Good News Iraq Report 6 May:

Sent to us by
First Lieutenant Jarred A. Fishman, USAFR 1)
Sunni Muslim Sheikhs join US in fighting Al Qaeda

from the May 03, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0503/p01s04-wome.html

Iraqi tribal support is linked to drop in violence in Anbar Province. By Sam Dagher | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor Ramadi, Iraq

Amid fields of wheat and barley, dozens of armed men emerged along a dirt road leading to the fiefdom of the Bu-Fahed tribe in Hamdhiyah, an idyllic corner of restive Anbar Province, just north of Ramadi. "Welcome to our proud sheikhs. Down with terror," read banners on the road. Dozens of sheikhs and tribal elders in flowing gold-trimmed camel-hair cloaks, many clutching colorful worry beads, streamed into a conference hall. Each was frisked by tribesmen to guard against suicide bombs. The meeting looked to be a typical gathering, but its true purpose was for top sheikhs to issue an ultimatum: quit supporting Al Qaeda and turn in relatives belonging to the group. Like dominoes, tribes reeling from a campaign of killing and intimidation by Al Qaeda have been joining, one by one, the US-led fight against Al Qaeda in Iraq in this Sunni Arab province. Last month, US Gen. David Petraeus told Congress that violence was down significantly here and that the tribes were key to the transformation. On Tuesday, the tribes claimed a major victory: the death of Abu Ayub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. While many are skeptical about the claim, the episode underscores the Iraqi government's eagerness to bank on the success of turning tribes away from Al Qaeda and the Sunni insurgency. But whether these new allegiances from tribes that once backed Al Qaeda will stick remains to be seen, say analysts. "I do not think it [the council of tribes against Al Qaeda] goes far enough to weaken other elements of the insurgency," says Zaki Chehab, political editor at the London-based Al Hayat newspaper. "There is also no clear commitment yet from influential tribes on how to deal with the Americans." But winning over the Bu-Fahed tribe was a coup. It had been one of Al Qaeda's staunchest supporters, and traces its lineage to the birthplace of the puritan form of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism in the Saudi Arabian province of Najd. It formally threw its lot behind Sheikh Abdel-Sattar Abu Risha.

Sheikh Abu Risha Sheikh Abu Risha is the force behind the so-called Al Anbar Salvation Council of tribes against Al Qaeda, which is now strongly backed by both the US military and Iraqi government, and it includes 17 tribes.

It was Abu Risha who boasted on state TV Tuesday that his kinsmen killed the Al Qaeda in Iraq commander and seven of his cohorts – two Saudis and five Iraqis. "Our kinsmen in Taji clashed with Abu Hamza, and he has been killed.... There are witnesses, he has been killed," he said, referring to a town northwest of Baghdad. His announcement was then followed by songs praising the "glories of Anbar's tribes." The US military and the Iraqi government were unable to confirm Mr. Masri's death with the Interior Ministry, which said that it was working on retrieving Masri's body from the Taji tribes. A posting on a fundamentalist website denied it.Abu Risha's movement emerged last fall in what one sheikh described as the "Anbar Intifada," a reference to the Palestinian uprising against Israeli forces. In posters prepared by the US military in Ramadi, Abu Risha is shown with his rifle slung on his shoulder and looming large over small masked men (meant to represent Al Qaeda) fleeing in fear. Anbar's provincial seat, Ramadi, which Al Qaeda declared in October to be the capital of its so-called Islamic state in Iraq, is now firmly in the grips of US and Iraqi forces. US Capt. Jay McGee, intelligence officer with the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment from Fort Worth, Texas, says that the motivation for the tribes to join the council is largely self-serving. "Everyone is convinced Coalition forces are going to leave and they are saying, 'We do not want Al Qaeda to take control of the area when that happens.' For them, Al Qaeda is a greater threat long term." Captain McGee's battalion is in charge of the area where the Bu-Fahed is located, and says that many of the tribesmen now joining Iraqi government security forces once fought with insurgent groups like the 1920 Revolution Brigades, Islamic Army, Mohammad's Army, and the Fatiheen Army.

New fight for Bu-Faheds At the gathering in Hamdhiyah last week, tribal leaders took their place in rows of white plastic chairs in the presence of a handful US military officers.

"The tribe has gone through its most difficult period. We have lost many dear sons. What complicates matters is that some of our same sons have embraced terrorists and carried out their orders," Sheikh Haqi Ismail al-Fahdawi told his fellow tribesmen. He told them that they must now encourage young men to join the Army and police and write to sheikhs from other tribes in Anbar to pressure them to hand over fugitives from the Bu-Fahed who were Al-Qaeda members and also use their families who remained behind as leverage. "The days of writs of forgiveness are over," he said.Another tribal notable, Hussein Zbeir, grabbed the microphone from Sheikh Haqi and spoke more bluntly about Al Qaeda's role: "If it was not for the coyotes among us, no one would have been killed, kidnapped, or bombed. You know who among you brought the Yemeni with the suicide vest." Sheikh Jabbar al-Fahdawi, a 30-something civil engineer, who is being groomed to assume the tribe's leadership, said in an interview that his brother and hundreds of his kinsmen were killed by Al Qaeda. He said 20 percent of his tribe had, over the years, been recruited by Al Qaeda, while an equal amount joined insurgent groups. "We have frozen the true resistance, and I told my followers to stop attacking the Americans. We consider the Americans to be our friends at the moment so that we can get rid of the extremists," he said adding that tribe fugitives guilty of killing must be tracked down and executed and their families banished from the tribe. He rolls up his sleeves to show deep scars from gunshot wounds he sustained in recent battles against Al Qaeda. "I left my work in Baghdad to come and free my tribe," he said. Soon thereafter, Abu Risha appears. He arrives in a motorcade of SUVs and police pick-up trucks bristling with machine guns.The door of one of the vehicles is flung open. Abu Risha emerges wearing dark wrap-around sunglasses and dressed in the finest tribal attire. He hugs Sheikh Jabbar who leads him by hand into the meeting. "Anbar is one tribe and our awakening will sweep through all of Iraq, God willing," he tells the Bu-Faheds. In an interview later, he proudly pulls out a pistol from a holster tied around his waist. He says it was given to him by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. His father and four of his brothers, he says, were killed by Al-Qaeda.

