8 August - U.S. Soldiers Partner With Iraqi Troops in Mahmudiyah with U. S. Army Lt. Col. Robert Morschauser.
AFPS (Donna Miles) - U.S. soldiers leading operations in and around Mahmudiyah, Iraq, have "cracked the code when it comes to working with the Iraqi army," their task force commander said today.
Army Lt. Col. Morschauser, battalion commander for the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade, 2nd Battalion, 15th Artillery, said his unit is doing more than simply training Iraqi soldiers. It's partnering with them at all levels -- and yielding results.
"Our unit is heavily focused on the extremely important task of supporting and advising and providing advanced training to our Iraqi army partners so that they can operate autonomously in the near future," he said from Mahmudiyah during a conference call with online journalists and "bloggers."
That focus isn't limited to military transition teams within the task force, he said. "Our brigade has placed our entire battalion toward this mission, rather than a traditional 11-man MTT."
This arrangement brings a full task force of manpower to the training mission, enabling the soldiers to serve as partners rather than just advisors to the 6th Iraqi Army Division's 4th Brigade, Morschauser said... More -- Roundtable Audio -- Transcript -- Bio
8 August - Coalition Successes Mount Against al Qaeda in Iraq with U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner.
AFPS (John Kruzel) - Coalition and Iraqi security forces captured or killed 18 senior al Qaeda members in July, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said today.
Of the 18, six were terrorist unit commanders known as "senior emirs," and seven were either foreign fighters or weapons distributors. Troops detained or killed three cell leaders and two members who manned an al Qaeda media operation, Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner told online journalists and "bloggers" during a conference call.
"There has been some tactical momentum achieved in July and into the first week now of August," he said. "And we have continued to see the results of some of those successful operations."
The most noteworthy terrorist nabbed recently is al Qaeda's No. 1 Iraqi operative, Khaled al Mashhadani, whom coalition forces captured July 4, the general said. Mashhadani rose through the al Qaeda ranks by directing media and communications operations, and he helped create an online virtual organization called the Islamic State of Iraq, Bergner said in a previous briefing... More -- Roundtable Audio -- Transcript - Briefing Slide - Bio