Sunday, May 27, 2007
U.S. forces rescue 41 civilians from Al-Qaeda hide-out
Security
(AP) - U.S. forces rescued 41 Iraqi civilians Sunday from an al-Qaida hide-out northeast of Baghdad, including some who showed signs of torture and broken bones, a senior U.S. official said. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the top U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said it was the largest number of detained Iraqis ever found in a single al-Qaida hide-out. Some among the 41 had been held as long as four months, he said.
Details were incomplete, but Caldwell said some of the freed Iraqis were being transported to medical facilities for treatment of their injuries. There were no indications that Americans had been held at the hide-out, he said. It was not immediately clear whether any al-Qaida figures were captured. The discovery was unrelated to a search south of Baghdad for two missing U.S. soldiers.
U.S. forces previously have found a number of houses used by al-Qaida for detention, including some where prisoners showed signs of torture. But the hide-out raided Sunday in Diyala province was the largest, Caldwell said in a telephone interview. He declined to be more specific about the location, citing security reasons.
Caldwell said a tip to U.S. forces from Iraqis in Diyala led to the rescue operation. "The people in Diyala are speaking up against al-Qaida," he said. Caldwell said U.S. troops have been engaging more directly with Iraqi civilians in Diyala in recent weeks since an additional 3,000 U.S. troops entered the province.
Details were incomplete, but Caldwell said some of the freed Iraqis were being transported to medical facilities for treatment of their injuries. There were no indications that Americans had been held at the hide-out, he said. It was not immediately clear whether any al-Qaida figures were captured. The discovery was unrelated to a search south of Baghdad for two missing U.S. soldiers.
U.S. forces previously have found a number of houses used by al-Qaida for detention, including some where prisoners showed signs of torture. But the hide-out raided Sunday in Diyala province was the largest, Caldwell said in a telephone interview. He declined to be more specific about the location, citing security reasons.
Caldwell said a tip to U.S. forces from Iraqis in Diyala led to the rescue operation. "The people in Diyala are speaking up against al-Qaida," he said. Caldwell said U.S. troops have been engaging more directly with Iraqi civilians in Diyala in recent weeks since an additional 3,000 U.S. troops entered the province.
Labels: Al-Qaeda, Diyala, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, U.S. forces
Monday, May 07, 2007
Sadrist denies U.S. allegations of violence and torture
Politics, Security
(Azzaman) - A senior member of the movement led by the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has denied U.S. accusations that his group was involved in violence and torture. Alwan Hassan, parliament member representing the group, said U.S. troops were targeting the movement because they were aware it could not tolerate their occupation of the country.
“The operations by the occupation troops in the Sadr City which have resulted in the arrest of many of our members and U.S. allegations that there are armed and violent groups in the Sadr City have not a grain of truth.
“The occupation troops are targeting the movement’s leaders under the pretext that they are heading killing and kidnapping gangs. This is an attempt to distort the image of the Sadr movement which represents the national trend rejecting the occupation,” Hassan said.
Hassan’s remarks come in the wake of the ongoing U.S. military operations in the Sadr City where the movement garners huge popular support and following U.S. claims of the discovery of a torture chamber there administered by the group.
The U.S. said it discovered the ‘blood-stained chamber’ early on Sunday and then destroyed it by a powerful controlled explosion. The whereabouts of Sadr is not known and is believed to be in hiding since the start of the current U.S. military operations to control Baghdad more than two months ago.
“The operations by the occupation troops in the Sadr City which have resulted in the arrest of many of our members and U.S. allegations that there are armed and violent groups in the Sadr City have not a grain of truth.
“The occupation troops are targeting the movement’s leaders under the pretext that they are heading killing and kidnapping gangs. This is an attempt to distort the image of the Sadr movement which represents the national trend rejecting the occupation,” Hassan said.
Hassan’s remarks come in the wake of the ongoing U.S. military operations in the Sadr City where the movement garners huge popular support and following U.S. claims of the discovery of a torture chamber there administered by the group.
The U.S. said it discovered the ‘blood-stained chamber’ early on Sunday and then destroyed it by a powerful controlled explosion. The whereabouts of Sadr is not known and is believed to be in hiding since the start of the current U.S. military operations to control Baghdad more than two months ago.
The movement has withdrawn its ministers from the government but it has kept its parliamentary block of 35 MPs. The movement has staged two uprisings against U.S. troops and Sadr has vowed not to negotiate with the U.S. and is calling for a speedy withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country.
According to CNN, A pre-dawn coalition military raid killed at least eight gunmen and uncovered a bloodstained torture chamber in a building in Sadr City that was later destroyed by a powerful controlled explosion. U.S. and Iraqi forces chasing a "terrorist" with ties to Iran early Sunday discovered a bloodstained torture chamber and a massive amount of artillery stored in a building in Baghdad's Sadr City, the U.S. military said.
