PRESS CONFERENCE: Operational Update: U.S. Brig. Gen. Buchanan, Iraqi Lt. Gen. Oothman, Jan. 27, 2009
Multi-National Force-Iraq
Maj. Gen. Michael Eyre and Mr. Richard Hancock, Gulf Region Division, provide a reconstruction update.
PRESS CONFERENCE:
Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, Deputy Commanding General, Multi-National Division – Center
Lt. Gen. Ali Salih Farhood Oothman, Commander, 8th Iraqi Army (IA) Division
DATE: January 27, 2009
PARTICIPANTS:
Brigadier General Jeffrey Buchanan
Lieutenant General Ali Salih Farhood Oothman
REPORTERS:
Ahmed Dinadawi[ph], Arasat[ph] Newspaper
Unidentified reporters from the New York Times and the Gulf Emereti[ph] Newspaper
REPORTERS 1-8
REP1 = REPORTER 1
INT = INTERPRETER
[PH] = PHONETIC SPELLING
BG BUCHANAN: Good afternoon. [Speaks briefly in Arabic.] I’m Brigadier General Jeff Buchanan, deputy commanding general for operations of Multi-National Division – Center. I’m joined today by Staff Lieutenant General Othman, commander of the 8th Iraqi Army Division. And I’ll start with a few opening comments, and then I’ll turn it over to General Othman for his comments, and then we’ll be happy to take your questions.
The first and foremost, what I’d like to do is stress the incredible partnership that we have between our two divisions and that our division enjoys with all of the Iraqi Security Forces. We’re here at the invitation of the Government of Iraq to partner with the Iraqi Security Forces. And the Iraqi Security Forces have the lead for security in each of the eight provinces that we operate in. And in Multi-National Division – Center, those provinces are Babil, Wasit, Najaf, Karbala, Qadisiyah, Muthanna, Dhi Qar, and Maysan.
The Iraqi Security Forces are protecting the people and we’re there to assist them. Any partnership requires mutual cooperation and mutual responsibility. But they also require that both parties get some mutual benefit out of it, and that’s one thing that is frequently underreported. It may be natural to assume that with our support the Iraqi Security Forces are more effective, but what’s often underreported is the fact that our partnership with them makes us more effective as well.
And the partners that we operate with in Multi-National Division – Center include the 8th and 10th divisions of the Iraqi Army, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th regions of the Department of Border Enforcement, and the police services in each of our partner provinces. And so we’ll be happy to dive into some more detail in the results that we’ve enjoyed over the past year and talk about the way ahead and what we see in the future for our partnership after General Othman makes his opening comments.
And, really, that’s what I’d like to do is to introduce him right now. Staff Lieutenant General Othman Alghanimi is the commander of the 8th Iraqi Army Division and the Karbala Operations Command. He’s a patriot. He’s a selfless servant for the people of Iraq, and he’s a national hero. Additionally, he was recently selected as the Diwianiyah “Man of the Year” for the incredible difference that the 8th Division has made for the security of the people of Qadisiyah City.
LG OTHMAN: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: In the name of God, Lieutenant General Othman Alghanimi, commanding general of the Iraqi Army, 8th Division. The 8th Division are responsible for five re-...provinces – Najaf, Kadwella[ph], Diwianiyah, Kut. This is a very big region, very complicated. The criminals and the outlaws are there. Also, al-Qaida terrorist group are there. And another in Babil, another in Wasit, another in Al Kergala[ph]. Also, the borders...the eastern borders and the western borders toward Saudi Arabia.
Our responsibility is very wide due to the partnership with the 10th Mountain Division with the Multi-National Forces, and we can...able to achieve what security improvement you’ve seen—and you’ve witnessed the Ashura religious ceremonies and now we are witnessing the elections. Ten million pilgrims were heading to Karbala. We have a partnership relation with the 10th Division...Mountain Division. We have surveillance...air surveillance, also combat teams, also administrative support, also medical support.