But throughout Anbar, the ties are still strong to Al Qaeda. Sheikh Hareth al-Dhari, who hails from one of Anbar's most prestigious tribes and heads the antigovernment Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq, called on Osama bin Laden to intervene to stop the rift between Al Qaeda in Iraq and the local insurgency. He described men like Abu Risha as "agents and conduits of the [US] occupation.""I call on Sheikh Osama bin Laden in the name of the Islam for which he fights to intervene and to instruct Al Qaeda to adhere to the rules of proper jihad and to respect the people who had previously opened their arms to Al Qaeda," Mr. Dhari said in an interview Sunday with Bahrain's Akhbar al-Khaleej newspaper. Dhari's remarks indicated that the US and Iraqis still have much work ahead to fully dislodge Al Qaeda from all the Anbar tribes. "If he [bin Laden] has no influence over Al Qaeda in Iraq, then he must say it so that we can decide how to deal with those who have hurt our main cause, which is liberating Iraq," he said.

2) More Cracks Emerging in Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq"

By Evan Kohlmann- Counter Terrorism Report 3 May 2007 http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/05/more_cracks_emerging_in_alqaid.php

In the wake of the recent and very public rift between the Sunni Islamic Army of Iraq (IAI) and Al-Qaida's "Islamic State", yet more cracks are suddenly beginning to show in the unified jihadist coalition that Al-Qaida has been trying to assemble in Sunni regions of Iraq. Today, the IAI--along with factions from at least two other predominant Sunni militant groups, the Mujahideen Army and the notorious Ansar al-Sunnah Army--have officially announced the formation of their own separate political coalition: "The Reformation and Jihad Front" (RJF). This new front would seem to be a direct challenge to the authority of Al-Qaida's "Islamic State" and is said to enjoy support from Sunni Islamist circles (like Ansar al-Sunnah) which have, in the past, worked closely with Al-Qaida. The new "Reformation and Jihad Front" is also courting the involvement of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, though it is--as of yet--unclear what their reaction has been. It should be noted that the RJF appears to be disproportionately influenced by the IAI.

Read the rest:

Related: http://www.reformandjihadfront.org

3) Cavalry foils insurgent attack at Tarmiyah Huda Girls’ School

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 20070430-06
April 30, 2007 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers foiled an
insurgent attack comprised of numerous improvised explosive devices targeting
an all-girls’ school north of Baghdad April 28. Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, discovered a command wire leading from the school’s outer perimeter to one of the rooms at the Huda Girls’ School, in Tarmiyah, Iraqi. Inside the room, the cavalry troops discovered five artillery shell explosives.

The insurgent’s planned attack, in opposition of the construction of the school, also included two large explosive-filled propane tanks buried underneath the school’s floor and numerous projectiles emplaced underneath electrical conduits in front of each classroom.

The unit believes Al Qaeda extremists, operating in the area, are responsible for the emplacement of the explosives in an effort to thwart the
progress the local government has made to improve the lives of the people of
Tarmiyah.The reconstructed school, a project led by the local Tarmiyah government, was scheduled to open in the coming weeks. This is the second time this month explosives have been found in the facility.“ This is a testimony of how little the Al-Qaeda of Iraq truly care about thecitizens of Iraq,” said Lt. Col. Scott Efflandt, commander of 2-8th Cavalry.

An explosive ordnance disposal team transported all of the explosive
rounds from the school for disposal.

4) Army Colonel’s Gamble Pays off in Iraq

By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-04-30-ramadi-colonel_N.htm

FRIEDBERG, Germany — When U.S. strategy in Iraq called for pulling American forces back to large, heavily protected bases last year, Army Col. Sean MacFarland was moving in the opposite direction. He built small, more vulnerable combat outposts in Ramadi's most dangerous neighborhoods — places where al-Qaeda had taken root. "I was going the wrong way down a one-way street," MacFarland says. Soon after, MacFarland started negotiating with a group of Sunni sheiks, some of whom have had mixed loyalties in the war. His superiors initially were wary, fearful the plan could backfire, he says. He forged ahead anyway.Today, with violence down in Ramadi and the surrounding Anbar province west of Baghdad, MacFarland's tactics have led to one of Iraq's rare success stories. Al-Qaeda's presence has diminished as Iraqis have begun to reclaim their neighborhoods. And Army officials are examining how MacFarland's approach might help the military make progress in other parts of the violence-racked country.Pentagon officials say the encouraging episode in Ramadi is a poignant reflection of shifting leadership tactics within the U.S. military, which is trying to develop a generation of officers who can think creatively and are as comfortable dealing with tribal sheiks as they are with tank formations on a conventional battlefield."You can't take a conventional approach to an unconventional situation," says Col. Ralph Baker, a former brigade commander in Iraq who is assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.The Army is training its officers to be more collaborative with non-military types and to be able to work with relief groups and local reporters, says Col. Steve Mains, director of the Center for Army Lessons Learned, an office based at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., that analyzes battlefield tactics and distributes its findings across the Army.As shown by MacFarland, 48, such a pragmatic style can run counter to the traditional image of a hard-charging, swagger stick-carrying Army commander epitomized by Hollywood's version of Gen. George Patton. It's also an adjustment for a fighting force that has been armed and organized for conventional wars."There are big changes coming," Mains says. "It's not like we turned into a debating party. … It's just the way we try to draw in other people to get the other viewpoint." The military's new counterinsurgency manual makes clear that firepower is only part of the equation.Mains acknowledges that in the current Army, "not every brigade or battalion commander has gotten that." He says MacFarland, whose brigade returned to its home base here in Germany in February, "really understood this is an argument between us and the insurgents."

Last week, the Army sent a team here to interview MacFarland and other key leaders in the brigade to examine what they accomplished in their 14-month tour in Iraq."A lot of ideas are out there," says Col. Eric Jenkins, who headed the team from the Center for Army Lessons Learned. "Everybody's looking for solutions."MacFarland said he was willing to try just about anything to win over the population and reduce violence in Ramadi. "You name it, I tried it," he says.When most of his 1st Brigade was ordered from Tal Afar in northern Iraq to Ramadi in late May 2006, "I was given very broad guidance," MacFarland says. "Fix Ramadi, but don't destroy it. Don't do a Fallujah," he recalls, referring to the 2004 offensive in which U.S. Marines and Army soldiers fought block by block to expel insurgents from that Sunni stronghold. The operation leveled large parts of the city and angered many Sunni Muslims there and across Iraq.

