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MNFI

Sunday, 31 August 2008
By Tim Kilbride
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON — Improvements in the security situation south of Baghdad have enabled economic and political progress, and the continued development of the Iraqi Security Forces will advance those gains, a U.S. commander said Aug. 29.

Progress across those multiple fronts is interconnected, Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, deputy commanding general for operations for Multi-National Division – Center, explained during a call with military bloggers.

“If this were an organism, it would be a symbiotic effect that we have through these different factors operating in concert with each other to achieve an overall more positive effect,” Buchanan said.

The general said that in his area of operations, south of Baghdad, his troops are charged with six primary objectives: securing the Iraqi population, defeating violent extremist networks, disrupting lethal aid from Iran, professionalizing the Iraqi Security Forces, transferring security responsibilities to the Iraqis, and enabling governance and economic development.

Of those missions, Buchanan pointed to the “professionalization and development of the various Iraqi Security Forces” as the decisive effort in turning the conflict in Iraq’s favor. Those forces include the army, the National Police, the Department of Border Enforcement and the Iraqi Police Service.

“We operate by, with and through the Iraqi forces throughout our [operating environment],” Buchanan said. “And so it is not us – the Coalition forces – securing the Iraqi population; it’s the Coalition forces, in partnership with the Iraqis, securing the Iraqi population.”

A dramatic improvement in leadership and willingness to serve throughout the Iraqi Security Forces, owing in part to the success of the U.S. troop surge, has given the Iraqis the opportunity to make substantial gains in providing for their own security, Buchanan said.

“In the last year, we’ve had more than 130,000 Iraqis join the various forms of security forces,” he said. “At the individual level, the individual Soldier or policeman understands what risks he’s facing. And he continues to serve, and despite the risk continues to serve, in support of his country, and really in support and in defense of his family.”

That determination extends to Iraq’s leadership, the general explained.

“At the national level, … there has been a significant demonstration of courage by the government of Iraq – willing to take on all of its enemies, regardless of ethnicity or religious sect. And that, in itself, has generated more confidence in the security forces and the government,” Buchanan said.