Free Republic

KIRKUK, Iraq, Sept. 24, 2008 – More than 3,000 Iraqis, including 58 women, joined the ranks of the Kirkuk province’s police force during a graduation ceremony held yesterday at the Kirkuk Police Academy. Referring to the unprecedented number of graduates, Maj. Gen. Jamal Thaker Baker, the Kirkuk provincial police chief, hailed the moment as “an historic event for the people of the Kirkuk province.” “This is the direct result of the combined efforts of our coalition friends and the Ministry of the Interior,” Baker said. Baker pointed out the number of high-ranking Multinational Division North leaders in the audience, including U.S....

BAGHDAD – Iraqi Special Operations Forces detained four suspected terrorists, for attacks against Iraqi Security and Coalition forces, during separate operations in Baghdad and Mosul May 14. In Baghdad, ISOF detained two individuals including a cell leader for Islamic State of Iraq, a front organization for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The men are suspected of conducting indirect fire attacks against Victory Base Complex and improvised explosive device attacks against Baghdad International Airport and Sons of Iraq. In Mosul, ISOF conducted operations that led to the detaining of two suspected IED cell members who are reportedly responsible for IED attacks against the...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2008 – Building an Iraqi police force is an enormous challenge, but the coalition-and-Iraqi team working to do so is making progress, a senior U.S. Army officer working with Iraq’s Interior Ministry said today. Maj. Gen. Michael D. Jones, director general for interior affairs in Baghdad, said in an interview today that the Iraqi-led, Iraqi-planned operations in Basra pointed to both the successes and the setbacks in training the police. The sheer size of the training challenge is daunting, he said. The Iraqi police forces have grown 400 percent since 2003. If the U.S. Army had undergone...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Feb. 29, 2008 – Villagers living in the Surkh district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province received humanitarian assistance from Afghan and coalition forces Feb. 24. Nearly 200 villagers from Barihah Village and the surrounding area arrived at a humanitarian site to receive much-needed items to help them get through the severe winter weather, where storms have dumped several feet of snow and temperatures have dipped below freezing. Families were provided food staples such as rice, beans and flour, and the Afghan troops also handed out winter jackets, shoes and blankets. Children also received school supplies and toys....