In Ramadi, MacFarland embraced the freedom and accepted risk."I had a lot of flexibility, so I ran with it," he says.He lacked the number of troops required for a large offensive. The combat outposts allowed him to secure Ramadi "a chunk at a time," he says, adding that he pursued the sheiks because of their "leverage" over the population.The brigade, which commanded about 5,500 soldiers and Marines, immediately began building combat outposts in Ramadi."We did it where al-Qaeda was strongest," MacFarland says. The outposts housed U.S. troops, Iraqi security forces and civil affairs teams.It was a risky strategy that put U.S. soldiers in daily battles with insurgents.The brigade lost 95 soldiers; another 600 suffered wounds over the course of its tour in Iraq.Taking troops out of heavily fortified bases as MacFarland did often produces results but increases risk, says Hy Rothstein, a retired Special Forces officer who teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.MacFarland put a battalion under Lt. Col. V.J. Tedesco in the southern part of the city, where al-Qaeda fighters were concentrated.Before the battalion arrived, that part of the city "was largely off-limits to coalition forces," Tedesco said at a briefing for the Army Lessons Learned team last week.His battalion lost 25 tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and trucks to roadside bombs as they began patrolling and setting up bases."We just absorbed IEDs," Tedesco said, referring to roadside bombs.MacFarland's brigade didn't wait until a neighborhood was entirely secure before launching construction projects, recruiting police and trying to establish a government. Lt. Col. John Tien, commander of 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor, says the brigade was "aggressive" about pushing ahead on projects as soldiers were establishing security.By the time the unit returned to Germany, the brigade had built 18 combat outposts in and around Ramadi.The combat outposts helped reduce violence last summer, but the brigade wasn't close to winning over the population, an essential part of defeating an insurgency.Anbar province, population 1.2 million, is a vast tract of desert dotted by cities and villages, stretching from outside Baghdad to the Syrian border. It's a region of very religious Sunnis governed largely by sheiks, imams and tribal law. Ramadi's population is 300,000.MacFarland says he soon realized the key was to win over the tribal leaders, or sheiks."The prize in the counterinsurgency fight is not terrain," he says. "It's the people. When you've secured the people, you have won the war. The sheiks lead the people."But the sheiks were sitting on the fence.They were not sympathetic to al-Qaeda, but they tolerated its members, MacFarland says.The sheiks' outlook had been shaped by watching an earlier clash between Iraqi nationalists — primarily former members of Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party — and hard-core al-Qaeda operatives who were a mix of foreign fighters and Iraqis. Al-Qaeda beat the nationalists. That rattled the sheiks."Al-Qaeda just mopped up the floor with those guys," he says."We get there in late May and early June 2006, and the tribes are on the sidelines. They'd seen the insurgents take a beating. After watching that, they're like, 'Let's see which way this is going to go.' "MacFarland's brigade initially struggled to build an Iraqi police force, a critical step in establishing order in the city.

"We said to the sheiks, 'What's it going to take to get you guys off the fence?' " MacFarland says.The sheiks said their main concern was protecting their own tribes and families.The brigade made an offer: If the tribal leaders encouraged their members to join the police, the Army would build police stations in the tribal areas and let the recruits protect their own tribes and families. They wouldn't have to leave their neighborhoods."We said, 'How about if we recruit them to join the police and they go right back into their tribal areas?' " MacFarland recalls.Some tribes agreed.The number of police recruits in Ramadi jumped from about 30 a month to 100 in June 2006 and about 300 in July. More than 3,000 new recruits had joined the police by the time MacFarland's brigade left in February.Trying to blunt police recruitment, al-Qaeda fighters simultaneously attacked one of the new Ramadi police stations with a car bomb in August 2006, killing several Iraqi police, and assassinated the leader of the Abu Ali Jassim tribe.They hid the sheik's body, denying him a proper Muslim burial, and his remains were not found until four days later. Members of the tribe were outraged. A couple of weeks later, one of the brigade's officers went to visit Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi, a local tribal leader. The officer was shocked to see a gathering of 20-30 sheiks jammed into al-Rishawi's home. Al-Rishawi was asked what was going on."We are forming an alliance against al-Qaeda," the sheik replied, according to MacFarland. "Are you with us?"MacFarland was. Now he needed to convince his bosses.Officials at MacFarland's higher headquarters, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based near Fallujah, were worried. The U.S. military was supposed to be supporting Iraq's government. A tribal alliance could pose a threat to Anbar Gov. Maamoun Sami Rashid al-Awani.Al-Awani's government wasn't popular and had been thinned by threats and assassinations. Still, U.S. policy was to back Iraqi government institutions.The tribal leaders didn't like al-Awani and wanted him replaced. MacFarland said the sheiks agreed to back off their demand that al-Awani step down.There were other concerns. Al-Rishawi and his colleagues were second-tier sheiks. Most of Anbar's senior tribal leaders, some of whom amassed considerable wealth in a variety of businesses, had decamped to Jordan because of the growing violence after the U.S.-led invasion.The Marine headquarters in Anbar was in contact with the tribal leaders in Jordan and was concerned that an alliance involving the U.S. military and junior leaders — the ones who remained in Ramadi — would jeopardize that relationship.MacFarland says he saw it differently. The contacts in Jordan had yielded little. "Maybe there is a power struggle between the sheiks in Jordan and the sheiks in Anbar," MacFarland says. "But let's back the sheiks in Anbar. Let's pick a horse and back it."He says the results were immediate when a sheik pledged to support the alliance with the U.S. Army, an agreement some of the sheiks involved would grandly name The Awakening. "Once a tribal leader flips, attacks on American forces in that area stop almost overnight," MacFarland says.Marine headquarters officers also raised concerns about the backgrounds of some of the tribal leaders involved in The Awakening. Anbar's desolate roads and stretches of empty desert have long been home to smugglers.

"I've read the reports" on al-Rishawi, MacFarland says. "You don't get to be a sheik by being a nice guy. These guys are ruthless characters. … That doesn't mean they can't be reliable partners.” Despite its concerns, the Marine headquarters allowed MacFarland to pursue his work with the tribes and ultimately supported it.The alliance grew to more than 50 sheiks by the time the brigade left Iraq, spreading throughout the province. Police recruiting continued to increase. The tribes began attacking al-Qaeda leaders who were on U.S. target lists, according to brigade documents.More than 200 sheiks are now part of the alliance. They plan to form a political party.Military analysts say there are no textbook guides for what MacFarland did. Battling a counterinsurgency demands leaders "who understand that this is a different kind of war than the Army and Marine Corps have trained for," says Andrew Krepinevich, a counterinsurgency expert at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. "The big difference is in the leadership."Some military analysts question whether the Army has made enough institutional changes to prepare officers for the demands of a counterinsurgency effort, even if some leaders such as MacFarland do well in such situations."This type of warfare is so much (more) fundamentally different than what the U.S. armed forces stand for," says Rothstein, the instructor at Naval Postgraduate School. "On the margin there will be some people who get it, but whether the entire institution is going to make a 180-degree turn is doubtful."From MacFarland's standpoint, it was less about leadership style and more about necessity."Maybe I was a bit of a drowning man in Ramadi," he says. "I was reaching for anything that would help me float. And that was the tribes."

