• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

30 June 2006

Iraq's Security Forces Improving Every Day, Says U.S. Colonel

Coalition commander reflects on a year of progress in western Baghdad

By David McKeeby
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – Coalition-trained Iraqi army and police units have been instrumental in disrupting terrorist activity in an area that once was among the country’s leading insurgent strongholds.

“The Iraqi security forces are getting better every day,” U.S. Army Colonel Jeffrey Snow, appearing via videoconference from Baghdad, told reporters at a June 30 Pentagon press briefing.  “[T]hey have demonstrated a strong will to fight and protect the Iraqi people.”

Snow commands the 1^st Brigade of the 10^th Mountain Division, which has spent the last year working with Iraqi forces to secure a 300-square kilometer area of operations stretching from western Baghdad and the banks of the Tigris River, to the farmlands of Abu Ghraib.  As the battalion completes its rotation and prepares to return to the United States, Snow updated reporters on the progress he has seen on the ground.

When they first arrived, Snow said, his unit was partnered with a lone Iraqi brigade that was able to maintain security in only a fraction of its assigned area.  Snow’s troops trained them, as well as a second Iraqi army brigade and an Iraqi national police unit.  These three Iraqi brigades now work together to conduct the majority of counterinsurgency operations in the area with coalition forces playing a support role.  (See related article.) 

“Because of the growing effectiveness of Iraqi security forces, we were able to expand coalition efforts to the west of Baghdad,” Snow said.  “We have been able to disrupt insurgent networks and the route lines they used to travel into Baghdad by denying insurgents crucial support zones and destroying their [weapons] caches.”  (See related article.)

Iraqi citizens also have played a part in improving security conditions, he said, as evidenced by their increased willingness to provide information about insurgent activity in their area.  “Iraqis want to see the enemies of freedom and oppression defeated as much as we do,” Snow said.  (See related article.)   

His Iraqi counterparts have improved to the point where his battalion will not be replaced, Snow said.  Instead, the army and police units it trained will take the lead in security operations for the area, but will be able to call on coalition forces in the adjoining regions to provide support as needed.

While recent weeks have seen an increase in insurgent attacks, the colonel said that these could be attributed to stepped-up security operations under “Operation Together Forward.”  Snow further observed that though there may be more attacks, fewer of them are resulting in casualties, which he said further attests to the waning effectiveness of the insurgents in western Baghdad. 

In addition to training and security operations, Snow said that his battalion helped support local governments and worked to improve the quality of life for the 1.3 million Iraqis residing in their operational area. 

Coalition forces conducted more than 50 medical operations to provide primary care to families, he reported, and undertook more than $150 million worth of development projects, including the renovation of 35 schools, as well as new water treatment plants and distribution lines, sewers and electrical infrastructure.

Snow said his experiences in Iraq leave him with a sense of optimism for the country’s future.  “For the first time in decades, all Iraqis now have a voice in their future.  This momentum will be hard to reverse.”  (See related article.)

Witnessing two successful elections and the failure of “anti-Iraqi elements” within the country to divide the people along sectarian lines, Snow said  “as long as we continue to support the Iraqi government and the Iraqi security forces continue to improve, then the insurgency will wilt away from the burden of its own oppression.” 

“It will be a long and challenging endeavor, Snow concluded, “but in the end, I feel democracy will prevail.” 

A video link to Snow’s briefing is available on the U.S. Department of Defense Web site.

For more information, see Iraq Update.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)