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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Good News from Iraq: 27 Sept 2008

From MNF-I, Iraq Assumes Bulk of Security Mission Northwest of Baghdad.

WASHINGTON — Iraqi Soldiers and ‘Sons of Iraq’ civilian security members are now performing the bulk of security duties northwest of Baghdad, a senior U.S. military officer in Iraq said today.

“All in all, security in the area is vastly improved as the result of the great work of our Soldiers and their increasingly confident and capable partners, the Iraqi security forces,” Army Col. Todd McCaffrey, commander of the U.S. 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference.

The U.S. Soldiers under McCaffrey’s command do not patrol much anymore, he said.

“The basic security that prevents the enemy’s freedom-of-movement through the area is really executed by the Iraqi Army and by the Sons of Iraq,” McCaffrey said. “That is no longer a task that we participate in and there’s no need for us to do that.”

And, more and more, all U.S. operations against insurgents are conducted in unison with Iraqi forces, McCaffrey said.

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