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 Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV
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IRAQ OPERATIONAL UPDATE BRIEFING BRIEFER: MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM CALDWELL, USA, SPOKESMAN, MULTINATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ LOCATION: COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER, BAGHDAD, IRAQ TIME: 9:00 A.M. EDT DATE: MONDAY, JULY 24, 2006 GEN. CALDWELL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today we'll briefly discuss operations focused on Baghdad, focused on the security that must set the stage for unity and eventually prosperity, focused on combined operations involving Iraqi security forces and coalition support. As Prime Minister Maliki noted in his Wall Street Journal op ed that was published today, he stated, I quote, "We must be realistic in measuring success and setbacks. There are serious challenges facing the new government and Iraqi people, but Iraq, as a sovereign nation, must stand on its own and find solutions unique to its sensibilities. The dialogue towards reconciliation will be an arduous but difficult process. Security plans to quell the violence in Baghdad, the capital and most populous city, face serious challenges that must be overcome. Together, we can and will succeed." With that in mind, Iraqi security forces again took the lead in the neighborhoods and beladiyas of Baghdad to make their capital safer, to set the stage for their capital to emerge as a center not of violence and strife, but some day for business and learning, for commerce and for culture. Slide, please. Previously, we have articulated the Baghdad strategy of terrorists and insurgents and underscored the activities of illegal armed groups, even of death squads operating in a city of millions because they must seek to uproot democracy and derail the legitimate governance process. The following two slides will depict the relative density of attacks per square kilometer for all of Iraq as a method of comparing higher-concentration attack areas with others. This slide, as you see up here right now -- (aside) -- go ahead, put up the -- stand by one second -- (returning) -- examines enemy attacks over the last month, but does not include murders. And as you can see, if you look here, the red area is, in fact, where the predominance of, in fact, attacks on civilians have occurred here and here. If you look throughout the rest of Iraq, you don't see that density. And again, as we have stated before, there's four provinces where we find the greatest density of attacks occurring, and that's reflected here on this chart. Slide and chart, please. The second slide weights attacks based on the number of casualties produced, and this one includes civilian murders. This method of analyzing what is occurring in Iraq highlights the relative peace and stability truly in the rest of Iraq. And as you look at this now, what you see throughout Iraq, the density of deaths for civilians that is occurring right here in Baghdad. As we have articulated, now can visually show to you graphically, clearly, Baghdad is the center that everybody is fighting for -- the insurgents, the death squads, are going to fight for that, just as the government of Iraq, as the prime minister said, this is where they are going to place their fight. Slide, please. What I'd like to show is a couple of recent operations that occurred just over the last week. In line with keeping weapons off the street, this one is fairly significant because, again, it's from a tip. It's an Iraqi citizen has made the decision that they're not going to allow illegal weapons and arms to be in their neighborhoods, they're not going to allow it to reside in the city. They, in fact, want to contribute and help reduce the violence in Baghdad. And if you look over here at the type of munitions that came out of this cache, it's very, very significant. In addition to finding the cache -- visually here you can see it -- from heavy weapons to explosive devices to things to making IEDs to vehicle IEDs, they also detained the six personnel that were allegedly involved in, in fact, maintaining and keeping that cache. But again, the key thing we find here on this one -- an Iraqi citizen stepping forth, providing the information that allowed Iraqi security forces to move into there and find this cache and the six individuals associated with it. Slide, please. This one was significant, too. A patrol out at night operating on the road identifies somebody emplacing an IED, two individuals, to be exact. They respond, they go after them. They manage to capture one. They capture that one individual, and tactical questioning leads them to another vehicle, where in fact in that vehicle they find more explosive devices. And the tactical questioning of the people in that vehicle then leads to a cache of IEDs. In the very end, by the time it's all over, they have in fact have found three caches, several IEDs already prepared, ready to be emplaced and utilized, and as we find very significant, we find a camera with a night vision device. Clearly, not some kind of self- defense cache