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CAMP VICTORY, Iraq (March 16, 2008) - On the heels of two
operations south of Baghdad, coalition forces of Multinational
Division Center are pushing further south to squeeze extremists
during Operation Marne Rugged, which began yesterday.
The operation is covering a rural area southeast of Baghdad,
south of the Tigris River in the area of operation of, 3rd Infantry
Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team and the 8th Iraqi Army's 3rd
Brigade.
The establishment of Patrol Base Summers, a joint Iraqi Army and
coalition forces base, is one of the operation's goals. It is named
for Staff Sgt. Vincent Summers, who paid the ultimate price while
serving with the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor
Regiment.
"We have found that when we put Iraqi Army and coalition forces
in a patrol base in an area like Summers, the population comes to
us and gives us that refined intelligence, so that we can do
precise operations against any al-Qaeda that may be in this area,"
said Col. Tom James, commander of 4th Brigade Combat Team.
In addition to establishing the patrol base and eliminating al
Qaeda and any other extremists, Operation Marne Rugged will focus
on capacity building. In anticipation of the operation, coalition
forces and Iraqi Army troops have already identified approximately
2,500 Iraqi security volunteers who are eager to transition into
Sons of Iraq in the short-term and into Iraqi Security Forces in
the long-term.
"We see two major tasks that we have to accomplish: One, we have
to integrate the Iraqi security volunteers," James said. "The other
is to provide quick-impact, small projects to the local
civilians."
Iraqi Col. Ali Abdul Hussein, commander of the Iraqi brigade,
also cited the importance of local projects, in particular
repairing water pumps that he said were damaged by terrorists.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of MND-C, told Hussein that
Coalition forces could help the IA fix the pumps in addition to
facilitating other projects.
"I believe we have a window of opportunity," Lynch said. "You
see, I've got this idea to transition from security to stability,
and stability is about jobs, services, schools, and we can help
with all that."
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