thedrifter
01-07-06, 07:04 AM
Marine commander: Iraqi police will re-emerge in western towns in 2006
By: ROBERT BURNS - Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Local Iraqi police forces will be re-established this year in cities and towns across restive Anbar province, where the insurgency had prevented it earlier, a senior American commander said Friday.
Marine Maj. Gen. Stephen Johnson, the commander of Multi-National Forces-West, said in an interview with reporters at the Pentagon that this will be part of a broad strategy for bringing greater stability to western Iraq, bolstering Iraqis' confidence in their new government and undermining the insurgency.
If successful, the addition of local police also would lessen the security burden on U.S. troops, who are training Iraqi security forces across the country so U.S. forces can begin to leave this year.
"The reintroduction of a professional police force in Anbar will provide local leaders with security and stability that they need to take care of their own," he said over a satellite video link from his headquarters in Iraq. "These police will start to be introduced over the coming months in conjunction with the completion of their training."
The process is already under way in Fallujah, which was a haven for insurgents until U.S. forces drove them out in a major offensive in November 2004. Johnson said 1,200 members of an eventual 1,700-man police force have been put on the streets of Fallujah, supported by Iraqi and American military forces.
Johnson called the Fallujah effort a success, although insurgent violence has not disappeared entirely. Two U.S. Marines were killed by small arms fire in Fallujah on Thursday; 10 were killed in an explosion on Dec. 1.
In earlier stages of the war, local police forces in Anbar were disbanded because they were infiltrated by insurgents or otherwise corrupted to the point where U.S. troops had to take control of the streets or leave them unpatrolled.
Anbar province remains a stronghold of the insurgency, along with the Baghdad area, although Johnson said the foreign fighters often cited by U.S. and Iraqi government officials as the most threatening are actually a "very, very small part" of the insurgency. The vast majority of insurgents are local Iraqis, he said.
The effort to bring back local law enforcement began last May with training for police in Fallujah.
Other places in Anbar didn't have the security environment needed to introduce police, Johnson said. "Now we are beginning to see where we have that environment, particularly in the western Euphrates River Valley. And the same process is going to be followed. The Iraqi assessment teams will go out, screen and vet people, make their selections, send people to schools, then equip them and reintroduce them into the towns."
Johnson condemned the surge in violence in his part of Iraq this week, particularly Thursday's suicide bomb attack in Ramadi that killed dozens, including one U.S. Marine and one U.S. soldier.
"This attack shows the desperate, murderous nature of al-Qaida," he said.
Pressed to explain why he blamed al-Qaida, Johnson said, "We don't have any evidence that it was al-Qaida, but the people sure believe it was and blame it. This attack has all the markings of al-Qaida: targeting of innocent people, of suicide bombers picking places where there are a lot of innocents in order to conduct an attack."
A private U.S. defense analyst, meanwhile, predicted Friday that 2006 could be a strong year for the insurgency in Iraq.
Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, widely regarded as an authoritative analyst of developments in Iraq, published a report asserting that to the insurgents, it must look "all too possible" to block the creation of a stable new Iraqi government and to force an early exit by U.S. troops.
"This does not mean the insurgents ... are winning," Cordesman wrote. "But, outsiders should understand that for many insurgents the immediate goal is not to be able to win.... It is rather to deny victory and success to the newly elected Iraqi government and push the U.S. and coalition out in a war of attrition."
Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Iraqi people would not allow a "hateful few" to tear the country apart, saying, "The Iraqi people are up to these challenges."
The upsurge in violence is taking place against a backdrop of strains between ethnic and religious groups, he said.
However, McCormack said, the Iraqi people are working to come together to build a better and more prosperous country.
On the Net:
The Defense Department at http://www.defenselink.mil
Center For Strategic and International Studies at http://www.csis.org
Ellie
By: ROBERT BURNS - Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Local Iraqi police forces will be re-established this year in cities and towns across restive Anbar province, where the insurgency had prevented it earlier, a senior American commander said Friday.
Marine Maj. Gen. Stephen Johnson, the commander of Multi-National Forces-West, said in an interview with reporters at the Pentagon that this will be part of a broad strategy for bringing greater stability to western Iraq, bolstering Iraqis' confidence in their new government and undermining the insurgency.
If successful, the addition of local police also would lessen the security burden on U.S. troops, who are training Iraqi security forces across the country so U.S. forces can begin to leave this year.
"The reintroduction of a professional police force in Anbar will provide local leaders with security and stability that they need to take care of their own," he said over a satellite video link from his headquarters in Iraq. "These police will start to be introduced over the coming months in conjunction with the completion of their training."
The process is already under way in Fallujah, which was a haven for insurgents until U.S. forces drove them out in a major offensive in November 2004. Johnson said 1,200 members of an eventual 1,700-man police force have been put on the streets of Fallujah, supported by Iraqi and American military forces.
Johnson called the Fallujah effort a success, although insurgent violence has not disappeared entirely. Two U.S. Marines were killed by small arms fire in Fallujah on Thursday; 10 were killed in an explosion on Dec. 1.
In earlier stages of the war, local police forces in Anbar were disbanded because they were infiltrated by insurgents or otherwise corrupted to the point where U.S. troops had to take control of the streets or leave them unpatrolled.
Anbar province remains a stronghold of the insurgency, along with the Baghdad area, although Johnson said the foreign fighters often cited by U.S. and Iraqi government officials as the most threatening are actually a "very, very small part" of the insurgency. The vast majority of insurgents are local Iraqis, he said.
The effort to bring back local law enforcement began last May with training for police in Fallujah.
Other places in Anbar didn't have the security environment needed to introduce police, Johnson said. "Now we are beginning to see where we have that environment, particularly in the western Euphrates River Valley. And the same process is going to be followed. The Iraqi assessment teams will go out, screen and vet people, make their selections, send people to schools, then equip them and reintroduce them into the towns."
Johnson condemned the surge in violence in his part of Iraq this week, particularly Thursday's suicide bomb attack in Ramadi that killed dozens, including one U.S. Marine and one U.S. soldier.
"This attack shows the desperate, murderous nature of al-Qaida," he said.
Pressed to explain why he blamed al-Qaida, Johnson said, "We don't have any evidence that it was al-Qaida, but the people sure believe it was and blame it. This attack has all the markings of al-Qaida: targeting of innocent people, of suicide bombers picking places where there are a lot of innocents in order to conduct an attack."
A private U.S. defense analyst, meanwhile, predicted Friday that 2006 could be a strong year for the insurgency in Iraq.
Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, widely regarded as an authoritative analyst of developments in Iraq, published a report asserting that to the insurgents, it must look "all too possible" to block the creation of a stable new Iraqi government and to force an early exit by U.S. troops.
"This does not mean the insurgents ... are winning," Cordesman wrote. "But, outsiders should understand that for many insurgents the immediate goal is not to be able to win.... It is rather to deny victory and success to the newly elected Iraqi government and push the U.S. and coalition out in a war of attrition."
Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Iraqi people would not allow a "hateful few" to tear the country apart, saying, "The Iraqi people are up to these challenges."
The upsurge in violence is taking place against a backdrop of strains between ethnic and religious groups, he said.
However, McCormack said, the Iraqi people are working to come together to build a better and more prosperous country.
On the Net:
The Defense Department at http://www.defenselink.mil
Center For Strategic and International Studies at http://www.csis.org
Ellie