"Since our arrival, there has not been an interdiction on the oil pipeline," Paschal said. "In fact, we have exceeded all pre-war level exports. Just last month, the Northern Oil Company exported 13 and a half million barrels of oil, which has been a phenomenal increase in its capacity."

In his briefing, Paschal cited precision targeting against the Al Qaida leadership in Kirkuk as well as the growing capabilities of the Iraqi security forces. The colonel also said the Sunni-dominated Sons of Iraq auxiliary police force has played a major role in identifying insurgency cells.

The 1st Brigade has reported the capture or killing of 20 high-value insurgency targets. Another 63 detainees were deemed "persons of interest."

The Iraq Army has deployed its 4th Division, 15th Brigade around Kirkuk. Since April, police have been deployed in the city of 800,000.

"The information and actionable intelligence that they provide has grown exponentially," Paschal said. "That actionable intelligence is in the form of the turning of caches, location of [roadside bombs] and, in many cases, instances of insurgent or terrorist leaders throughout the province."

At this point, the U.S.-led coalition was considering relaying security responsibility for the Kirkuk province to the Baghdad government by 2009. Officials said the Sons of Iraq were being trained for deployment in the western part of the province.

"That will be based on the capability of the Iraqi security forces to maintain the security gains that we've achieved and continue to defeat the insurgents," Paschal said. "I think it all ties back into the economic opportunities that we are working in conjunction with the provincial reconstruction team."

---