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WASHINGTON D.C. (March 24, 2008) - Working together, coalition
and Iraqi personnel are bringing peace to the war-torn streets of
Baghdad, a senior commander in the Iraqi capital said today.
Coalition and Iraqi officials are looking for ways to prove that
the "insurgency is really dying on the vine," said Army Col.
Dominic Caraccilo, commander of the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd
Brigade Combat Team.
Last year, there were more than 100 attacks per week on the
coalition in the area. Today, that's down to 12 and trending lower,
Caraccilo said.
The brigade and its Iraqi allies will be part of Operation Marne
Pile Driver, which will be launched throughout the Multinational
Division Center area of operations next week, Caraccilo said. The
operation is designed to rid the brigade's zone of the remaining
insurgent leaders, their cells and their support structure.
"It will be a 100 percent Iraqi-led operation," the colonel
said.
The operation allows for coalition and Iraqi government
resources to build capacity along economic and government lines of
operations. The operation will take advantage of security
improvements in the region -- once known as the Triangle of Death
-- to put in place facilities and services to benefit all Iraqis in
the southern Baghdad belts.
In the brigade's area -- also called Rakkassan area of
operations -- the operation will build a joint security station at
Yusefiyah and set up Iraqi-run radio stations. The Iraqi government
is providing money to refurbish two water treatment plants and
money to continue progress on reestablishing farming and processing
-- especially for poultry farms, which the area was once noted
for.
"We need to improve the quality of life for individuals,"
Caraccilo said. "We believe it will have an irreversible impact on
the stability in this region and pave the way for elections this
fall."
A year ago, the southern belts area "was arguably the poorest
and most dangerous area in Iraq," the colonel said. The coalition
unit there before, the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade Combat
Team, took heavy casualties in tamping down violence in the area.
The region is 75 percent Sunni and 25 percent Shiite, and al Qaeda
had many "rat lines" that brought in money, terrorists and finances
from outside.
The previous unit suffered 60 soldiers killed and more than 300
wounded during its time in the area. "They did an incredible job in
setting the conditions for what is now a stable environment,"
Caraccilo said.
The stability has allowed the "Rakkassans" to help train 4th
Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and to work with Iraqi police,
the brigade's embedded provincial reconstruction team, citizens
helping with security through the Sons of Iraq program and the
local tribal sheikh council in ways that were not possible
before.
The 101st paratroopers have 12 patrol bases in the
1,000-square-kilometer region and seven combined battle
positions.
"My Iraqi counterpart has soldiers at all our patrol bases and
has 84 battle positions and checkpoints," Caraccilo said. "We have
under our purview 700 Sons of Iraq checkpoints, which help thicken
our lines and to ensure the population is protected from the
insurgency."
More than 2,000 Iraqi police are operating in the eastern and
southern part of the area.
The stability allowed the allies to renovate 10 schools, 11
health clinics, four government buildings and eight water treatment
plants. It also has helped set up democratically elected town
councils and agricultural co-ops that reflect the concerns of the
people, Caraccilo said.
"We have great hopes, but realistic expectations for the next
few months," the colonel said. "Stability in the region is trending
up. We see the Iraqi army exponentially taking responsibility and
making efforts to sustain itself. We see the forward progress of
economic opportunity."
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