of weapons that somebody may have been using to protect their family but in fact, indeed, somebody is using for illegal-armed groups and death squads operating in the city. Next slide, please. This one here shows the Iraqi security forces again responding to a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device that has gone off. They're moving to the location here, where in fact it had exploded. When they get down there, the Iraqi security forces recognize another vehicle nearby as being unusual. There is just something about it. Again, the tactics, techniques and procedures that they have been developing, they find that this vehicle does not -- and without going into the operational aspects of it -- there is something different about it. They in fact investigate and find us a second vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, set to go off about the time when all the first responders had arrived on the scene and the crowds had collected. Again, death squad elements, insurgent elements operate in the city with the full intent to inflict the massive amount of casualties they possibly can on innocent Iraqi civilians and first responders, medical personnel, first aid types that are coming there to help people. They were able to diffuse that bomb by bringing in the Iraqi forces, the Iraqi police -- specifically explosive ordnance detachment -- which went ahead and took -- they disarmed that bomb. Next slide, please. This one here was a tragic situation. We had a(n) Iraqi security checkpoint out on the road. They had a vehicle coming through. Inside -- as they looked inside the vehicle, a simple family, an Iraqi family -- a man, a woman and three children under the age of 3 years old inside this vehicle -- but there was something suspicious about it, which led the Iraqi security forces to conduct a more thorough investigation of the vehicle, and in doing so, found this cache of weapons along with a mortar tube stashed inside the vehicle. Upon further questioning, they learned that in fact the woman and those three children were not at all that man's family, but in fact had been used as a decoy, which he was using to get through checkpoints as posing as an innocent family of Iraqi citizens drawing on the good nature of the Iraqi security forces manning those checkpoints. Innocent children, three of them, that are literally traveling with danger to them and danger to Iraq in general. Slide and chart, please. Over the last week, we have intensified -- we being the Iraqi security forces with coalition forces in support -- our efforts against death squads. Specifically, there's been 19 operations, 17 of them inside of Baghdad itself during this time period, and I'm going to talk about a few of them. But you can again see the concentration of the areas within Baghdad where these operations in fact took place, fairly similar to the same areas we talked about last week in terms of where we're having the greatest challenges and are going to focus a lot of our specific effort and energies as we eradicate those death squads that are operating out there. The results of the total of 19 operations -- there's 17 of them listed here because those were inside the city. The results of those were in terms of cell members that were killed and numerous others captured during those -- that time period. Slide, please. In this operation here, again, once again, we've got an Iraqi citizen placing a tip. There's a response force that shows up. It's an, again, but it's based on an Iraqi citizen calling in and making a tip. They respond to that location at that house. While there, an explosion goes off nearby; they respond to that. And then, when they come back, they in fact spot an odd-looking car that wasn't there before with people inside. Upon further investigation, they find an illegal weapon, some personnel inside that vehicle; they detain them. And upon further analysis of it, find out that in fact one of those was a wanted death squad member that we have been pursuing inside the city of Baghdad -- tip from an Iraqi local citizen that led eventually to the capture of another death squad member. Slide and chart, please. I've got three slides here to show you and charts as we talk through this one. There was an illegal checkpoint that was set up inside the city of Baghdad. A call came in, again, a tip stating that we have an illegal checkpoint. Upon responding to that location, they in fact do not find the checkpoint, but they see this vehicle right here driving away from that location where it had been reported it was set up, and they see weapons sticking out of the side of the windows. They go in pursuit; they stop the van. The two members in the front seat jump out and run away, and inside the vehicle, they were able to detain the other nine personnel. You can see what the vehicle was doing. It was carrying what looked like a coffin to go to a funeral. And if you look, the (Kadhimiya ?) was on the side of it, which is a mosque also here in the city. Next slide, please. They did see a vehicle flee away from the area. They pursued it, weren't able to capture it, but they called it in to the joint control point, manned by both Iraqi