5) Al-Qaida ousted from one Iraqi district

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq_Shadow_State.html Last updated May 3, 2007 11:11 a.m. PT By TODD PITMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

BAQOUBA, Iraq -- Across the walls of the villas they seized in the name of their shadow government, black-masked al-Qaida militants spray-painted the words: "Property of the Islamic State of Iraq."They manned checkpoints and buried an elaborate network of bombs in the streets. They issued austere edicts ordering women not to work. They filmed themselves attacking Americans and slaughtered those who did not believe in their cause.For months, al-Qaida turned a part of one Baqouba neighborhood into an insurgent fiefdom that American and Iraqi forces were too undermanned to tackle - a startling example of the terror group's ability to thrive openly in some places outside Baghdad even as U.S.-led forces struggle to regain control in the capital.U.S. forces took back the entire Tahrir neighborhood during a weeklong operation that wrapped up Sunday in Baqouba, a city 35 miles northeast of Baghdad that al-Qaida declared last year the capital of its self-styled Islamic caliphate.Though the operation was a success - it forced the guerrillas to either flee or melt into the population - soldiers say the extremists are likely to pop up anywhere else that's short on American firepower.Indeed, even as the Tahrir operation took place, insurgents stepped up attacks on a new police post in the adjacent Old Baqouba district - which was also cleared recently - pounding it daily and killing Baqouba's police chief in a suicide car bombing. Insurgent teams, meanwhile, have tried to infiltrate back into Tahrir, U.S. Capt. Huber Parsons said Tuesday.When U.S. forces began pouring into the embattled district last week, residents said it was the first time they'd seen significant numbers of coalition troops since last fall. U.S. troops set up a combat outpost in northern Tahrir several months ago.But to the south, residents recounted watching helplessly as masked fighters came and went freely in past months, piling weapons into the back of vehicles and taking over the homes of Shiites who had either fled or been killed."We were terrorized," said one man. "We wondered, Where is the government? Why have they forgotten us? Why does nobody come here to help?"Baqouba has been wracked by violence for years. But insecurity has skyrocketed since late last year, partly because Sunni militants fleeing Baghdad's security crackdown have sought refuge here.An estimated 60,000 people have fled the city of 300,000, most of them Shiites driven out by Sunni hit squads. Meanwhile, vital government subsidized food and fuel shipments, which normally flow in from Baghdad, ceased arriving because of political corruption in the capital, said Col. David W. Sutherland, whose 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, is responsible for security in Diyala province."In an insurgency, if you don't have faith in the government or security forces ... you turn to those who will offer you a better way," Sutherland said. "The terrorists were able to drive a wedge between the government and the people. But we're reversing that."The battle for Baqouba picked up in mid-March.U.S. commanders rushed in Stryker infantry battalion which helped clear, and eventually calm, the southern district of Buhriz, once the city's most violent area. While American forces fought there and in Old Baqouba, they watched neighboring Tahrir spin out of control.Parsons said video from an unmanned aerial drone last month showed suspected al-Qaida militants searching vehicles at a checkpoint. They held back from destroying it, choosing to "track them to see where they were going, where they lived," Parsons said.Then, for eight days in early April, al-Qaida battled fellow insurgents from the nationalist 1920 Revolution Brigades, who residents said were trying to resist the terror group's bid for control. The nationalist fighters ran out of ammunition and fled.With the district firmly in al-Qaida's hands, local leaders and sheiks called on American and Iraqi soldiers for help.U.S. forces first sent road-clearing teams into southern Tahrir April 22. Insurgents fired mortars and popped out of windows with rocket launchers, destroying three de-mining robots. Tanks and infantry blasted surrounding buildings, killing more than a dozen attackers.The next day, Parsons moved three of his platoons into central Tahrir on foot. All three came under fire. The day ended with a 30-minute firefight at dusk in which rounds ripped through palm groves. Apache helicopters shot Hellfire missiles at a house insurgents had fled to, lighting the sky in thunderous blasts.

Fighting eased afterward. Soon, previously empty streets were teeming with crowds of people who shook soldiers' hands as they passed.Residents recounted watching groups of masked men dig into roads with jackhammers in recent weeks, planting bombs and stringing copper wire to trigger them from houses and schools.The militants mostly kept to themselves, but they distributed puritanical leaflets commanding women to cover themselves in black from head to toe, and stay home from work. They ordered tea shops shut and warned men not to smoke water-pipes."No one dared ask them why," said one father. Those who did drew unwanted scrutiny - and a possible death sentence, he said.Families told of Shiites who went shopping and never returned. One man said his brother had been kept and beaten in a makeshift prison with two dozen others.At night, masked men stormed homes, robbing and carrying out extra-judicial killings. "Nobody knew whether they were al-Qaida or the police or just common criminals," said a baker named Ali. "It was total lawlessness."Like other residents interviewed, Ali declined to give his full name in fear of reprisals from insurgents.Insurgents blocked roads with concrete barriers taken from coalition forces. One checkpoint was so permanent that U.S. troops found a schedule naming those who manned it daily.In some empty homes, guerrillas knocked small holes in the walls to use them as sniper positions. Below some, bullet casings littered the floor.Half a dozen of houses containing weapon stashes, as well as one booby-trapped villa with a 155mm artillery shell rigged to blow behind its front door, were leveled. Many stashes were pointed out by residents.One cache of rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs was found simply leaning against a wall in the back room of an abandoned home, along with handcuffs, ski masks, radio handsets and a video camera. A tape inside it showed a "Husky" American bomb disposal vehicle trying to de-mine a road in Baqouba.Parsons eyes widened when he saw it: the driver and the vehicle work with his Stryker unit.On the video, machine-gun fire erupted amid cries of "Allahu Akbar," God is Great, targeting the vehicle and a de-mining robot.The footage cut abruptly to an unrelated, final scene: A closeup of a blood-splattered corpse whose blindfold had been pulled from his face. The man looked Iraqi and appeared to have been tortured.Soldiers said they believed al-Qaida operatives had lived in Tahrir, using homes there as a kind of rear base. In the living room of one home residents said served as a medical aid station for wounded fighters were empty beds, neck braces and x-rays scattered across the floor.Although insurgents claimed many houses in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq, they tried to erase their work with splotches of white paint two months ago - realizing the proclamations might be too conspicuous. On some gates and walls, the paint was too thin to cover the black Arabic lettering.The Islamic State is a coalition of eight insurgent groups. Late last month, it named a 10-member "Cabinet" complete with a "war minister," an apparent attempt to present the Sunni coalition as an alternative to the U.S.-backed, Shiite-led administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.Parsons assured each family that U.S. troops and police would stay behind to keep insurgents out after he left, and establish a new police station.Al-Qaida "had months and months to run rampant because we didn't have the forces available to come in here until now," Parsons said. "They controlled this neighborhood, but they don't anymore."