Now, we may open the...your questions.
REP1: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Ahmed Dinadawi[ph], Arasat[ph] Newspaper. Major...Lieutenant General, the forces that pull out from your region of operation, have they been substituted?
LG OTHMAN: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: Frankly, especially after signing the security agreement and even before signing it, we’ve been pl-...putting plans with the 10th Division concerning how we’re going to receive many locations and positions. We have received four locations to the northern Babil. The bases – Kalsibelsis[ph], Jofasahi Base. And we received those four bases and they are 100% under Iraqi responsibility, and there is coordination with the 10th Mountain Division to receive the Aftaqa[ph] region and Sayeb within October...within November. Also, we have a plan to receive a base on Diwianiyah, on the highway. We’re going to receive it after the 14th visit...pilgrim summary.
REP2: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Brigadier General Jeffrey, according to your operation...or your area of operation, do you have real operations now conducted against...faced by terrorists?
BG BUCHANAN: Thanks. That’s a good question. As you know, all eight of the provinces that we operate in actually fell under provincial Iraqi control prior to the signing of the security agreement. And so the nature of the operations has not changed significantly with the signing of the operations. In that, the Iraqi Security Forces have the true lead for security in each of our provinces. Our roles are to support them. And we haven’t had any significant change in how we operate. Again, with dominantly supporting the 8th Division in the northern five provinces and the 10th division in the southern three.
REP3: [Unintelligible], New York Times. [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: When you talk about partnership, how do you distribute responsibility as the 10th Mountain Division? What is the number of troops deployed in central and south Iraq according to the 8th Division?
LG OTHMAN: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: Frankly, all the operations now are within the responsibility...Iraqi responsibility, planning and.... You would see a big clue about this, which is the election tomorrow. In God’s will, we would have the special voting. After that, we’re going to have the general election.
The planning and the execution is 100% Iraqi, and I’m talking about the partnership with the Multi-National Division for this center...the 10th Mountain Division. Yes, we have logistic support and air support. Politi-...was it for combat or for surveillance. Also, the QRF, the Quick Response [Force] are ready to face the situation that might occur.
As for the numbers of the troops for the 8th Division, which is within the central area, we have a whole infantry division with four brigades. Also, we have the commandos’ battalion.
BG BUCHANAN: I’ll add a little bit to that, if I may. From the...on the coalition side, we have had as many as 20,000 troops in Multi-National Division – Center, and I think the latest numbers are down to about 14,000; spread fairly evenly, but with more forces in the northern part of our area of...our operational environment, rather than the south.
Again, what’s a little bit different is—rather than pure numbers—is the nature of what we’re doing. In the past, in previous years, the coalition forces had the lead for security; and even when we did combined operations, frequently it was with Iraqi forces joining our forces. But now we actually plan, coordinate, and conduct the bulk of our operations in a combined fashion. And in doing so, the Iraqi forces are in the lead. And as I said, this actually makes us more effective as well as them. We can bring additional resources, some additional capability to it, and they learn some things from us, but at the same time, we learn from them. And in effect, we make each other more effective.
REP4: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: Brigadier General Jeffrey, after the security agreement between Iraq side and U.S. side—this is a joint question for both of the gentlemen—did the policy of the U.S. forces change? Is the U.S. forces now are working on mission without going to the Iraqi forces?
LG OTHMAN: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: Yes, the matters have changed, but the lead is for the Iraqi forces. If the U.S. forces wanted to make a mission, they would go to the Iraqi side in order to have plan and coordination, take permission. So they would both coordinate a joint operation.
BG BUCHANAN: I’ll say one other thing that has significantly changed, and there are some—again, in Multi-National Division – Center, we were operating this way prior to the signing of the security agreement—and that is that the Iraqi forces take detainees and they do so based on warrants issued by Iraqi judges. Multi-National Division – Center, we currently don’t have any detainees in any of our...in any detention facilities. And when we’re on a combined operation, when we take a detainee, it’s actually the Iraqi forces. They are turned over to them and it’s based on warrants. So it has changed compared to how we were operating, say, a year ago. But for the last several months we’ve been operating consistent with the security agreement, even before it was signed.
