|
WASHINTON D.C. (June 10, 2008) - U.S. and Iraqi military
operations in northern Iraq have cut the number of roadside bombs
there nearly in half since February, the commander of Multinational
Division North told reporters at a Pentagon briefing today.
The number of roadside bombs -- known in military parlance as
improvised explosive devices, or IEDs -- discovered in May was 550,
compared to 900 in February, Army Maj. Gen. Mark P. Hertling told
reporters in a teleconference from Camp Striker in Iraq. Coalition
troops clear about half the IEDs each month, he said.
Hertling, who also commands the U.S. Army's 1st Armored
Division, attributed the improved security to increased capability
of Iraqi security forces, the contributions of the "Sons of Iraq"
citizen security group, and changing attitudes among enemy fighters
who are "just tired, quite frankly, of fighting."
Security in areas under MND North's purview -- a region about
the size of Pennsylvania -- has improved significantly from six
months ago, when northern Iraqi cities such as Hawijah were overrun
with insurgents driven out of points south, such as Baghdad,
Hertling said. In two offensives launched this spring, significant
numbers of top- and mid-level insurgent leaders were killed and
captured, allowing coalition gains in Ninevah, Diyala and Kirkuk
provinces, he said.
Hertling said he agrees with assessments that the northern city
of Mosul is "the last urban stronghold" of al-Qaida in Iraq. But,
improvements are being made there, as well, he said. Some 30
outposts have been built there by U.S. engineers since February,
and Iraqi forces increasingly are able to secure the area, he
said.
"I'll never say anything is last with al-Qaida because you never
know what's going to happen to them next," Hertling said.
Coalition forces are focusing more on the desert areas
surrounding Mosul, where they believe enemy fighters are fleeing,
he said.
Asked about the presence of foreign fighters in Iraq, Hertling
said they are from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Kuwait and enter
through the Syrian border in northwestern Iraq. Foreign-fighter
facilitators have been found throughout Ninevah, he said. Last
week, a Sons of Iraq citizen security unit rejected bribes by
smugglers and killed nine foreign fighters at a checkpoint in
Salahuddin province, Hertling said.
U.S. and Iraqi officials hope that improved security and a
better economy are fostering construction projects and other job
opportunities that will give options to people at the lower levels
of enemy fighting who aren't so loyal to the cause. In fact,
Hertling said, one intelligence estimate predicted that half of
lower-level, or third-tier, enemy fighters would quit if they had a
job. The unemployment rate in northern Iraq is as high as 80
percent in some areas, he said.
"Many of these guys are doing some of these criminal or
terrorist actions just to get paid and to survive," Hertling said.
"Some of these guys are just gangs that set out to commit
crimes."
The low-level enemy fighters "are the ones that, while we still
sometimes have to kill or capture them, the increase in the
infrastructure and the ability to provide jobs may cause some
additional tipping of this organization in the north, and
everywhere else in Iraq," Hertling said.
Many insurgents are tired of fighting and are beginning to
realize "that the way you move forward now in Iraq society is
thought the representative process and getting your vote ready,"
Hertling said.
Still, the general acknowledged, an insurgent's suicide attack
against police in Kirkuk yesterday was a reminder that enemy
fighters will continue to try to intimidate security forces. "The
terrorists have gone after those individuals to see if they can
break their backbone, and they haven't been able to do it yet," he
said.
The biggest challenge coalition forces face in the north is in
improving Iraqi police units through recruiting and training, the
general said. A recently completed police training center in Diyala
province is expected to produce as many as 500 new officers per
month, he said.
|