6) The Anbar Salvation Council goes expeditionary with attacks on Al Qaeda http://billroggio.com/archives/2007/05/the_anbar_salvation.php

An update on the al-Masri investigation as Anbar's tribal fighters are operating outside of the province: Information on the status of Abu Ayyub al Masri, al Qaeda in Iraq's commander and the Minister of Defense for al Qaeda's Islamic State in Iraq, has remained essentially static since yesterday afternoon. Multinational Forces Iraq have taken a wait-and-see approach, and the Iraqi government has refused to confirm his death. What is clear is that a battle between forces of the Anbar Salvation Council and al Qaeda in Iraq occurred in the town of al-Nibayi, near Taji in Salahadin province, al Qaeda took casualties and U.S. and Iraq security forces, along with the tribal fighters of the Anbar Salvation Council are securing the scene of the fight in an attempt to find al Masri's body.

Read the rest

7) Senior Insurgent Leader Killed by U.S. Troops
Army Says Killing and Operation Rat Trap Dealt Significant Blow to Al Qaeda in Iraq

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050300420.html

By Sudarsan Raghavan, Howard Schneider and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 3, 2007; 9:20 AM

BAGHDAD, May 3 -- A senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leader who helped orchestrate the kidnappings of American journalist Jill Carroll and Virginia peace activist Tom Fox was killed by U.S. troops early Tuesday, a top U.S. military spokesman said.The death of Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jabouri came Tuesday during a strike on four buildings west of the Iraqi city of Taji, U.S. military spokesperson Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said. The operation followed a separate, 72-hour attack dubbed Operation Rat Trap, which Caldwell said led to the death of 15 suspected insurgents and the capture of 95 others.Caldwell characterized both operations as a significant blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq--even as he acknowledged that the group has proven "resilient" and able to generate new leaders to replace those arrested or slain.Jabouri was identified as al-Qaeda in Iraq's senior information minister, responsible for crafting propaganda efforts and coordinating the flow of money and foreign fighters. Caldwell said Jabouri was the last person known to have "personal custody" of Fox before Fox was shot multiple times and killed in March 2006. Jabouri was also involved in moving Carroll from one hiding place to another and creating ransom and propaganda communiques about her, Caldwell said, before Carroll was released later that same month.In addition, Caldwell said, Jabouri was linked to the kidnapping in early 2006 of two German engineers who were released after being held for three months."Picking up somebody with that kind of history, that is significant -- to be able to stop that kind of activity," Caldwell said. "Taking him off the street is a good thing."Caldwell said Jabouri was shot to death while resisting capture at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.The announcement of his death could help clear up several days of confusion over the purported capture or slaying of a top-ranking insurgent leader. Iraqi officials reported Tuesday that al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been killed. Early Thursday, Iraqi officials said Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the purported leader of the insurgent group Islamic State in Iraq, had been slain.But Caldwell said Masri has not been killed and U.S. officials are not even sure who Baghdadi is. He said U.S. officials, after checking extensively, have no indication that any high-profile target beside Jabouri has been killed in recent days.U.S. officials believe the confusion stemmed in part from the two days it took to identify Jabouri's body through DNA testing.

Caldwell also cited an incident Wednesday in which Jabouri's body, having been released by the U.S. military for burial, was seized at a checkpoint manned by Iraqi soldiers who did not realize the body had been identified and released by the U.S. military.He said the Iraqi soldiers at the checkpoint alerted their superiors that they had the body of a senior insurgent leader, and Iraqi officials alerted U.S. officials, who eventually determined that the body was Jabouri's and should not be kept in custody any longer.In the meantime, Caldwell said, information about the body may have trickled out to Iraqi government officials who announced the purported death of Baghdadi."It took us until about three hours ago to sort everything out ourselves," Caldwell said.Caldwell could not explain why Iraqi officials were not alerted ahead of time that Jabouri's body had been released to a fellow tribesman and was being driven out of Baghdad for burial. He said U.S. officials would review the process, but he added that Iraqi soldiers at the checkpoint should also be commended for "doing their job.""They were alert, they were attentive, they were paying attention," Caldwell said. "Although they may have made the wrong assessment who that was, at least they knew they had someone very important."Even after Caldwell's news briefing, however, a senior Iraqi official continued to insist that Masri had been killed."All information and intelligence reports confirm the death of Abu Ayyub Al Masri the leader of Qaeda in Iraq in Niba'e on Tuesday," said Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the interior ministry. "We have received sure and confirming reports on that and there is no doubt that the man killed was Al Masri."Jabouri, who Caldwell said was closely associated with Masri, was no stranger to coalition forces. Caldwell said he was captured by U.S. forces in Iraq in 2003, but released in 2004. Since then, Caldwell said, Jabouri has operated out of both Syria and Iraq.During the strike that killed Jabouri, U.S. forces killed four other suspected insurgents, Caldwell said, and detained six others.

