class, you’re talking about degrees and people with degrees, people that can work and help. It’s all considered, you know, part of it. When you’re talking about the middle class, this is also took part of the, you know, the capital of this country. And it’s not only the money. It’s also the knowledge. And the Iraqi government and the country is working on, you know, attracting all the national capital and also anyone that wants to come help and rebuild this country. We have…I always meet with the national investment commission and talk to the Iraqi investors and meet with the Iraqi investors that have requests to build hospitals, private hospitals, pharmacies, and medicine factories, and to work to rehabilitate the factories and plants in Iraq. And also trying to build, you know, five-star hotels and first-class hotels here. And also building airports. And the airport in Najaf is…actually was an Iraqi investor who helped and he came back to Iraq and invested in the airport. So security helps a lot and it needs legislation as well. And the government is working on that.

BRIG GEN PERKINS: With regards to…from the security point of view, the people that we are focused on are al-Qaida in Iraq, as we know, is still operating here. They have pockets of resistance and continue, unfortunately, to conduct terrorist acts. Special group criminals who have been here previously and continue to operate in parts of Iraq. And anybody who wants to interfere with the rule of law in the country, who want to interfere with the security of the average Iraqi citizen. And those that want to interfere with the growing democratic process that is ongoing here. Those are all elements that we, along with the Iraqi security forces and the Government of Iraq are intent on making sure that, in fact, they don’t interfere with the progress that all Iraqis are looking forward to. And we’ll continue to partner with them to increase the security and let those other surges I talked about take place.

DR AL-SHEIKHLY: [Speaks in Arabic.]

INT: At the end of this press conference, I want to thank you all. First, that you have come here considering the hot weather. And we want to wish General Perkins all the best in his mission here. And also be our partner to deal and cooperate with the press here and to be the spokesman of Multi-National Force here in Iraq. And I want to thank you for coming. Thank you very much.

BRIG GEN PERKINS: Shukran. Shukran jaziilan.