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BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi announced a dramatic overhaul of the country's defence structure, vowing to deploy all security forces, including the army, in the fight against insurgents. Allawi said a new command and control structure would streamline the country's defences, with top officials reporting directly to him. The premier also announced the formation of an elite military unit to do battle with the insurgents and stem unrest which has killed more than 200 people since his interim government was unveiled on June 1. "I have directed that the immediate priority is to establish an effective Iraqi...

<p>Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said yesterday that Iraqis must be willing to kill their own insurgents for order to be restored in the post-Saddam era.</p> <p>Mr. Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice warned of further attacks on Iraqi government officials in appearances on the Sunday talk shows, on the same day that 12 Iraqis were killed when a car bomb exploded in Baghdad. More than a dozen were injured.</p>

TAJI, Iraq, June 3 — American military advisers are forming an all-Iraqi counterinsurgency force and training it in guerrilla tactics like ambushing trucks and hiding alongside the road camouflaged as bushes. The new force, called the Iraqi National Task Force, is the most ambitious effort yet to fight the uprising using Iraqis, and it already has 1,000 soldiers, with plans to grow to 7,000. It is being created as a response to the refusal of a group of regular Iraqi soldiers to face insurgents in Falluja two months ago. That breakdown culminated in a tense standoff on an airfield with...

I ordered first a substantial increase in the training and equipment of South Vietnamese forces. . . . The primary mission of our troops is to enable the South Vietnamese forces to assume the full responsibility for the security of South Vietnam." President Richard M. Nixon, on his Vietnamization policy, Nov. 3, 1969."Eventually [Iraqi forces] must be the primary defenders of Iraqi security, as American and coalition forces are withdrawn. . . . At my direction, and with the support of Iraqi authorities, we are accelerating our program to help train Iraqis to defend their country." President George W. Bush,...

Falluja Leaders Say City Is Now Safest in Iraq 50 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Ibon Villelabeitia FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - A month after hundreds were killed in fierce clashes between U.S. Marines and guerrillas, Falluja's leaders said Thursday the city is the safest in Iraq (news - web sites) and invited U.S. contractors back to rebuild it. Latest headlines: · Bush Says Iraqis Ready to Take Power AP - 2 minutes ago · Pelosi Criticizes Bush on Iraq Policies AP - 6 minutes ago · U.N. Investigates Oil-For-Food Corruption AP - 12 minutes ago...

FALLUJAH, Iraq ---- A dozen former Iraqi generals and intelligence officers met Friday with U.S. military leaders and pledged to lead a brigade of 1,000 Iraqi soldiers to replace the Marines fortifying the city's borders. But U.S. military officials cautioned that the arrival of the Iraqi forces in this embattled city, possibly as early as today, does not necessarily mean peace. "They are still doing some planning on how to do a transition from U.S. forces to Iraqi security forces in Fallujah," Marine Col. John Toolan said Friday, choosing his words carefully while describing the new arrangement that other officials...

Bremer: Iraqis Not Ready to Run Security By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi security forces will not be ready to protect the country against insurgents by the June 30 handover of power, the top U.S. administrator said Sunday — an assessment aimed at defending the continued heavy presence of U.S. troops here even after an Iraqi government takes over. The unusually blunt comments from L. Paul Bremer came amid a weekend of new fighting that pushed the death toll for U.S. troops in April to 99, already the record for a single-month in Iraq (news...

Iraq's police and armed forces will not have the capability to secure the country from the threat of insurgents by the time the United States hands power to an Iraqi government on June 30, the top U.S. administrator said Sunday. The comments by L. Paul Bremer aimed to defend the continued heavy presence of U.S. troops in Iraq after the occupation officially ends, but also delivered a rare, blunt assessment to the Iraqi people. "It is clear that Iraqi forces will not be able, on their own, to deal with these threats by June 30 when an Iraqi government assumes...

Iraqi overseer Paul Bremer announced yesterday a massive increase in border security following the deadly attacks in the Shiite holy city of Karbala and in Baghdad. Bremer said $60 million had been earmarked to tighten controls on Iraq's borders and that hundreds more vehicles and security personnel would be deployed to beef up security. "There are 8,000 border police on duty today and more are on the way," Bremer said. "We are adding hundreds of vehicles and doubling border police staffing in selected areas." Bremer blamed Jordanian Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, suspected of links to Al Qaida, and said his...

U.S. Troops Train Iraqi Civil Defense Corps Soldiers By U.S. Army Spc. Shauna McRoberts1st Armored Div. BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 18, 2004 – Soldiers from 1st Armored Division’s 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment are spending the next month training soldiers from the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps is a home guard consisting of Iraqi citizens who volunteered to serve their nation and fight terrorist insurgents within their homeland.The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers of B and C Company, 304th Battalion, 40th Brigade, originally trained with U.S. soldiers from 82nd Airborne’s 2nd Brigade, but after the brigade...

