Saturday, August 26, 2006
News RhetIraq: Violence Tapers Off With Captures
Source: Associated Press via Findlaw
Quotes: From article titled, "U.S. says over 100 known, suspected terrorists captured in Iraq"
Iraq-U.S. and Iraqi forces have captured more than 100 known and suspected terrorists in the past week, including one linked to the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine that triggered a cycle of sectarian violence, a U.S. spokesman said Tuesday.
At the same time, more than 500 Iraqi men have joined the police in restive Anbar province - a focal point of the Sunni Arab insurgency - in the most successful recruiting drive in the region.
The arrests are part of a new push by the United States to wipe out the insurgency, which it blames on the local wing of al-Qaida, and sectarian strife gripping at least four of Iraq's 18 provinces.
"All these captures have severely disrupted and disorganized the capability of al-Qaida in Iraq," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell told reporters.
"They enable Iraqi security forces along with coalition forces ... to gain a greater understanding of the terrorist network in this region and how to best defeat it," he said.
At least 3,500 people were killed in Iraq in July, the deadliest monthly toll since the U.S.-led war in Iraq in March 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein. The violence appears to have tapered off in the last one week.
In Baghdad, six death squad leaders and 31 death squad cell members were arrested in the past week, Caldwell said.
Most American deaths this month have been in Anbar province west of Baghdad, where support for the Sunni Arab insurgency runs deep. The latest casualties in Anbar were two Marines and a sailor who were killed in combat Sunday. All three belonged to the Regimental Combat Team 7, which conducted the three-day police recruitment.
The recruitment of more than 500 police cadets is a significant achievement in the American goal, but desertion rate remains high among the Iraqi army and police force, often because the foot soldiers don't get paid in time or get fatigued by the ongoing fighting.
If all 500 new applicants stay with the force after the training period, which last from eight to 10 weeks, Anbar will have more than 2,200 police officers in uniform, the statement said.
Quotes: From article titled, "U.S. says over 100 known, suspected terrorists captured in Iraq"
Iraq-U.S. and Iraqi forces have captured more than 100 known and suspected terrorists in the past week, including one linked to the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine that triggered a cycle of sectarian violence, a U.S. spokesman said Tuesday.
At the same time, more than 500 Iraqi men have joined the police in restive Anbar province - a focal point of the Sunni Arab insurgency - in the most successful recruiting drive in the region.
The arrests are part of a new push by the United States to wipe out the insurgency, which it blames on the local wing of al-Qaida, and sectarian strife gripping at least four of Iraq's 18 provinces.
"All these captures have severely disrupted and disorganized the capability of al-Qaida in Iraq," U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell told reporters.
"They enable Iraqi security forces along with coalition forces ... to gain a greater understanding of the terrorist network in this region and how to best defeat it," he said.
At least 3,500 people were killed in Iraq in July, the deadliest monthly toll since the U.S.-led war in Iraq in March 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein. The violence appears to have tapered off in the last one week.
In Baghdad, six death squad leaders and 31 death squad cell members were arrested in the past week, Caldwell said.
Most American deaths this month have been in Anbar province west of Baghdad, where support for the Sunni Arab insurgency runs deep. The latest casualties in Anbar were two Marines and a sailor who were killed in combat Sunday. All three belonged to the Regimental Combat Team 7, which conducted the three-day police recruitment.
The recruitment of more than 500 police cadets is a significant achievement in the American goal, but desertion rate remains high among the Iraqi army and police force, often because the foot soldiers don't get paid in time or get fatigued by the ongoing fighting.
If all 500 new applicants stay with the force after the training period, which last from eight to 10 weeks, Anbar will have more than 2,200 police officers in uniform, the statement said.