8) Diyala Province: Paramount Sheiks Sign Peace Agreement

Courtesy Story http://www.dvidshub.net/index.php?script=news/news_show.php&id=10208
Posted on 05.02.2007 at 10:39AM

Multi-National Division – North PAO TIKRIT, Iraq – In an effort to end tribal conflicts that have been occurring for decades, the paramount sheiks from the Karki and Shimouri tribes signed a peace agreement at the home of the Mujema tribal leader in Diyala province, Monday. Sheik Thaer Ghadban Ibrahim, Karki paramount sheik, and Sheik Ahmad Abdullah Hassooni, Shimouri paramount sheik, have been meeting for the past three months to work out grievances between tribes. By signing the agreement, the tribes promised to “consolidate and unify to battle all insurgents that penetrate among [their] tribes.” “The people have no confidence in the terrorists’ ways and ultimate goals for death and destruction,” said Col. David W. Sutherland, 3rd Brigade Combat Team commander and senior U.S. Army officer in Diyala. “This initiative and agreement by the tribes shows their commitment to their people, this country’s stability, and a positive vision for the future.” Specifics of the agreement include freeing previous kidnapped victims and stopping all kidnapping and killing operations; stopping indirect-fire attacks; providing the Iraqi police any members of their tribes which may be linked to insurgent groups; supporting the Iraqi army and police against terrorists; and resolving farming issues among the tribes. “We are all with you against the terrorists,” Ahmed said. After signing the agreement, Thaer and Ahmad placed their hand on the Koran to signify their commitment to the peace agreement. Within the upcoming months, more paramount sheiks are expected to meet and come to similar agreements toward peace.

9) Is Al Qaeda in Iraq fighting a Sunni backlash?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/01/iraq.insurgent.rift/index.html

• Report of al Qaeda in Iraq leader's death may hint at insurgent rifts
• Analyst: Anbar fighters trying to exclude foreign militants from public role
• Some indigenous Iraqi insurgents say killing civilians is counterproductive
• Regional anti-al Qaeda group has emerged and is working with U.S. forces

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Reports of fighting between al Qaeda in Iraq and Sunni militants surfaced Tuesday, the latest hints of rising tensions between the two allied groups.Other reports have emerged this year of tensions between Sunni fighters and the Sunni-dominated al Qaeda in Iraq, particularly from Anbar province, long a favored turf for indigenous Sunni insurgents and foreign fighters infiltrating Iraq from Syria.The unconfirmed reports from tribal leaders to Iraqi government officials indicate that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed Tuesday in fighting between al Qaeda militants and Sunni tribal fighters from Abu Ghraib and Falluja. If Sunni militants had information that led to al-Masri's death, it's a sign of possible rifts among Sunni militants in Iraq, according to CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen.Militant groups in the region "have been trying to put a more Iraqi face" on their movement and have been trying to "exclude the foreign militants from a public role," Bergen said. Al-Masri is Egyptian and many suicide attacks are carried out under al Qaeda's direction by other foreigners such as Saudis and North Africans. There has been talk among indigenous Iraqi insurgents that such attacks, which claim civilian lives, are counterproductive. In addition, Bergen notes that the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq has adopted an alias that reflects his Iraqi roots: Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. Also, a regional anti-al Qaeda group, the Anbar Salvation Council has emerged which is a coalition touted by the United States and Iraq as a positive development in the war against al Qaeda in Iraq.

Hints of rifts among Sunni-allied insurgents emerged April 12 when two claims of responsibility were announced by Islamic State of Iraq after the deadly attack on Iraqi parliament. While the differing claims used similar and noncontradictory concepts, two claims could indicate differences in the movement, which has about six groups. Arab media reports hint at rift More evidence of disunity recently popped up in the Arab media. Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language news network, reported last month that Ibrahim al-Shammari, a spokesman for the Islamic Army in Iraq, said his group -- also in the Islamic State of Iraq -- does not plan to work with al Qaeda in Iraq. Among the reasons, he said, are that al Qaeda has targeted Islamic Army of Iraq members and that their goals are divergent, with the Islamic Army in Iraq being more willing, in some circumstances, to deal with the United States instead of al Qaeda. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, addressed the Sunni backlash against al Qaeda at a news conference last week in Washington. "Sunni insurgents and the so-called Sunni resistance are still forces that must be reckoned with, as well," Petraeus said. "However, while we continue to battle a number of such groups, we are seeing some others joining Sunni Arab tribes in turning against al Qaeda in Iraq and helping transform Anbar province and other areas from being assessed as lost as little as six months ago to being relatively heartening." Petraeus said the United States "will continue to engage with Sunni tribal sheikhs and former insurgent leaders to support the newfound opposition of some to al Qaeda, ensuring that their fighters join legitimate Iraqi security force elements to become part of the fight against extremists." He said it is part of the effort to "reach out to moderate members of all sects and ethnic groups to try to drive a wedge between the irreconcilables and the reconcilables, and help the latter become part of the solution instead of part of the problem."
U.S. working with Salvation Council

CNN's Michael Ware reported in March that the United States is giving local Sunni leaders from the Anbar Salvation Council free rein as long as the insurgents in the group root out and kill al Qaeda. One Iraqi villager, Abu Miriam, told CNN that locals have tired of al Qaeda. He says his people began fighting U.S. forces, but foreigners infiltrated their ranks."If you talk against them, they let you go at first, then come back and behead you later," he said. Asked what would become of him if al Qaeda knew he was talking, Abu Miriam replied, "I will be killed. In fact, slaughtered, slaughtered with a knife." These tensions provoke the tribes' Salvation Council to work alongside U.S. Marines and soldiers. Its members carry weapons, launch operations against targets they select, make arrests and conduct interrogations. "The tribes effectively sought out and killed on a repeated basis elements infiltrating from Syria as well as local elements trying to re-establish," a U.S. official said. Asked if there had been an assassination program backed by U.S. forces, Zalmay Khalilzad, then-U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said, "We lose no sleep over the struggle against al Qaeda and the killing of al Qaeda people." The Salvation Council says the United States has given it rifle ammunition, a claim the U.S. military does not dispute, and the Iraqi government has provided 30 vehicles. "We are not looking for bloodshed. We minimize it," a senior Salvation Council member says. "If a suspect is peaceful, we arrest and hand him to the authorities, but if he resists, there will be no other way than to shoot him." Al Qaeda has hit back hard at the tribes in recent weeks, sending chlorine bombs, car bombs and suicide bombers in explosive chest vests against their leaders.

10) Waste Water Treatment Plant Replaces Septic Tanks

Large pump stations will handle 150,000 cubic meters daily. http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/may2007/a050207ls2.html
By Norris Jones
Gulf Region Central District
FALLUJAH, Iraq, May 2, 2007 — A new sewer system is taking shape in Fallujah. Involving hundreds of Iraqis in the workforce, it’s the biggest construction project the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversees in Al Anbar Province of Iraq.Fallujah’s new facility will use the construction of pump stations trunk mains and a treatment plant to serve as the backbone for a city-wide system. This is the initial phase that will eventually connect every home in the city.

“There’s no question the health of Fallujah’s residents will be benefited by this project. Our mission is to help the Iraqi people get back on their feet and I’m proud to be part of this effort.”

