Good News from Iraq: 30 Sep 2007

From MNF-I, Soldier sees Iraqi residents doing ‘really good things’.

ARAB JABOUR — In the seven weeks since its inception, the concerned citizens group here has made a significant impact on its community.

Former Iraqi army Brig. Gen. Mustafa Kamil Hamad Shabib al-Juburi, more commonly known as Gen. Mustafa, and Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, organized the concerned citizens group to establish a local security force responsible for protecting the community’s critical infrastructure.

In the process of defending the town’s mosques, vital roads, water pump stations and electric infrastructure, concerned citizens have also had success in combating al-Qaeda.

In the past five weeks alone, they have assisted Coalition Forces in finding more than 20 weapons caches and 10 improvised explosives devices, which prevented Soldiers from being killed or injured.

They have also been able to give valuable information to Coalition Forces concerning the locations and identities of al-Qaeda leadership in Arab Jabour.

Capt. Mike Fritz, project manager of the concerned citizens group for 1-30th Inf. Regt, said the group has been doing “really good things” for the community. Fritz, a native of El Cajon, Calif., is responsible for interacting with the concerned citizens leadership and making sure Coalition Forces know where the groups are working.

Interaction between the Coalition and concerned citizens groups is necessary to prevent incidents between Soldiers on the ground and local security forces.

The interaction also helps concerned citizens become accustomed to working alongside Soldiers in their neighborhoods.

To become part of the concerned citizens group, residents enter their vital information into a database that compares profiles of known insurgents.

Spc. Timothy Eugene Sheets, an infantryman and operator of the device used to catalog local citizens, said the system not only clears local residents to be members of the concerned citizens, but also allows them to register for future employment.

Sheets said in addition to cataloging citizens, the database helps reduce identity theft.

At last count, Fritz said more than 500 Iraqi civilians in Arab Jabour and its surrounding areas have joined the concerned citizens group. Even with its growing ranks and official recognition from the government of Iraq, the fight against al-Qaeda has not grown easier for the group.

In a Sept. 16 incident, concerned citizens working at a checkpoint in al-Buaytha were ambushed by suspected insurgents. Two concerned citizens were killed and another was wounded.

Later that day, Soldiers swept neighborhoods where the suspected insurgents were thought to be, and the concerned citizens present were a vital source of information. Coalition Forces and concerned citizens were able to identify 13 people suspected of involvement in the attack.

See more on the concerned citizens here and here.