REP5: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: Gulf Emereti[ph] Newspaper. Sir, you’ve mentioned there are some areas where al-Qaida are available at Northern Babil and Northern Wasit. Do you have certain activities there?
LG OTHMAN: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: I’d like to assure you that according within our responsibility areas of the 8th Division—we call it the Theater of the Central Euphrates—both organizations, al-Qaida terrorists organization or the outlaws, are incapable of entering a counter to face the Iraqi government, especially at...after Solitiferson[ph] Operation. As the prime minister have supervised this mission, they have changed their strategies. Now, they are using the IEDs, they are using ambushes and...but it doesn’t mat-...happen in our operation area. That’s why we started to change our procedures according...as they are changing their ways. We started our operations based on intelligence and without causing any confusion or...to the residents of the area, without affecting them.
REP6: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Minister of Defense al-Abadi talked about the improvement of the capabilities of the Iraqi Army at 90%. But the politicians talk about the capabilities as being not efficient as the Iraqi Army or police...Iraqi police, they do not have the arms they need so they can protect the country. Second question. How can you guarantee that the military or the servicemen are not going to participate on the public in voting as the registry...voters’ registry did not reach the IHEC yet?
LG OTHMAN: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: As for the Ministry of Defense statement, he talked in general about the police and Army. I would like to assure the politicians that you’re talking about as much as the matter is concerned with my division, our...my division has enjoyed the capabilities which is over 90 or 95%, just as the minister of defense said. Now we are capable of keeping security and peace.
But as for the elections, the 28th, as for the special voting, we had intensive meetings with the commissioners of the IHEC within our responsibility of five provinces. The last meeting was with the...at IHEC director in Karbala and we talked with the police and security system there, and we talked about the same issue mentioned, that the military individual would be casting his vote twice due...that he would go to the...give his vote on the 28th and then he would be under C-alert and he should not. Also, we have penalties against them in case they try to....
BG BUCHANAN: I’d like to say a couple of things about that, too. First of all, when we assess the Iraqi Security Forces—and I’ll combine...for this answer, I’ll talk about both the Army and the police—I really sort of think of three things – capability, skill, and will. First of all, capability is really the tools. Do they have the tools? Do they have the manning equipment and force structure to be able to operate? Skill. Do they have the knowledge to be able to employ those tools in a way commensurate with the direction of the Government of Iraq? And then will. Do they have the courage or desire to employ those tools?
Let me start with capability. The Iraqi Army, in particular, is very capable. And the Multi-National Security Transition Command – Iraq, under the leadership of Lieutenant General Frank Helmick, has done an incredible job helping to man, train, and equip the forces. More importantly, over the past year, they’ve been working directly with the Government of Iraq so that the government takes on responsibility for some of the manning, training, and equipping so that it becomes a self-sustaining system. So I feel very good about their capabilities.
The skills are the area that I think that we can continue to help them most. As General Othman described, the enemy within his operational environment, in his area of operation is not capable of defeating his forces. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t still provide them with additional skill and knowledge about how to employ the forces. In particular, the areas that we’ve discussed in the past are improvement in intelligence fusion, improvement in planning all operations, and improvement in logistics and sustainment systems.
The last component was will. Courage. I’ve served in the...a couple of tours here in the past, and every time I have been amazed and inspired by the courage of the individual Iraqi soldier and policeman, whether it is a police commando or a member of General Othman’s division, to be able to stand up and take the fight to the enemy when required and defend his people. But what we have seen different, I think, over the past year is that courage, which has always been or has regularly been demonstrated from the individual soldier level to the level of the division commander, has also been demonstrated by the prime minister in his courage to have...demonstrate national will to take on all the enemies of Iraq regardless of their background or where they may be from. So I actually feel very good about the will of the Iraqi Security Forces.