and coalition forces, reported it as a vehicle that fled away from the scene. Upon further examination, the Iraqi security forces there found inside that van -- if you could put the van back up on this side for a second. That is a van. I'm sorry. That's a -- what they found here, if you can -- you can't really see it, but this is fresh blood that was draining out from the back of this casket right here. And these in fact are weapons compartments that they found underneath the floorboard of the car. So they were able to find the weapons that belonged to each of these individuals stashed under here, and they in fact found a recently -- what we're assuming to be a murdered person that was inside that coffin. Using the technique of going to a funeral, they had gone ahead and -- what we think was conducted a murder of the individual that was inside that coffin, had put him in there and was using that as the ability to transport and drive through checkpoints undetected, with pockets underneath the van where they can in fact stash weapons. Next slide, please. Patrols out moving around the city did spot the vehicle that had been called in, that had fled the scene. It in fact had gone to the (Kadhimiya ?) mosque. Upon responding to that location, they went inside the mosque with permission to enter and found the two individuals that were from there and another weapon. Altogether 11 people were detained, clearly a death squad, illegal armed activity occurring here in the city that was thwarted because of the report of an illegal checkpoint that had been set up, which led to the series of events with all personnel being detained and weapons being captured. Slide and chart, please. Our last example today is also profoundly unsettling, considering what the two freed kidnap victims had endured and how close they came to losing their lives. Based on information from recent interviews of previously detained illegal groups, personnel that had been picked up, operations were launched in eastern Baghdad on the morning of July 23rd. Iraqi army forces conducted two near-simultaneous raids that morning. Photos, please. One of the raids in eastern Baghdad targeted two death squad members be -- to be believed (sic) operating in the Baghdad area. As Iraqi security forces, with coalition advisers, entered the area, they received heavy and sustained small-arms fire, machine gun and rocket- propelled grenades, from several positions. The Iraqi security force and coalition advisers responded with appropriate force, and in doing so, in the course of the operation, they freed two Iraqi citizens that were being held hostage and detained eight insurgents. At the second location, they did in fact detain two other individuals. The identification of all those individuals is going on at this point to determine whether or not we in fact were able to detain those who are primary targets. We have some video that was taken that evening that we can show you. If you would, would you roll the video, please? (Begin video.) The individuals you see here are Iraqi security forces. They're equipped with the latest equipment that's available to any of the forces operating here in the city. Those are their -- what you're seeing is under a night observation camera. Those are infrared lights. Those are not actually real lights you could with the naked eye, but with the infrared camera that we're using, you can see their lights. Each of the Iraqi security forces soldiers have on their heads the night observation devices, and each of their weapon systems are equipped with night infrared laser pointers. You can see the close proximity of the buildings in which they are conducting this operation that evening. You see the intensity of what they would have gone through upon receiving the machine gun fire, rocket-propelled grenade fire, and yet they were able to continue to operate and execute in the middle of the night as a combined force and secure their targets, free two Iraqi citizens who had been kidnapped, and exfiltrate out of the area. This Iraqi-led operation saves lives and once again demonstrates the growing capability of the Iraqi security forces here in Iraq. With that, I'll take any questions you have at this time. STAFF: We only have time for a few questions. GEN. CALDWELL: Yes, sir? Q Matthew Fort (ph) from AFP. There's reports about American troops moving into Baghdad to make the city safer. Is that true? GEN. CALDWELL: We obviously don't discuss operational troop movements until they've occurred, but as General Casey has stated after his conversations with the prime minister, we will do whatever it takes to bring security to Baghdad. Yes, sir? Q General, Julian Barnes with the L.A. Times. One, when you say -- quick point of clarification. When you say death squad, do you refer only to Shi'ite groups with that, or is that a larger umbrella that covers wider armed groups in Baghdad? GEN. CALDWELL: When we say death squads, what we're referring to is anybody who's operating outside of the law, any illegal element that is out intentionally using murder and killings to further their personal goals. It has absolutely nothing to do with any religious sect, has nothing to do