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General Links Security at Home to U.S. Role in Iraq

By Donna Miles - American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22, 2005 – The contributions U.S. servicemembers are making in Iraq are helping ensure the peace and security families across the United States will enjoy this Thanksgiving, the commander of coalition operations in Iraq told Pentagon reporters via satellite today.

"I am struck in this holiday season by the enormous sacrifice of the young men and women over here -- the things that they're doing on a daily basis on our behalf as a nation," said Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq and the U.S. Army's 18th Airborne Corps.

Vines called their contributions "absolutely magnificent," particularly in light of the complexity of the tasks involved. These include developing Iraq's security forces fighting an insurgency, helping build a new government and reconstructing a country devastated by more than 30 years of war and oppression.

"And I believe, in a very direct way, they're helping to provide for the security and safety of our fellow citizens back in the United States," Vines said.

Terrorists consider the United States "an archenemy" and want to use Iraq as a base for a strike against it, Vines said.

"And those young men and women in harm's way here recognize that, and I think they are committed to the fight," he said.

The general praised the "heroic efforts" of those forces and the progress they are helping bringing about.

Vines called "the debate and bitterness" within the United States about the Iraq mission "disturbing," but acknowledged that people in a democracy are allowed to have differences of opinion. What's important, he said, is that troops in Iraq know they have the support of the U.S. people and their elected officials as they continue their mission.

Now is too soon to withdrawal U.S. forces from Iraq because the country's own security forces, while improving steadily, aren't yet ready to assume full responsibility for Iraq's security, he said.

"Although Iraqi security forces are able to conduct operations in a large portion of their area with only limited coalition support, they do require our support at this time," he said. "That support will be increasingly less over a period of time, but a precipitous pullout, I believe, would be destabilizing."

At the same time, Vines said, Iraq's security forces are playing an increasing role in the country's security. About one-third of the Iraqi army battalions are responsible for their own areas of operation and 80 percent of the Iraqi security forces are conducting combat operations at any given time, he said.

"Iraqi soldiers and policemen are in the fight," the general said. "They're risking their lives and they're fighting, and in some cases, dying for Iraq, for the security of their fellow citizens."

Meanwhile, Vines cited solid progress on the political front. The upcoming Dec. 15 national election, which will seat a new government for the next four years, "will provide a level of stability that to this point has not been there," he said.

Progress in Iraq, particularly during the last year, "is absolutely extraordinary," Vines said. He acknowledged, however, that "an enormous amount remains to be done."

The big challenge ahead will be to ensure that Iraq's new government remains stable as it builds new institutions for its people, the general said.

"I believe, ultimately, the stability of the government and its ability to support its security forces and provide for the basic challenges of governance is the great long-term challenge," he said. "But that is central to the success of the operation here."

Vine said he's impressed by the Iraqi people and their commitment to a free and secure Iraq.

Unlike Americans, who Vines said sometimes take their own security for granted, Iraqis don't, he said.

"Iraqis don't take it for granted because they recognize that people such as the jihadists and Islamic extremists wish to impose their world view on Iraq, and they recognize what's at stake," he said.

New Soldiers in Town Provide Security

They smile at the Iraqi citizens on the streets, but at the same time they will kick the doors in on the insurgents who plan to spread upheaval.

U.S. Army Spc. Aaron A. Ebbert (left), radio telephone operator, 3rd Platoon, Company B, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, Fort Richardson, Alaska, and 1st Lt. Anthony E. Cerullo, platoon leader, 3rd Plt., call in a report to their higher headquarters during a patrol Oct. 21, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq.

By Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp Multi-National Corps - Iraq Public Affairs Office

MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 22, 2005 —They’re the new guys on the block, and they’re not hard to spot. Not because they rumble through the streets in their Stryker light-armored vehicles, for those have been there before. It’s a new attitude; it’s a new uniform on smiling faces with determination to get the job done.

The soldiers of Company B have assumed responsibility for one sector of the streets of Mosul. They smile at the Iraqi citizens on the streets, but at the same time they will kick the doors in on the insurgents who plan to spread upheaval.

“We are out here doing what we like to call PR – public relations,” said Sgt. 1st Class Thomas M. Pickerel, platoon sergeant, 3rd Platoon, Company B, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, Fort Richardson, Alaska. “Our patrols are designed to let the citizens of Iraq know we are here for them, and we are out here every day.”

The unit spends parts of their days in their vehicles, driving around with a “hey, we’re here,” attitude before dismounting to walk the streets on foot.

“We get on the ground as much as possible because that’s really the only way you get to know the people in the area,” Pickerel said. Company B recently replaced soldiers from the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team of Fort Lewis, Wash., and has hit the ground running.

“This used to be called the Wild Wild West, but the unit ahead of us did a lot of work here,” said Pickerel. “We’ve got all the kinks worked out, and things have calmed down quite a bit since we’ve moved in.”

Patrolling streets of New York fame named “Canal,” “Broadway,” and an area known as “Yankee Stadium,” complete with alleys called “1st Base Line” all the way around to “Home Plate,” doesn’t come easy.

Along with shaking hands and giving candy to kids, the soldiers of Company B move up and down miles of concrete laden with weapons, ammunition and forty pounds of armor strapped to their backs. Despite temperatures rising into the 130 degree range, all that gear is essential when the troops have to get down to the business of being infantrymen.

“We’re out here looking for the bad guys,” said 1st Lt. Anthony E. Cerullo, platoon leader, 3rd Platoon.

And the bad guys are out there. The unit takes on sporadic gunfire when loading into their vehicles and has to deal with drive-by shootings and improvised explosive devices on an almost daily basis, said Cerullo.

“We take intelligence that has been gathered, and we look for certain vehicles that we know are to be possible insurgent vehicles. We do standard patrols where we look for suspicious activity – anything out of the ordinary,” Cerullo said. “We do IED sweeps where we look for IEDs before they go off, and we also take care of guys we catch emplacing them.

“We talk to citizens in the neighborhoods and do random searches to see if we can find anything, information or otherwise,” he said.

"It’s a dual-facet mission,” said Staff Sgt. Austin S. Fernandez, a squad leader with 3rd Platoon. “We let the citizens know we are here to help them, but we are also here to let them know that we don’t take any (mess).” On top of the patrol mission, a day isn’t complete without a trip to see their counterparts-in-arms. The platoon stops in daily to speak with the Iraqi army and Iraqi police, seeing what they need and talking about future missions.

“We’ve done joint patrols with the IA and the IP, and we are going to do even more now because it’s their country, and they are going to be the ones doing it after we leave here,” Cerullo said. “The more we can teach them how to do it the right way and help them along in that process, the better off they’ll be.”

Helping the cause is a soldier in the platoon with the ability to speak Arabic. Fernandez has picked up the language from interpreters, and it has helped tremendously with relations, he said.

“I don’t have any kids, but I can speak Arabic pretty well and the kids come to me naturally,” Fernandez said. “It helps out a lot with relations, being able to talk to the Iraqis a little.”

A recent patrol had a gaggle of 20 Iraqi children hanging onto and holding hands with Fernandez; the M-4 assault rifle was put out of harm’s way for the time being. The infantrymen had parents lining the streets with smiles on their faces and gestures of “thumbs up” for blocks.