The raid took place in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, and triggered a gunbattle that left eight to 10 gunmen dead, according to the U.S. military. There were no reports of any casualties among coalition or Iraqi security forces. U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell would not reveal specific information about the "known terrorist" that was the target of the intelligence-driven raid because he was still on the run." As best we know this was some kind of Shia extremist element, some sort of secret cell," Caldwell said.
The raid took place in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, and triggered a gunbattle that left eight to 10 gunmen dead, according to the U.S. military. There were no reports of any casualties among coalition or Iraqi security forces. U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell would not reveal specific information about the "known terrorist" that was the target of the intelligence-driven raid because he was still on the run." As best we know this was some kind of Shia extremist element, some sort of secret cell," Caldwell said.
Labels: Alwan Hassan, Iraq violence, Mahdi Army, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, Moqtada Al-Sadr, Sadr City, torture chamber
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Security stations in Baghdad to increase
Security
(Gulf News) - As part of the Baghdad security crackdown, 54 "security stations" have been set up across the city, each receiving between 10 and 15 calls per day from the local communities, Maj Gen Caldwell, the US Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Effects, explained. The number of stations is set to increase to 76 in the coming weeks, as more people report incidents in their areas. "What we are trying to do is find a balance between providing security and not impeding people's lives," said Maj Gen Caldwell.
Labels: Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, security crackdown, security stations
Friday, April 20, 2007
Three-mile wall to protect Sunni part of Baghdad
Security
(AP) - U.S. soldiers are building a three-mile wall to protect a Sunni Arab enclave surrounded by Shiite neighborhoods in a Baghdad area "trapped in a spiral of sectarian violence and retaliation," the military said.
When the wall is finished, the minority Sunni community of Azamiyah, located on the eastern side of the Tigris River, will be completely gated, and traffic control points manned by Iraqi soldiers will provide the only means to enter it, the military said.
"Shiites are coming in and hitting Sunnis, and Sunnis are retaliating across the street," said Capt. Scott McLearn, of the U.S. 407th Brigade Support Battalion, which began the project April 10 and is working "almost nightly until the wall is complete," the statement said. It said the concrete wall, including barriers as tall as 12 feet, "is one of the centerpieces of a new strategy by coalition and Iraqi forces to break the cycle of sectarian violence" in Baghdad.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have long erected cement barriers around marketplaces and coalition bases and outposts in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities such as Ramadi in an effort to prevent attacks, including suicide car bombs. American forces also have constructed huge sand barriers around towns such as Tal Afar, an insurgent stronghold near the Syrian border, to limit access to them.
The Wall Street Journal reported on April 5 that U.S. forces in the mostly Sunni area of Dora in southern Baghdad had erected massive concrete barriers to separate Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods in an effort to stop widespread sectarian violence there. And Britain's Independent newspaper reported April 11 that U.S. forces are planning a counterinsurgency operation that would seal off large areas of Baghdad, using barricades to create "gated communities" that could only be entered with newly issued ID cards.
Currently, the U.S. strategy for stabilizing Iraq involves getting Iraqis to reconcile and support the democratically elected Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad, and a security plan in the capital that calls for 28,000 additional American troops and thousands of Iraqi soldiers. U.S. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the top spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq, was quoted as saying Wednesday that he was unaware of any effort to build a wall dividing Shiite and Sunni enclaves in Baghdad and that such a tactic was not a policy of the Baghdad security plan.
When the wall is finished, the minority Sunni community of Azamiyah, located on the eastern side of the Tigris River, will be completely gated, and traffic control points manned by Iraqi soldiers will provide the only means to enter it, the military said.
"Shiites are coming in and hitting Sunnis, and Sunnis are retaliating across the street," said Capt. Scott McLearn, of the U.S. 407th Brigade Support Battalion, which began the project April 10 and is working "almost nightly until the wall is complete," the statement said. It said the concrete wall, including barriers as tall as 12 feet, "is one of the centerpieces of a new strategy by coalition and Iraqi forces to break the cycle of sectarian violence" in Baghdad.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have long erected cement barriers around marketplaces and coalition bases and outposts in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities such as Ramadi in an effort to prevent attacks, including suicide car bombs. American forces also have constructed huge sand barriers around towns such as Tal Afar, an insurgent stronghold near the Syrian border, to limit access to them.
The Wall Street Journal reported on April 5 that U.S. forces in the mostly Sunni area of Dora in southern Baghdad had erected massive concrete barriers to separate Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods in an effort to stop widespread sectarian violence there. And Britain's Independent newspaper reported April 11 that U.S. forces are planning a counterinsurgency operation that would seal off large areas of Baghdad, using barricades to create "gated communities" that could only be entered with newly issued ID cards.
Currently, the U.S. strategy for stabilizing Iraq involves getting Iraqis to reconcile and support the democratically elected Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad, and a security plan in the capital that calls for 28,000 additional American troops and thousands of Iraqi soldiers. U.S. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the top spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq, was quoted as saying Wednesday that he was unaware of any effort to build a wall dividing Shiite and Sunni enclaves in Baghdad and that such a tactic was not a policy of the Baghdad security plan.
