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WASHINGTON D.C. (January 25, 2008) - As Iraqis continue to
organize at the local level to help with security, they are
creating pressure on Iraq's national leaders to build on momentum,
a top military official said yesterday.
Army Brig. Gen. Edward Cardon, deputy commander for support for
Multinational Division Center and Task Force Marne, told online
journalists and "bloggers" in a conference call that Iraqis seem to
be more and more organized at the local level, with concerned local
citizens working alongside Iraqi and coalition forces to make and
keep their neighborhoods safe.
"I think that organization is starting to put a lot of pressure
from the bottom up on the national government," he said.
Coalition and Iraqi security forces, along with local citizens,
have made significant security improvements in the southern belts
of Baghdad, Cardon said.
"I think the difference now is (that) before, we were reacting
to al Qaeda, now they react to us," he said.
Cardon, who is in the 10th month of his 15-month tour, said that
rather than frightening local citizens into inaction, attacks by al
Qaeda insurgents are now having the opposite effect.
"When this happens, the resolve of the citizens actually goes
up, and then we have more of an effort by these locals to join and
purge their area of al Qaeda," he said.
With the local and national security forces making strides, the
general said, coalition forces can take a step back and monitor
them.
In recent attacks, the Iraqi army and police have been able to
handle security situations on their own, he said, as coalition
forces maintained liaison with them and watched very carefully.
"I think that the Iraqi government's finally starting to step up
and provide some help," Cardon said. "They're much more deliberate
in the way they search people, in the way they profile, and in the
way they handle the traffic."
Now, the coalition can concentrate on integrating the concerned
local citizens into the either the Iraqi security forces or other
programs, the general said. Of the 40,500 concerned citizens now in
that security program, 20 percent will end up in the Iraqi security
forces, and the hope is for the rest to join educational,
vocational and other programs they are creating on their own using
micro-grants, Cardon told the journalists.
"I think that's very, very encouraging," he said.
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