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WASHINGTON D.C. (January 20, 2008) - Al Qaeda remains the most
dangerous terror group in Iraq, and coalition and Iraqi security
forces continue to attack it, Navy Rear Adm. Greg Smith, a
spokesman for Multinational Forces Iraq, said today in Baghdad.
Smith gave an update on Operation Phantom Phoenix and a short
history of al Qaeda's operations in the country. He also spoke
about Iran's influence in Iraq.
The effects of Operation Phantom Phoenix have been substantial,
Smith said. "Since January 1, Operation Phantom Phoenix has
conducted 18 battalion-level operations, detained 1,023 terrorists
and killed 121 terrorists," Smith said during a news conference.
Coalition and Iraqi forces have captured or killed 92 high-value
targets and found and cleared 351 caches, 410 improvised explosive
devices and three car bomb and suicide bomb factories, and
uncovered four tunnel complexes.
Smith told reporters attacks using deadly explosively formed
projectiles have fallen off following a surge in attacks using the
Iranian-supplied weapons earlier this month. "The number of
signature weapons that had come from Iran and had been used against
coalition and Iraqi forces are down dramatically except for this
short uptick in the EFPs in the early part of January," he
said.
"It's uncertain, again, what is happening in Iran that's leading
to that occurrence," Smith said. Coalition officials said they
believe Iran continues to train Iraqi insurgents and fund Shia
insurgent organizations.
But even with the problems caused by offshoots of the Shia Jaish
al-Mahdi special groups, al Qaeda in Iraq remains the biggest
threat, Smith said.
Al Qaeda infiltrated Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Its purpose was to purge the coalition, which it refers to as "the
infidels" - from the country. "Al Qaeda senior leadership, who by
that time had been driven into northwestern Pakistan, saw Iraq as
its caliphate, its center of struggle and dominance for
establishing its Taliban-like ideology in the heart of the Arab
world," Smith said.
The group is foreign-led - its current leader is Egyptian - but
uses dissatisfied Iraqis as fighters.
Al Qaeda in Iraq uses barbaric tactics to intimidate Shia,
Sunni, Kurds and Christians. "They executed young and old, men and
women," Smith said. "They beheaded fathers in front of their
children. They extorted, kidnapped and murdered for little or no
reason. To even the most casual observer, it appeared that all of
Iraq was the enemy of al Qaeda. No Iraqi was spared from their
wrath."
The main weapon in al Qaeda's arsenal is the suicide bomber.
Suicide attacks launched against the Golden Mosque in Samarra in
February 2006 came very close to pushing Iraq into a civil war.
There have been a number of high-profile suicide bombings in recent
months, even though the overall numbers of attacks are down. Smith
said foreigners carry out 90 percent of the suicide attacks in
Iraq.
At the beginning of 2007, al Qaeda seemed on its way to victory,
Smith said. Vast stretches of Iraq were under the terrorists sway
and in Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province, al Qaeda
even sponsored a parade down the main street. The group had freedom
of movement and safe havens in many areas of the Western Euphrates
River Valley and in many neighborhoods of Baghdad.
In 2007, al Qaeda in Iraq launched 4,500 attacks that targeted
civilians, Smith said. "Al Qaeda murdered 3,870 Iraqis, injuring
nearly 18,000 additional innocent civilians," he said. "The
violence peaked in March and April and as the surge of operations
pressed through the summer, the number of high profile explosions
slowly began to decrease.
"However," he said, "the numbers still remain alarmingly
high."
The keys to progress against al Qaeda were the surge in U.S.
forces into the country and the increased capabilities of Iraqi
forces, the admiral said. Iraqi security forces continue to grow,
develop their capabilities and shoulder more of the burden of
providing security. "In 2007, the Iraqi security forces grew by
more than 106,000 personnel," Smith said. "The total force now
stands at over 567,000."
The growth enabled the success of the "clear, hold, build"
strategy in the country. Coalition and Iraqi forces cleared areas,
then had the numbers to hold the areas and protect the people
living there from al Qaeda re-infiltration.
By the end of 2007, some 140 battalions of Iraqi army, National
Police and special operations units were in the fight with 122 of
those battalions capable of taking the lead in operations. "All
Iraqi battalions are heavily involved in combat operations and have
been increasingly the first line of defense, with losses two to
three times that of the coalition," Smith said.
Beyond the military fight against al Qaeda was the role the
tribes, sheikhs and people played, he said. The so-called "Anbar
Awakening" had a profound influence on taking large areas out of al
Qaeda's dominion. The people were tired of al Qaeda's bloody
tactics and began working with Iraqi and coalition security forces
to improve security.
"Today, more than 130 different concerned local citizen groups
are providing neighborhood security throughout Iraq, with over
80,000 active members - 80 percent of whom are Sunni (and) 20
percent Shia," Smith said. "Under the control of local Iraqi
security or coalition forces, these brave Iraqis have turned the
tide against al Qaeda and are no longer afraid to fight against
their ideology and violence."
Progress depends on squeezing al Qaeda in Iraq from every
direction and with every possible means, Smith said. "Progress made
in security must be followed quickly by improved economic security,
with employment being foremost," he said. "The government of Iraq
is acutely aware of this challenge and has worked side by side with
the provincial leadership to address many of their needs and
concerns. All of this will need to be worked in order to continue
squeezing al Qaeda out of their safe havens and operating bases and
into the open where they can be killed or captured."
Overall, operations against al Qaeda in Iraq in 2007 resulted in
the capture of 8,800 terrorists while an additional 2,400 were
killed, Smith said. Of those captured or killed were 52 emirs, 32
improvised explosive device leaders, 24 cell leaders and 92
facilitators.
"As Operation Phantom Phoenix continues, we know that a tough
fight is ahead, and we remain committed to pursuing al-Qaeda in
order to ensure security and stability for all of Iraq," Smith
said.
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