While not precisely a "chicken-and-the-egg" analogy, many in Iraq are asking which comes first, security or prosperity. It's a bit of both, said Thomas Foley, director of private sector development for the Coalition Provisional Authority. "Security and prosperity are related," he said during an interview today. "With prosperity, people have a stake in the economy. There's a lot more pressure for people not to be disrupted." A second point, he said, is that prosperous people have more money to invest in security. They can fund the law enforcement agencies and pay for the infrastructure that ensures the rule of law....

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894 February 16, 2004Release Number: 04-02-29 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ICDC, TF ALL AMERICAN WORK TOWARD A SAFER AL ANBAR RAMADI, Iraq -- During operations on Saturday and Sunday, Task Force All American conducted 281 patrols (including 18 joint patrols), cleared three small caches, and executed two offensive operations - cordon and searches in Iskandariyah and Ar Ramadi. Iraqi Civil Defense Corps forces also conducted 15 independent patrols. Soldiers discovered and disarmed two improvised explosive devices before they could be detonated against...

ICDC, Task Force "All-American" Create Safe Environment In Al Anbar AR RAMADI, Iraq - The 82nd Airborne and its subordinate units continued missions over the last day to bring peace and prosperity to the residents of the Al Anbar province. During the last 24 hours the 82nd conducted 248 patrols (including 10 joint patrols), and performed two offensive operations. Iraqi Civil Defense Corps forces also conducted 16 independent patrols. Task Force "All American" discovered and disarmed five improvised explosive devices in their area of operations, captured four enemy personnel and suffered two U.S. wounded in action. At Trebil, the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 30 — The Iraqi authorities, with the help of American intelligence agencies, are creating an intelligence service here that will focus on rooting out guerrilla fighters, especially those from outside the country, Iraqi and American officials said Friday. The service will employ some former agents of Saddam Hussein's security apparatus and will probably receive financing from the American government, the officials said. Many of the agents will work in the border towns of Iraq to identify foreign fighters who have slipped into the country and will monitor their activities, said Ibrahim al-Janabi, a senior member of the...

    Bremer Visits Iraqi Civil Defense Corps U.S. Ambassador Paul Bremer visits Camp Claiborne to observe Iraqi Civil Defense Corps training in Mosul, Iraq, Jan. 27, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Justin Harris  ~~~~~~~~~   U.S. Ambassador Paul Bremer and Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), visit Camp Claiborne to observe Iraqi Civil Defense Corps training in Mosul, Iraq, Jan. 27, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Justin Harris   ~~~~~~~   U.S. Ambassador Paul Bremer and Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), observe...

  Iraqi Security Forces Continue To Exceed Recruitment Goals RAMADI, Iraq - The newly formed Iraqi security forces continued recruitment training and missions over the last day to bring peace and prosperity to the residents of the Al Anbar province. Over 600 candidates arrived to fill the 106 available slots in the 3rd Iraqi Border Police Battalion in Al Qa'im, demonstrating the desire of the Iraqi people to secure their own future. Civil affairs teams with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment assisted with the recruitment. Today 232 police officers graduated from the Police Academy at Forward Operating Base Junction...

KARBALA, IRAQ - Some scars from the bomb blast are easy to see: glass fragments tore Sgt. Kassim Madloul Shinjar's left ear and right hand; the Iraqi policeman still clings to the bloodstained shirt he was wearing that day. But other scars remain hidden, and show how violence waged by Iraqi resistance fighters against US occupation forces - and Iraqi "collaborators" - is undermining efforts to restore calm. Sergeant Shinjar survived. The chief of Karbala's traffic police and his deputy - both passengers in the car Shinjar was driving - were killed by the car bomb on Dec. 27. Today...

The first of nine brigades planned for the new Iraqi army nearly is complete, the officer responsible for helping to rebuild the country's military reported in a Baghdad briefing today. Addressing progress in the rebuilding effort, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, commander of the coalition's military assistance and training team in Iraq, said three battalions of Iraqi soldiers have graduated from military training academies since October. The desired "end state" is to eventually have "Iraqi officers and soldiers take over the training of their own soldiers," Eaton said. "I would like to emphasize that this will be an Iraqi Army, trained...

  2nd ACR Graduates 1st ICDC Classs At Camp Muleskinner BAGHDAD, Iraq – The Iraq Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) Academy at Camp Muleskinner graduated its first class of guardsmen Jan. 9 on Redcatcher Field. The ICDC school, run by noncommissioned officers and soldiers from the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) and 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor Battalion, 1st Armored Division, puts newly recruited individuals through a rigorous six-day course. The new ICDC recruits eat, sleep, and train on the academy grounds, staying fully immersed in the military environment. The workday begins at 4 a.m. for the students and usually does...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 12 — The four police officers were squeezed into a small pickup truck, screaming down the highway from Baghdad at 90 miles an hour toward a bomb sighting, and they were happy. They thrive on busy days, and today, the third call of the morning for the Baghdad police bomb squad had come in minutes before, at 11:20, with the usual sketchy information: possible explosives on the road south to Salman Pak. For every bomb that kills Iraqis and coalition soldiers, many more are defused every day by the ordnance experts of the Baghdad police. The squad...