Iraqi Forces Prove Eager to Help, Become More Capable

By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON – Iraqi military and police forces are eager to help find solutions for the challenges facing their country, and they are becoming more capable of assuming increased responsibility for security, a senior U.S. military officer said in Baghdad today.

As President Bush deliberates the way ahead in Iraq, the Iraqi people and their security forces will ultimately have the responsibility to quell violence and effect peace across the country, Army Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, told reporters.

“Ultimately, Iraqis have to step up and develop solutions to their country’s problems,” Caldwell said. “Yet, in the face of persistently high levels of violence, the Iraqi people are demonstrating that they are eager to do just that.”

More than 1,100 Iraqis recently signed up for the police forces in troubled Anbar province, Caldwell said, a place where there’d been no previous demonstration of such civic resolve.

More Iraqi citizens are also stepping forward to provide information about extremist and criminal activities to authorities, Caldwell said. From January to September 2006, he said, Iraqis provided an average of 4,500 tips monthly to authorities about possible terrorist or criminal activity in their areas.

Between October and November, such citizen-supplied tips increased by 66 percent to more than 7,600 tips per month. As of Dec. 22, the pace of tips received was anticipated to yield more than 8,700 this month, Caldwell said.

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