with any particular group. It's those extremist elements that are operating outside the law, using murders, assassinations, as their method by which to further their personal goals in whatever thing they're trying to advocate.d Q The uptick in violence over the last 10 days has had very much a sectarian character. Can you talk about how the U.S. and Iraqi strategy is shifting to address the sectarian nature of the conflict rather than a simple insurgency that's attacking the security forces? GEN. CALDWELL: I think as General Abizaid said the other day, there is the acknowledgement that there's more sectarian violence than we had previously seen here in the city before. I should let the Iraqi security forces and the minister of Defense -- them talk specifically about what they're doing from the Iraqi side. From the coalition forces side, we're in continual consultation with them. Decisions are being made, force reallocations or any of the things that are required will be done as requested by the Iraqi government to enable them to establish greater security. It's obviously a multi-pronged approach. It's not going to be just security forces. They're looking at economic aspects of this and political aspects of this. But those are mostly in the Iraqi -- the government of Iraq side of the house in terms of those specifics that they're going to implement and put into place themselves with respect to that. But we as coalition forces will support the government of Iraq. Yes, sir? Q Andy Mosher, Washington Post. You alluded to something about the shape that the two men were in who were rescued in the raid yesterday morning in Sadr City, I believe it was. And I wondered if you could explain a little bit more about that and about what sounded like -- it sounded as if you were describing sort of a larger kidnap ring. Is that the case? And if so, was it associated with any particular group? GEN. CALDWELL: I tell you what -- (to staff) -- would you throw up a footage for me of the kidnap -- one of the kidnap victims, please? It's somewhat disturbing that -- (to staff) -- not that one, please; take that down. Take that down, please. Go back to the other one, please. (Pause.) Andy, I'll have it up in a second for you. No, we do not attribute it to any specific group. As we go after death squads, Andy, our intent is to specifically target those who are operating outside the law. It's -- it makes absolutely no difference what their religious sect is, what organizations they may claim to belong to. All we care about are those -- when we talk about death squads -- that are out conducting murders and assassinations. This is a -- one of the two gentlemen that were in fact rescued by Iraqi security forces. We have blocked out his face, obviously. This is a coalition force medic providing immediate assistance on site at the location where he was found. These are burns. They were using a burning iron to burn into his body. There -- you can see on the back, you can see the welts from beatings on his body, and that's throughout his entire body, too. And that's just a shot that we happen to have from the back. You'll see those on his legs and his arms, the welts and the swelling that occurred. They had severely beaten and used electrical prods on both of these two Iraqi citizens that were freed. It was pretty brutal. (To staff) Take that down, would you, please? Yes, sir? Q James Hider from the London Times. You've arrested and interrogated quite a few of these death squads. Is there any kind of pattern that emerges on how they function, how high their level of organization goes? These are presumably not just random groups who decide to go out and kill people and set up checkpoints. They have some sort of pattern that they're working on. What sort of pattern do you see emerging from this? And also, in your briefing, there's a reference to numerous sealed documents that were found with a death squad on the July 17th operation. Could you tell us what was in those documents? GEN. CALDWELL: They are still exploiting those documents at this point, and had asked us not to discuss it. Obviously, some of these death squad elements are organized. There is some organization to them of some type. We don't know, really -- we would be inappropriate, really, to comment on what level of perhaps what we think it might be. It is not a fixed organized structure, as you might think, of some kind of military organization, but rather, a random group of people, from what we can see at this point, that are using murder and assassination to try to further their personal goals. We do not see it, but it is extremist elements out there that are doing this kind of thing. Q (Off mike.) GEN. CALDWELL: A lot of times we see, you know -- each one is probably a little different. But there's -- it's clear that some of them are trying to do it for the furtherance of their perhaps desire to further their personal desires of what they want to see or not see take place in particular areas. And every one is somewhat different from what we can gather. It's not an organized structure like you might think of is what we're finding out. It truly is extremist kind of elements on both sides -- some