Iraqis Helping Troops Find Weapons Caches, General Says
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 9, 2007 – Iraqis in the country’s north, fed up with ongoing violence, are leading U.S. and Iraqi forces to some of the largest weapons and bombs caches found in the region to date, the commander of Multinational Division North told Pentagon reporters today.
This comes as U.S. troops in that area are handing off most counterinsurgency missions to Iraqi forces, allowing U.S. troops to focus on killing or capturing those who finance, make and emplace the deadly improvised explosive devices, said Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multinational Division North and the 25th Infantry Division.
So far this year, his forces have nearly doubled the monthly averages for finding IED caches, Mixon told reporters in the Pentagon via a satellite link from Contingency Operating Base Speicher, outside of Tikrit. The forces also have doubled the monthly average for killing the insurgents who use them, he said.
“The enemy is ruthless in using IEDs,” Mixon said. “We are equally as aggressive and violent in our approach to defeat them.”
Mixon said a cache found last week in Diyala had enough material to make about 130 “explosively formed projectiles,” as well as military-grade rockets and mortars, the largest find of that type so far. While EFPs make up only one percent of IEDs used against coalition forces, they are among the most deadly.
The find was part of an Iraqi forces-led mission and was based on a tip by a local informant, Mixon said. No arrests were made, but officials are still working with the informant to identify insurgents involved.
Locals are more willing to lead coalition forces to weapons and bombs caches partly because of the increased presence of Iraqi forces, Mixon said.
Source
Related Sites:
Multinational Corps Iraq
Human nature is interesting. If you are like me, just a little bit supersticious, you are reluctant to talk about significant progress lest you "jinx" it. LOL! But I am encouraged that the reinforcements we are sending are making a positive impact.
Our military has never really done well as a policing force. We don't train our Soldiers and Marines to be police officers; we train them to be warriors. We train them to be the meanest, baddest _ _ _ on the battlefield. So, I'm all for transitioning them out of the roll they are currently in, and building them up for the next front on Islamic terrorism.
We will never eradicate terrorists from this planet. So we must control them, and the only way to control them is to be diligent in prosecuting them when they raise their ugly sheetheads.
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 9, 2007 – Iraqis in the country’s north, fed up with ongoing violence, are leading U.S. and Iraqi forces to some of the largest weapons and bombs caches found in the region to date, the commander of Multinational Division North told Pentagon reporters today.
This comes as U.S. troops in that area are handing off most counterinsurgency missions to Iraqi forces, allowing U.S. troops to focus on killing or capturing those who finance, make and emplace the deadly improvised explosive devices, said Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of Multinational Division North and the 25th Infantry Division.
So far this year, his forces have nearly doubled the monthly averages for finding IED caches, Mixon told reporters in the Pentagon via a satellite link from Contingency Operating Base Speicher, outside of Tikrit. The forces also have doubled the monthly average for killing the insurgents who use them, he said.
“The enemy is ruthless in using IEDs,” Mixon said. “We are equally as aggressive and violent in our approach to defeat them.”
Mixon said a cache found last week in Diyala had enough material to make about 130 “explosively formed projectiles,” as well as military-grade rockets and mortars, the largest find of that type so far. While EFPs make up only one percent of IEDs used against coalition forces, they are among the most deadly.
The find was part of an Iraqi forces-led mission and was based on a tip by a local informant, Mixon said. No arrests were made, but officials are still working with the informant to identify insurgents involved.
Locals are more willing to lead coalition forces to weapons and bombs caches partly because of the increased presence of Iraqi forces, Mixon said.
Source
Related Sites:
Multinational Corps Iraq
Human nature is interesting. If you are like me, just a little bit supersticious, you are reluctant to talk about significant progress lest you "jinx" it. LOL! But I am encouraged that the reinforcements we are sending are making a positive impact.
Our military has never really done well as a policing force. We don't train our Soldiers and Marines to be police officers; we train them to be warriors. We train them to be the meanest, baddest _ _ _ on the battlefield. So, I'm all for transitioning them out of the roll they are currently in, and building them up for the next front on Islamic terrorism.
We will never eradicate terrorists from this planet. So we must control them, and the only way to control them is to be diligent in prosecuting them when they raise their ugly sheetheads.
posted by Gary | 8:50 AM
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