Michael Jakubiak,
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers

“That community has been relying on septic tanks and the raw sewage is making its way onto the streets and into the storm sewers going directly to the Euphrates River,” explains Michael Jakubiak, part of a team of U. S. Army Corps of Engineers involved with the project. “So you have residents downstream that are taking their drinking water from that contaminated source. This project will improve that situation.”Jakubiak said his office meets with the various construction firms for some 13 separate contracts, city and Iraqi ministry officials on a regular basis to ensure issues are resolved and the project moves forward. “It’s those city and ministry officials who will eventually take over operation and maintenance of the new sewer system and we want to make sure it meets their standards," he added. "They’re fully engaged and eager to see this project completed.”Regarding the contractors, he pointed out, “we’re doing a lot of work to mentor them especially in the areas of quality control and safety. Those are two key factors we continue to emphasize.”With the new system, two large pump stations will each have the capacity to handle 150,000 cubic meters daily. Fallujah’s sewage will be sent to inlet tanks at the waste water treatment facility, then aerated grit and oil removal tanks, onto 65-meter-wide aeration tanks, then settling tanks. The last stop is a chlorination contact chamber before being released to the Euphrates River.“There’s no question the health of Fallujah’s residents will be benefited by this project. Our mission is to help the Iraqi people get back on their feet and I’m proud to be part of this effort,” said Jakubiak. He had been involved with sewer-related projects in Cary, N. C., prior to volunteering for a year’s duty in Iraq. “This is a great assignment. We’re helping a community with real needs,” he said. “The local jobs created are a boon to Fallujah’s economy. Those workers know they’re making a difference.”

11) Operation Arrowhead Strike 9 attains results

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3953

However, in my opinion, our clearing operations are only supporting or shaping efforts that contribute to the success of the battlespace-owning brigades here and their Iraqi security force partners. In my view it is the battlespace owners who do all the heavy lifting here in Baghdad. They are living among the people, patrolling the toughest places in Baghdad day in and day out, and are working on supporting the Iraqis' efforts in all four of our mainlines of operation -- security, transition, economics and governance. As I've already mentioned, we've just completed a 36-day brigade- level mission called Operation Arrowhead Strike 9. It was a clearing operation in West Central Baghdad’s Mansour Security District. I'll point it out here on the map. Here in the corner of the map is a map of Baghdad, and this red box here is West Central Baghdad, the Mansour Security District. Here on the chart you see the Mansour District, bounded on the west by Baghdad International Airport, to the north by Kadhimiya, to the east by Muthanna Airfield and Karkh and the international zone, south by Route Irish, which many of you are familiar with. The first phase of the operation was conducted here in Western Mansour, and the second phase of the operation was conducted here in Eastern Mansour. The red icons represent enemy caches discovered and captured. Working alongside the coalition battlespace owner, the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, as well as the Iraqi Karkh Area Command, we cleared Mansour to significantly reduce insurgent activity and to help the Dagger Brigade to establish coalition outposts and joint security stations with their Iraqi partners. During Arrowhead Strike 9, we killed at least three confirmed terrorists in close combat. Between coalition and Iraqi forces, we briefly detained 161 people for questioning. Forty-two of these suspected terrorists have since been placed in long-term detention, and a majority of the rest have been released. We rescued two kidnap victims who we found chained in empty houses. They both had been tortured and would surely have been executed eventually. We discovered some 92 caches during the 36 days of operations. We captured or confiscated 356 small arms, mortars or rocket-propelled grenades. We captured and destroyed 147 explosive munitions. We discovered and reduced three car bombs and two suicide vests. We found and destroyed over 143 completed or partial roadside bombs. We captured a roadside bomb electronics factory that held components for up to 3,200 other bombs. And we destroyed three homemade explosives factories found in abandoned homes. All of this success enabled the Dagger Brigade and the Iraqi Karkh Area Command to make progress in more meaningful ways. They made progress with safe markets and safe neighborhoods projects. The Iraqis cleaned a great deal of trash and sewage from the streets. The extrajudicial killings have dropped off significantly. Mortar attacks from Mansour have dropped off significantly. We saw markets reopen even during our operations. There were more people out moving on the streets. More Iraqis are providing information now through phone and e-mail tips lines.

12) Cavalry foils insurgent attack at Tarmiyah Huda Girls’ School

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 20070430-06
April 30, 2007 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers foiled an
insurgent attack comprised of numerous improvised explosive devices targeting
an all-girls’ school north of Baghdad April 28. Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, discovered a command wire leading from the school’s outer perimeter to one of the rooms at the Huda Girls’ School, in Tarmiyah, Iraqi. Inside the room, the cavalry troops discovered five artillery shell explosives.

The insurgent’s planned attack, in opposition of the construction of the school, also included two large explosive-filled propane tanks buried underneath the school’s floor and numerous projectiles emplaced underneath electrical conduits in front of each classroom.The unit believes Al Qaeda extremists, operating in the area, are responsible for the emplacement of the explosives in an effort to thwart the
progress the local government has made to improve the lives of the people of
Tarmiyah.

The reconstructed school, a project led by the local Tarmiyah government,
was scheduled to open in the coming weeks. This is the second time this month
explosives have been found in the facility.“This is a testimony of how little the Al-Qaeda of Iraq truly care about thecitizens of Iraq,” said Lt. Col. Scott Efflandt, commander of 2-8th Cavalry.

An explosive ordnance disposal team transported all of the explosive rounds from the school for disposal.

13) Coalition Forces in Iraq Detain Dozens By Associated Press http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-iraq-raids,1,1802036.story?track=rss&ctrack=2&cset=true April 29, 2007, 5:54 AM CDT

BAGHDAD -- Coalition forces detained 72 suspected insurgents and seized nitric acid and other bomb-making materials during raids Sunday targeting the al-Qaida in Iraq network, the U.S. military said. The early morning raids occurred in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgent stronghold west of the capital, and Salahuddin province, to the northwest, the military said in a brief statement. The detainees included 36 suspected insurgents with alleged ties to al-Qaida in Iraq who were taken into custody in Samarra, a city in Salahuddin province that is 60 miles north of Baghdad, the military said.In the Anbar province city of Karmah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, coalition forces found 20 five-gallon drums of nitric acid and other bomb-making materials, the statement said.Since U.S. forces launched a Baghdad security crackdown in February, militant groups have stepped up their attacks in surrounding regions, including some with truck bombs loaded with chlorine gas."Coalition operations like these continue to chip away at the al-Qaida in Iraq network, and we will continue to target them as long as they continue to injure and kill the innocent people of Iraq," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman. Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press

