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WASHINGTON D.C. (January 18, 2008) - The concerned local
citizens groups in Iraq have made a huge impact in areas that were
once al Qaeda fiefdoms, and the program is expanding to include the
economic aspects of the counterinsurgency fight, Army Col. Wayne W.
Grigsby Jr. said today during a phone interview from Iraq.
Grigsby commands the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat
Team. He is responsible for an area east of Baghdad that is the
size of Rhode Island.
Grigsby's area of operations contains a mix of Shiia and Sunni
neighborhoods, and the concerned local citizens program has brought
security. With 1.2 million people, the murder rate is now about
equal with that of Detroit, the colonel said.
Coalition and Iraqi officials want to provide a means to
continue progress made by the area's concerned citizens groups by
establishing the Iraqi Civilian Conservation Force, Grigsby
said.
The concerned local citizens man checkpoints and have developed
a good working relationship with the Iraqi National Police, Iraqi
army and coalition forces in the area, Grigsby said. There are
roughly 4,600 members of the concerned local citizens groups in the
area, all organized by local sheikhs.
Coalition officials think about 25 percent of the concerned
local citizens will transfer to the local police departments or the
national police.
"We have to create gainful employment for the rest," Grigsby
said. "In this culture, providing for one's family is a grave
matter of honor. We've known all along that the CLCs were a
temporary expedient."
The Iraqi Civilian Conservation Force is based on the U.S.
version formed in the early 1930's to put unemployed young men to
work during the Great Depression. The Iraqi version will pave
roads, conduct neighborhood sanitation and work on other
infrastructure improvements.
"They will accomplish civil works projects as determined by the
mayor's council and the sheikhs, and provide a way to earn an
honorable living without resorting to the extremists," the colonel
said.
There are around 320 men in the group now in Grigsby's area.
"They will provide the template for other groups when they are
ready to transfer out of the security role," he said.
In addition, the program aims to provide scholarships to
concerned local citizens to attend vocational schools. Grigsby said
the command is also providing funding to a local brick factory that
will potentially employ 7,000 more people by spring, and they are
sponsoring a small-business program that provides training and
loans for people to start businesses.
With unemployment in the area around 40 percent, "We have to
increase the employment rate because idle hands will attract
insurgents," Grigsby said.
All of this is done in close coordination with local tribal
leaders. "In this country, if you cut the sheikhs out, you might as
well tell them to go work for the extremists," Grigsby said. "They
have to be part of this."
The program is also beginning in other parts of Iraq.
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