minority of people, not very large, but they -- they're -- the way they want to further whatever they're trying to achieve, they do it through murder and assassinations. Q (Off mike.) GEN. CALDWELL: There's a variety of things that probably is why they're trying to use murder and assassinations. I wouldn't attribute it to any one particular type of thing, but rather their desire to further personal goals. STAFF: We've got time for two more questions. GEN. CALDWELL: Yes, sir? Q (Name off mike) -- McClatchy Newspapers. I have two questions, the first on the death squads. Have you found evidence of death squads that include both Sunnis and Shi'as, or do they tend to be solely Sunni or solely Shi'a? And if that's the case, what does that say to you about perhaps their motivation? The second question is, are there neighborhoods in Baghdad, particularly those that have seen violence in the past couple of weeks, in which Iraqi security forces did have the lead, in which American forces or coalition forces are retaking the lead? GEN. CALDWELL: In terms of your first question, we have not seen the death squads associated with any one particular sect. It's been a random of Iraqi personnel that we've picked up that have been associated with death squads. Q But he said, are they integrated? One death squad, is it integrated or a segregated death squad? GEN. CALDWELL: We haven't gone into distilling the death squads in that great of detail yet. I mean, obviously, we've got theories and hypotheses, but it'd probably inappropriate to start stating those at this point until we've further analyzed and work after -- as General Casey said -- about two weeks ago, we made a concerted effort to go after the death squads, and that's what we're doing as we establish more information. But they're not part of a larger organization that we can see. It appears it's very extremist elements of both sides out there operating, using murder and assassination as their means by which to further their personal goals that they're trying to achieve. Q (Off mike.) I understand that perhaps there's a spread of what their aims are. But you know, perhaps one way to get a sense of what their aims are is to look at who they are, and certainly, a defining characteristic in Iraqi society these days has to do with sect. Are there -- have you seen many death squads which include members of both Sunni and Shi'a sect? GEN. CALDWELL: I really think at this point it would be inappropriate to start to try to make some definitive statement as to what they are. We are obviously looking extremely close at each and every situation. Everybody that is apprehended associated with death squads goes through the questioning. There are background checks, relationships -- I mean, it's a very thorough process we're going through from the intelligence side. And for me to say specifically now what we have or have not found, I think, would be inappropriate. We're continuing to work it. It's got our full attention. It's a top priority of General Casey's. He's dedicating a lot of resources specifically to go after those elements out there we find that are operating these death squads. STAFF: We have time for one last question. GEN. CALDWELL: Yes, sir? Q (In Arabic.) GEN. CALDWELL: I'm not getting anything. Is the translation working? Translator, can you hear me? (Off-mike cross talk.) Is this better? I could not hear. (Technical adjustments.) Translator, can you check again, please? (Pause.) I'm not getting anything, again. STAFF: (Off mike.) INTERPRETER: Oh, sorry. GEN. CALDWELL: Okay. INTERPRETER: Okay. Okay. GEN. CALDWELL: All right. Okay. All right. INTERPRETER: (Inaudible.) Sorry, sir. Last week -- GEN. CALDWELL: Please. Q (Through interpreter.) Sabah newspaper. Last week witnessed the kidnapping of many officials by big gangs which assimilated over 1,000 militants, which stormed the meeting of the National Olympic Committee. Do you consider this operation -- do you attribute this operation to the death squads? GEN. CALDWELL: Anybody who's out conducting activities outside of the law obviously we are targeting. Death squads we see as those who are specifically targeting individuals in order to murder and assassinate them. We all hope and pray that those members of the Olympic committee that were seized will be released unharmed. If in fact the intent of that group that took them was to murder them, then absolutely we would consider them as death squad elements. But we are actually hoping and praying that those individuals are all released safely at some point here. Okay. With that, thank you very much. END. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 2006 by Federal News Service, Inc., Ste. 500 1000 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005, USA. Federal News Service is a private firm not affiliated with the federal government. No portion of this transcript may be copied, sold or retransmitted without the written authority of Federal News Service, Inc. Copyright is not claimed as to any part of the original work prepared by a United States government officer or employee as a part of that person's official duties. 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