Labels: Azamiyah, Capt. Scott McLearn, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
U.S. - military - Iran has been training Iraqi fighters in the use of EFPs
Iran, Security
(AP) - Iran has been training Iraqi fighters in the assembly of deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs, the U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday. EFPs, or explosively formed penetrators, hurl a molten, fist-sized lump of molten copper capable of piercing armored vehicles.
"We know that they are being in fact manufactured and smuggled into this country, and we know that training does go on in Iran for people to learn how to assemble them and how to employ them," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a weekly briefing. "We know that training has gone on as recently as this past month from detainees' debriefs." In January, U.S. officials said at least 170 U.S. soldiers had been killed by EFPs. Caldwell also said the U.S. military had evidence that Iranian intelligence agents were active in Iraq in funding, training and arming Shiite militia fighters.
"We also know that training still is being conducted in Iran for insurgent elements from Iraq. We know that as recent as last week from debriefing personnel," he said. "The do receive training on how to assemble and employ EFPs," Caldwell said, adding that fighters also were trained in how to carry out complex attacks that used explosives followed by assaults with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.
"There has been training on specialized weapons that are used here in Iraq. And then we do know they receive also training on general tactics in terms of how to take and employ and work what we call a more complex kind of attack where we see multiple types of engagements being used from an explosion to small arms fire to being done in multiple places," Caldwell said.
The general would not say specifically which arm of the Iranian government was doing the training but called the trainers "surrogates" of Iran's intelligence agency. Caldwell opened the briefing by showing photographs of what he said were Iranian-made mortar rounds, RPG rounds and rockets that were found in Iraq.
"We know that they are being in fact manufactured and smuggled into this country, and we know that training does go on in Iran for people to learn how to assemble them and how to employ them," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a weekly briefing. "We know that training has gone on as recently as this past month from detainees' debriefs." In January, U.S. officials said at least 170 U.S. soldiers had been killed by EFPs. Caldwell also said the U.S. military had evidence that Iranian intelligence agents were active in Iraq in funding, training and arming Shiite militia fighters.
"We also know that training still is being conducted in Iran for insurgent elements from Iraq. We know that as recent as last week from debriefing personnel," he said. "The do receive training on how to assemble and employ EFPs," Caldwell said, adding that fighters also were trained in how to carry out complex attacks that used explosives followed by assaults with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.
"There has been training on specialized weapons that are used here in Iraq. And then we do know they receive also training on general tactics in terms of how to take and employ and work what we call a more complex kind of attack where we see multiple types of engagements being used from an explosion to small arms fire to being done in multiple places," Caldwell said.
The general would not say specifically which arm of the Iranian government was doing the training but called the trainers "surrogates" of Iran's intelligence agency. Caldwell opened the briefing by showing photographs of what he said were Iranian-made mortar rounds, RPG rounds and rockets that were found in Iraq.
Labels: complex attack, EFPs, explosively formed projectiles, Iran, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, Shia militias, training
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
MNFI in talks with Mahdi Army
Security
(Asharq Al-Awsat) Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, spokesman for the Multi-National forces in Iraq, has affirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Multi-National forces are holding talks with commanders of Muqtada al-Sadr's Al-Mahdi Army with the "Iraqi Government's blessing." Caldwell also stated that talks are not limited to the commanders of the Al-Mahdi Army, but also include several Iraqi armed groups, as part of the implementation of the political part of the new Baghdad security plan.
Caldwell noted that the Multi-National forces have divided the armed groups in Iraq into two groups: "either reconcilable or irreconcilable." He explained that the second group includes "al-Qaeda and Shiite extremists." Caldwell added that Muqtada al-Sadr "is not in Iraq and has not been in Iraq for some time. He is currently in Iran."
Caldwell noted that the Multi-National forces have divided the armed groups in Iraq into two groups: "either reconcilable or irreconcilable." He explained that the second group includes "al-Qaeda and Shiite extremists." Caldwell added that Muqtada al-Sadr "is not in Iraq and has not been in Iraq for some time. He is currently in Iran."
He noted that the Multi-National forces and the Iraqi forces have launched "an intense operation against the death squads, and we have detained 700 elements of these squads until now." He drew attention to the relative success of the security plan against the death and assassination squads. He explained that during the past two weeks, murders and assassinations in Baghdad declined by 46 percent, but the number of car bombs increased. He added that this is al-Qaeda's way of imposing its presence in Iraq.
Caldwell added that the Iraqi and Multi-National forces are trying to deal with the new wave of bombings, particularly through the establishment of "joint security stations," which now have reached 14 stations in Baghdad and expected to increase to between 30 and 40 stations in the coming few weeks. He added that the existence of these stations meant that the American forces do not need to return to their large camps, but remain with the Iraqi forces to protect the civilians and track what takes place in the neighborhoods.
Labels: Al-Qaeda, Mahdi Army, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, MNFI
