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FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq, April 17, 2009 – The 772nd Military Police Company and an Iraqi police advisor team are starting a new approach to police training in Iraq’s Wasit province that will provide a sustainable training system for when coalition forces leave the country. “Our overall goal is to start a program in Wasit that can be a model for the rest of the country,” said Army Staff Sgt. Elton Dean, headquarters squad leader, 772nd MP Company. “What we want to do is give the minister of interior a reason to institute a program like this in order...

CAMP ECHO — Iraqi Policemen (IP) trained with U.S. Soldiers at the Convoy Support Center in Scania to improve their traffic control point operations, April 4. IP from the Shumoly district of Babil province performed vehicle and personnel searches during exercises to increase their ability to mitigate the threat of smugglers moving dangerous weapons into the area. “The biggest threat is smuggling in the area,” said Staff Sgt. Jacob Strickland, 16th Field Artillery Regiment. “If they can decrease the smuggling, everyone in Babil province will be safer.” “They’ve established an acceptable level of security here,” said Capt. Jonathan Holm, Battery...

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2009 – Though suicide bombings continue to be a threat, the security situation in Iraq continues to improve, a senior Pentagon spokesman said today. “[Insurgent attacks] still remain down, and commanders have certainly indicated that they’ve seen tremendous progress, but that does not mean we will be void of these spectacular suicide-type attacks,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Lethal attacks from suicide bombings in Anbar province, Kirkuk and Mosul claimed the lives of five soldiers and at least 20 Iraqis, while another 40 or more American and Iraqi troops have been wounded in the past week. A...

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2009 – American forces in Iraq continue to transfer more responsibilities to the Iraqi government and their security forces as part of the security agreement that went into effect on Jan. 1, a Multinational Force Iraq general said yesterday. “Our combat forces will be out of the cities by June,” Army Maj. Gen. David Perkins, the command’s director of strategic effects, said during a “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable. “That doesn’t mean we won’t operate in those cities, but we will not be basing our combat forces in the cities.” Since Jan. 1, U.S. forces have transitioned more...

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2009 – The improved security and reduced violence in Iraq today is far different than the situation that existed there just a few years ago, a senior U.S. officer posted in Iraq said today. “This is my fourth deployment in Iraq, and I can tell you that the improvements that I have seen –- that I’ve personally seen -- have been astounding,” Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Juan G. Ayala, commanding general of 2nd Marine Logistics Group, told reporters during a satellite-carried Pentagon news conference. Ayala participated in the news conference from his unit’s base at Camp al...

March 2009 saw the fewest number of U.S. casualties in Iraq since the beginning of the war. Nine American men and women died in Iraq last month -- five of those troops were killed in non-hostile action. And to add one more interesting fact, one of the four Americans killed in hostile action was a woman, who was serving at a Forward Operating Base in Mosul. July 2008 was the second lowest month for casualties in Iraq, with 13 total. March 2009 was the first month where U.S. casualties were in the single digits since the beginning of the war.

Things are looking brighter in Iraq, according to a recently released poll of Iraqis conducted at the end of February. The poll was sponsored by ABC, the BBC and Japan’s NHK. Asked how well things were going for them in their life, 65 percent of Iraqi respondents said things were going well for them. This is compared to 55 percent of Iraqis responding in a similar manner in February 2008 and just 39 percent saying life was going well for them in August 2007. On a personal level, Iraqis seem optimistic about their futures. Fifty-six percent of Iraqis believe that...

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2009 – The security and political situation in Iraq continues to improve, but ethno-sectarian agendas and other obstacles remain, according to Defense Department findings. Pentagon officials today released a congressionally mandated quarterly report on Iraq that focuses on December through February, a period during which pivotal security arrangements between Washington and Baghdad took effect. “With the signing and implementation of the strategic framework agreement, the relationship with Iraq has become more mature and what we would consider a more normalized U.S.-Iraqi relationship through economic, diplomatic, cultural and security ties,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. A...

WASHINGTON — The amount of insurgent- and crime-related violence in Iraq continues to drop as security improves, a senior U.S. military officer told reporters at a Baghdad news conference today. "Some significant improvement has taken place across the board" with regard to security operations and levels of violence in Iraq, said Army Maj. Gen. David G. Perkins, director for Strategic Effects at Multi-National Force - Iraq. For example, insurgent-committed attacks in Iraq have decreased to their lowest level since August 2003, Perkins said, noting that represents a more than 90-percent decrease since June 2007. Last year, Perkins said, Iraq averaged...