Where I think we can continue to help them most is the capability or, correction, the skill, which is how...the knowledge of how to employ those forces.
Now, for the comment on the police forces, I’m not going to assign numbers on a particular assessment of how we compare the police forces versus the Army, but I know that the prime minister has come out and said that in the future, he sees the Iraqi police forces as being the primary guarantors of security for the individual citizen, especially within the urban areas. And this is what’s meant by police primacy. In that role, the national police and the Army will provide reinforcing support to the police force and also defend the country against external threats. We have taken our division and the entire Corps at the direction of the Corps, has taken on the responsibility to increase our efforts with professionalization of the police so that they can better meet the challenges required by the prime minister’s direction.
REP7: [Unintelligible] Press. General, if I could ask you first, could I just ask you, specifically on the weekend’s polling. Earlier the general said that there may...a threat...some action may occur. How do you see it? And could you, just firstly, give me a guide on the total number of forces deployed at the weekend polling between your respective armies? And secondly, how you see the perceived or likely threat going into the weekend, what must you defend against?
BG BUCHANAN: Thank you. First of all, the leads for security in each province of our eight are the provincial directors of police, with the exception of Karbala. General Othman is the commander of the Karbala Operations Command and, as such, he is overall responsible for security in Karbala. In those roles, virtually all of the police forces of each of those eight provinces plus both of our partner divisions, the 8th and the 10th Divisions, are deployed throughout the provinces. And I’m not sure about the total numbers. I’m not going to speculate on what that is.
The roles of our forces are to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support prior to the elections themselves and during election day. We provide ground and air QRF—I’m sorry—Quick Reaction Forces to be able to respond to any threats, medical evacuation coverage. And so our forces are not actively patrolling. We are not out on the streets in checkpoints like General Othman’s forces are. But we are all connected together through our operations and intelligence centers. We’ve exchanged liaison officers and, as quick as he needs an Apache team, for an example, to respond to a specific incident, he’ll turn to our liaison officer and we’ll direct it to that place. And so we’ve got very good coordination between us.
We have, within...again, within our eight provinces that we operate in, we do have some anticipation of threats—and they’re similar to the threats that we were anticipating in advance of the Ashura Pilgrimage in early January. And actually much of our response and planning has been based on the experience that we learned from each other in advance of Ashura, where we had essentially no attacks. That doesn’t mean that they won’t occur, but we believe that we have all of our intelligence systems focused in the right place to counter those threats and then, should they materialize, respond to them.
REP7: I’m sorry. General, if I could ask you as well. You said we have logistic support, air support, and surveillance, and the QRF, as the general just said, ready to face the situation that may occur. What is the situation that may occur in your eyes?
LG OTHMAN: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: Frankly, as for the protecting the elections on the five...three province within the Theater of Central Euphrates, it is a flexible plan. We have three types of threats. One, which is a pre-election, which is within the campaign phase as the candidates start to introduce themselves and the incidents might occur such as tearing their posters or such incidents. This phase is about to be over and we have not recorded any violations...security violation.
As the second phase, it is going to be on the day of the election. We have in our mind that the threat might be direct or indirect. It is obvious for everybody that indirect, it is...it would be by using Katyusha rockets or mortars. And the direct would be through shooting fire on the election centers or maybe using suicide vests or IEDs close to the polling centers. Also, the third threat is that maybe we might witness some violent actions after the results.
All..in all our plans, the coordination with the 10th Mountain Division, we have discussed all the details and all the arrangements in order to face all these three threats, which is pre and in the elections and even after the elections. We have asked them during...more than many meetings, and we’ve moved within the provinces with coordination with General Buchanan and the police directorate and that we need a quick response, QRF, in order to face the urgent cases that we might face within our responsibility areas within the three threats phases. Also, reconnaissance...the air reconnaissance, it is very important for us as we have focused during the pre-election and even in the day of elections and even after the elections that we need intelligence. Also, the armed aircraft that are going to cover wide range in order to secure the polling centers from the indirect fire such as the rockets that would reach 40 or ‘til 50 kilometers. Also, the medical support in case of emergency.
