"Phase two's expansion is going to take us up to 35,200 police in
Baghdad," Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond, commanding general of Multinational
Division-Baghdad and the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division, said. "And I
hope to get there no later than February '09. This expansion sets the
conditions for the future of Baghdad under civil control with police
providing the necessary security throughout the city."
In 2008, the police in the Baghdad province hired and trained more than
8,500 police officers. Officials said 3,250 of the new police came from Sons
of Iraq.
"So we're really aggressively pushing to get our Sons of Iraq, a little
over 30,000, transitioned to other employment, much of that with the Iraqi
army, the national police or the Iraqi police," Hammond told a briefing on
June 2.
Officials said the Baghdad security plan stipulated joint operations
with the U.S. Army. The U.S. Army and the Iraqi security forces have
established 51 joint security stations and 23 combat outposts.
"That's a significant increase," Hammond said. "And we plan to increase
this total number by probably 15 percent over the next six months."
"I see an Iraqi army, a national police that has grown in confidence
here in a big way," Hammond said. "They're better equipped. They're better
trained. They're more experienced. And their leaders are doing a much
better job in planning and in execution. It's headed in the right
direction."
Hammond said security in Baghdad has improved in wake of the flight of
Iranian-sponsored insurgents. The general said 90 percent of the
Iranian-sponsored Special Groups fighters deployed in Baghdad's Sadr City
have fled to Iran. He said this has resulted in a decrease in attacks by
Iranian-origin explosively-formed projectiles.
"Most of them — 90 percent have left," Hammond said. "Those that remain
have gone to ground. We continue to work our intelligence to locate them.
We continue to apply pressure in attack, attack, attack mode. Those that
have left — those that could, I think, departed the country. Others have
gone — other locations throughout Baghdad, and they continue to be pursued
relentlessly by our forces, really led by the efforts of the Iraqi army."