A young Iraqi man hooks chains on the lifting points of a concrete barrier as the barriers are removed from a market in Samarra, March 23. Photo by Sgt. Ian Terry, 25th Infantry Division Public Affairs. FOB BRASSFIELD-MORA — Scores of Samarra citizens joined provincial and community leaders March 23 as concrete barriers were removed during a ceremony reminiscent of the opening of the Berlin wall nearly twenty years ago.The concrete barriers, commonly known as T-walls, surround several government and military buildings throughout Samarra to provide a layer of protection against insurgent attacks.  While T-walls have become a familiar site...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama has told his crisis-weary nation he sees signs of economic progress but pleaded for time to navigate out of the worst financial maelstrom in decades. Obama used a prime-time news conference to tout his 3.6-trillion-dollar budget as the key to national recovery, during an intense week of economic and foreign policy rollouts ahead of his first big trip abroad next week. The president said his government, in its first two hectic months in office, had framed a comprehensive strategy to attack the crisis on "all fronts." "It's a strategy to create jobs, to...

DIYALA — The Iraqi Army assumed control of Combat Outpost Ayres from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division during a ceremony held March 19. Capt. Matthew Caprari, commander, Apache Company, 3-21 Inf., the unit that had operational control of COP Ayres, signed control over to Iraqi Army commander Lt. Col. Khalil Malik Ahmed, commander, 3rd Battalion, 20th IA Brigade. The official documents were signed during a brief ceremony, presided over by Khalil and Lt. Col. James R. DeMoss, battalion commander, 3-21 Inf. “Today is a significant day for the Iraqi and U.S. partnership,”...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2009 – The Iraqi security forces are performing high-level and fast-paced operations in Basra, making progress in other areas possible, the commander of Multinational Division – Southeast said today. British army Maj. Gen. Andy Salmon said the “atmospherics” in Basra are positive and that the citizens have high expectations for the future. “People are content with the security here, very confident in the way the Iraqi security forces are delivering that, but they're also focused on jobs, health and education for the future,” Salmon said during a video teleconference with Pentagon reporters today. The Iraqi army and...

USA Today, to its credit, carried a front page story, “Iraq combat deaths at 6-year low.” According to the article: U.S. combat deaths in Iraq have flattened at the lowest level since the war began six years ago Thursday, and the Navy has not lost a member to combat in more than a year. Three Marines have been killed in combat since August, and none since December, records show. The Air Force hasn’t had a combat death since April, and the Navy since February 2008. In some weeks, casualty figures for Iraq show, the number of non-combat deaths for U.S....

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2009 – As security continues to improve in Iraq, civil affairs units and provincial reconstruction teams become more effective, the commander of the Army reserve’s 304th Civil Affairs Brigade said today. Army Col. Daniel R. Ammerman, commander of the Army Reserve’s 304th Civil Affairs Brigade, listens to an Iraqi officer lecture on his division’s military operations capabilities at Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, March 12, 2009. The brigade assisted the Iraqi army in hosting the event, which allowed civil military operations representatives from all over Iraq to brief Iraqi and coalition forces on their projects and...

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2009 – The war in Afghanistan poses the biggest challenge to the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday, but he expressed confidence that Iraq “is in a better place” and warfighters and wounded warriors are better provided for than two years ago. Speaking on PBS’ “Tavis Smiley Show,” Gates reflected on the challenges he faces as defense secretary and the accomplishments he has helped to bring about. “Clearly, the war in Afghanistan is our biggest current challenge,” he said. “Getting the strategy right on that, having a path forward, and having clear and attainable...

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq, March 12, 2009 – A 44-year-old soldier here is serving in Iraq for the second time, an experience he says is considerably different from his first. An Army Ranger and veteran of operations Just Cause in 1989 and Iraqi Freedom in 2004, 44-year-old Army Sgt. 1st Class Gordon Ross has seen a lot more than many of his fellow soldiers in his 22-year Army career. Being an “old” soldier, Ross, the 2nd Platoon sergeant for Company H, 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment, has seen many changes throughout the Army and throughout the struggle here in Iraq....

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2009 – U.S. forces in Iraq increasingly fill their days with something not thought of as a traditional military role -- taking part in meetings. In recent days alone, U.S. troops have hosted forums and meetings on everything from fostering progress in Diyala province and Balad to improving conditions for women nationwide to fielding battle tanks to the Iraqi army. All are designed to move Iraq toward self-sufficiency. One local sheik in Diyala province viewed a March 3 meeting there with provincial leaders and leaders from the U.S. 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team as...

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2009 – Building a nation takes time, and progress shouldn’t be measured through Western standards, a senior coalition commander said, referring to Iraq’s future defense capabilities. “There have been some huge steps forward, but there are a number of areas that we are going to have to develop … in the near future to actually understand and allow the government of Iraq to … go forward as an independent nation,” British army Brigadier Mark G. Lacey, deputy commanding general of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, told bloggers and online journalists March 9 during a “DoD Live”...

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2009 – With provincial elections in Iraq complete and the U.S.-Iraq security agreement in place, the way ahead in Iraq continues to be more clearly defined as each day passes, a U.S. commander in Iraq said. “In the last 60 days, we have had some very historic events, which have had some very significant impacts here in Iraq,” Army Maj. Gen. David Perkins, director for Strategic Effects at Multinational Force Iraq, told bloggers and online journalists March 5 during a “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable. “I can tell you on the whole, things are going quite well, and...