28 July 2006
Coalition Works with Iraqi Security Force To Enforce Rule of Law
Most Iraqis acknowledge the temporary need for coalition support, Tully says
Washington – A U.S. military security trainer says most of the Iraqis he has encountered acknowledge the need for coalition support “until they can get their house in order.”
Army Colonel John Tully, conducting a briefing by videoconference from Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq, for reporters at the Pentagon July 28, spoke of the importance of the United States fulfilling its commitment to “help the Iraqis establish a stable democracy.” Tully commands the 2nd Combat Team with the 4th Infantry Division, which is working in key Iraqi cities in the middle of the country such as Karbala, Kufa and Najaf.
Tully’s 3,700 U.S. forces work with 4,500 Iraqi soldiers that are assigned to six Iraqi Army battalions. They also assist in training approximately 28,000 Iraqi police. He said progress has been made in putting them “on the road to having Iraqi security forces enforcing the rule of law.”
Considerable work has been done by Tully’s forces to get Sunni and Shi’ite leaders to commit to promoting a civil society, including building a new Iraqi police station and providing support to local government councils.
Tully said U.S. funds have been expended locally to fix roads, build water treatment plants, repair schools, buy equipment for the Iraqi Army and modernize electrical distribution lines. The point is to generate hope, he said, “through economic, political and security improvements.”
But because Iraq’s infrastructure was neglected for so long, Tully said, “It will take many years and billions of dollars to meet [the] basic needs of the Iraqi citizens.” (See related article.)
Although securing Iraq’s capital is not part of his command’s mission, Tully tried to answer questions about plans to augment security in Baghdad. The plan, he said, is to increase the security presence on the capital’s streets “to get a handle on the sectarian violence,” he said. (See related article.)
Asked if a large coalition presence there might incite additional insurgent violence, Tully said he considered that unlikely because what Iraqis want most is safety. “What they really want is … a strong Iraqi police and … army to provide the security, not necessarily the coalition, but they’ll take whatever they can get in order to get safety for their families.”
Tully’s forces have not experienced the same level of violence as forces in Baghdad, but they have seen results of area militias asserting their authority. He said he has seen a slight increase of perhaps one to two more attacks weekly in some of the southernmost Shi’ite areas in which his troops are working.
The military spokesman also said his forces are conducting “offensive operations to keep the insurgency off balance.”
He said his forces have changed tactics in certain nonoffensive situations by driving more slowly and less aggressively through communities and by trying “to move with Iraqi traffic" as much as possible.
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)
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