We have a plan for this. The three threats have been discussed within the friendly forces and we have prepared a reaction for each case in case it happens. Thank you very much.
BG BUCHANAN: I’d like to add just a couple of comments on the security situation itself. The...you know we take every one of these threats very seriously. We have planned for them, anticipated them, and we’ve actually rehearsed our actions. But overall, when you think of the level of violence, it’s important to realize that in our operational environment, we’ve had more than a 95% reduction in overall attacks, more than 95% reduction in IEDs, more than a 95% reduction in indirect fire incidents since June of 2007, when the surge first became effective in Multi-National Division – Center’s operational environment. We’ve had 70 days or approximately 70 days since our division took over MND-Center...the MND-Center leadership where we’ve had zero attacks. So this is a very different situation than we faced during the three elections we had in 2005, in January, October, and in December of 2005.
The other thing that is fundamentally different about our preparation for this period is within our OE, the operational environment throughout the eight southern provinces, the Iraqi Security Forces do really have the lead and we’re absolutely in a supporting role.
Okay. I think we have time for two more questions.
REP8: [Asks question in Arabic.]
INT: Jeffrey mentioned that the security in the election at Karbala Province within the Iraqi Army security, why Iraqi Army? Why not police such as the rest of the provinces?
LG OTHMAN: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: Or, frankly, there is two cases. The IHEC of Supreme Security Council issued in its instructions that the region...the provinces which has operation command. When I say operation command means both Army and police. The provinces which have the operation command, they are going to be responsible for the province’s security. In case they don’t, the police is going to handle this fact...this mission.
As for only we have operation command in Karbala. It’s going to be responsible there. As for the 4th, Haladiwani[ph] and Najaf, the police are going to be responsible with the support of Army. This is the instructions from the High Security Commission...Committee.
BG BUCHANAN: Any other questions? Okay. Well, with that, I’ll just...I’ll make a couple of remarks and then turn it over to Lieutenant General Othman for his closing comments.
First of all, thanks for coming today. We appreciate every one of your individual and collective efforts to keep the Iraqi people informed and to keep the international audiences informed as well. You continue to make a difference and we do appreciate it. All of you have an open invitation to go with us if you ever want to travel in our operational environment throughout the eight southern provinces.
It’s an honor for me, personally, to serve with the incredible men and women of Multi-National Division – Center. We are a collection of brigades from different posts that all now fall under the command of Multi-National Division – Center, and our headquarters is the 10th Mountain Division. But individually, they’re incredible patriots, very selfless servants, and they all are making a difference every day. The same is said for our partners, the Iraqi police, the Department of Border Enforcement, and the divisions of the Iraqi Army, both the 8th and 10th. All of these troops are selfless. They continue to make sacrifices every day for the good of Iraq and their impact is going to be felt for years to come.
LG OTHMAN: [Speaks in Arabic.]
INT: I’d like to seize the opportunity of the presence of our media figures here. I’d like to mention the theater of this Central Euphrates area is going to be secure and safe due to the exerted efforts and cooperation and joint cooperation between police and Army and the Multi-National Forces, also due to the continuous training that we have conducted. The area during the last years, it was very complicated. It has...it was filled with outlaws. But the attacks...the...we’ve...we confronted them in a way that destructed their attacks. Also, to stop the unemployment, it helps in...for the lasting security.
I’d like to assure the citizens and the Iraqis through the satellite channels that, within the...the elections are going to happen within the...our area. It will be safe, with no violation. And this election is different from the ones before because it is under Iraqi leadership, and the Iraqi citizen is going to vote for who is going to serve Iraq, who is going to represent him, and the provincial councils, who’s going to conduct reconstruction.
Thank you very much.
BG BUCHANAN: Shukran jaziilan.
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