14) IRAQ: ITALY TO ENGAGE IN RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS SAYS FOREIGN MINISTER

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.410602211&par= Sharm el Sheikh, 3 May (AKI) - Italy will continue to help Iraq in its reconstruction process, Italian foreign minister Massimo D'Alema said Thursday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh where he is attending the official launch of the International Compact with Iraq, a five-year plan for the economic and social development of the country. Rome has been helping the violence-torn country "since 2003 when Italy allocated 270 million euros to support reconstruction in Iraq," D'Alema told the gathering attended by 50 countries including the UN Security Council's permanent members, Iraq's neighbours and G8 members. "Italy has cancelled 2.4 billion euros of Iraq's public debt," D'Alema said. The Italian foreign minister stressed in his speech that one month after Italian troops left Iraq last December, Italy and Iraq signed a 400 million euro deal in soft loans for infrastructure projects in the next three years. "Italy is also providing human resources and supporting Iraqi institution," said D'Alema, in particular in helping to train Iraqi security officials. Italy has also been chairing since March with Iraq the UN and World Bank-administered International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFI) set up in 2004 to coordinate donors' reconstruction efforts.

15) Top officer says U.S. forces stopping al Qaeda flow in Iraq

By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published May 4, 2007

U.S. forces in Iraq are stemming the flow of foreign al Qaeda terrorists into the country, the commander of the U.S. Central Command told a Senate panel yesterday. Adm. William Fallon told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee that U.S. military forces are "working very hard" to block al Qaeda fighters entering the country through Syria. "There's little doubt that there was a pipeline coming through Syria that was enabling these people to get into the fight," Adm. Fallon said. "But in the last couple of months, the significant turn to the government and coalition side by people in Anbar I believe has got to be having a detrimental effect on this, because that's the conduit, if you would, where these people were coming." Adm. Fallon was referring to a number of senior Sunni leaders in Anbar province who have switched sides from supporting the insurgency to backing U.S. and Iraqi government troops. Several prominent religious leaders have turned against al Qaeda, mainly because the group's indiscriminate bombings are killing innocent Iraqis, according to U.S. military officials. The increased pressure on the underground transit route "is not particularly hospitable to al Qaeda or foreign fighters; we'd expect to see some positive results from that," Adm. Fallon said. "The dramatic shift in the atmospherics and the reality in Anbar from six months ago to today I think is indicative of what could happen in this country," he said. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a speech yesterday that the United States needs to be steadfast in fighting the war against terrorism, in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. "Our country is troubled and divided by a long and difficult war in Iraq," he said. "We want our troops to come home and be out of harm's way, and yet most know or at least sense that leaving chaos behind us in Iraq will bring dramatically more suffering for Iraqis, and also disaster for the Middle East and ultimately for us." He noted Winston Churchill's comment on the United States in 1943 that "the price of greatness is responsibility." Adm. Fallon said the overall security environment and violence levels in Iraq and Baghdad are improving. "My sense is -- first glance -- about half of the area looks dramatically improved and levels of violence lessened," he said of Baghdad. Still, the four-star admiral said sectarian differences among Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds in Iraq is significant. "And the ability of these three major factions to work together is going to be the tale of the tape here," he said. "This is challenging for them, because they have historically only looked after their own interests. There have not been national leaders who have a broader view that would, I think, take into consideration all the interests and desires of the population. That's what Prime Minister [Nouri al-] Maliki's trying to do." The main problem is continuing attacks by Sunni insurgents who allied with al Qaeda to conduct massive vehicle bombings as part of a strategy to "send a signal of insecurity," he said. Adm. Fallon said so far the Shia Iraqis have not conducted major retaliatory attacks in response to the car bombings. "We literally hold our breath," he said. "I think one of the reasons is the prime minister and his leadership trying to keep this stamped down." At the Pentagon, Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins, deputy director for operations for the Joint Staff, said support from local Iraqis is helping to shut down insurgent networks. "Through these tips and the hard work of our forces, we're gaining a better understanding of the infrastructure supporting these attacks," he said.

16) Yusufiyah Joint Security Station opens

Friday, 04 May 2007 By Spc. Chris McCannhttp://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11755&Itemid=1
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division

FORWARD OPERATING BASE YUSUFIYAH — In the village of Yusufiyah, Iraq, local government representatives refuse to stand still and allow the fear of explosions to stop them from discussing issues. Several members of the Yusufiyah nahia, or local council, met April 29 at the Joint Security Station in Yusufiyah to discuss projects with civil affairs officers from 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) out of Fort Drum, N.Y., and the 478th Civil Affairs Battalion, out of Perrine, Fla., and attached to 4-31 Infantry.Many projects that 4-31 have begun in the community are complete or nearing completion – including streetlights for the town, especially the market area, garbage pickup, and irrigation canal cleanup and improvement. But some projects, such as a soccer field in the Ar-Barash-Tamuz neighborhood and a fire station for the village, are momentarily stalled as the residents try to determine the best places for them. Since the various representatives were together, they began discussing among themselves different ideas and mentioning people who might be willing to sell or donate land for the projects.Capt. Chris Sanchez, a civil affairs officer with 4-31, has brokered many of the project meetings during the last several months. He said it was the first time the Yusufiyah locals had talked so animatedly and begun figuring things out for themselves rather than passing ideas through him, a valuable step in getting the Iraqi village to assume control of local governance and planning.Still, there are areas where American presence is still needed. The main canal through the area flows through the village of Sadr Al-Yusufiyah, northwest of Yusufiyah, and a water gate there is broken, letting too much water through.“Currently, the water flow might cause another break. We’re very edgy,” said Al-Assid. “Time is not on our side with this.”However, with security issues in the space between the villages, communication is nearly impossible without U.S. help. So, Sanchez spoke to the civil operations soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, stationed in Sadr Al-Yusufiyah, to get the damage repaired.A water pumping station also ran into contract difficulties with the fuel provider, and the water pumps, left from Hussein’s time, are failing. Muhammad Hasehm Al Meheyawi asked for a backup pump of higher quality, which would not be available without American contracting assistance.The meeting provided a forum for the representatives to get together while U.S. forces provided security. Yusufiyah is a great deal safer than it was before, yet like most of Iraq, it is not yet free of violence.“The meeting went really well,” said Sanchez, a native of Los Angeles.

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