Key Themes:

In the first 10 months of 2007, caches found and cleared by CF/ISF have doubled the entire volume of 2006.  A cache is a concealed source of supplies, weapons, munitions, that fuels insurgency and targets CF/ISF/civilians. The highest concentration of caches has been found in Anbar province.  This can be attributed to the increasing effectiveness of the ISF, and receiving tips from Iraqi civilians.  The surge strategy has allowed this increase in local cooperation.  On Wednesday, an Iraqi citizen led CF to a large EFP cache in Husseiniyah, which contained 10 fully assembled EFPs, 90 copper plates, 200 lbs. of C4, and other materials.

TF Troy handles EOD and counter-IED operations in cooperation with other governmental agencies.  We collect munitions and perform analysis for trends.  The following [actual munitions] is a highlight of some of the weapons we find, including a rocket launcher with a washing-machine timer and an assembled EFP.

Increasing effectiveness of ISF, surge of CF, and cooperation with Iraqi citizens have led to this increase in cache finds.  IED attacks in October are equal to attacks in Sep 2004, and they have decreased by 50% since the start of the surge. IDF attacks are trending downward as well.  We spoke of Iran’s malign influence in past, since they supplied EFPs and rockets into Iraq.  However, the newest cache finds do not appear to have arrived in Iraq after Iran made pledges to cease this weapon exportation into Iraq.  We hope to verify in the near future that Iran has honored their pledge. We will release nine detainees to Iran since they no longer appear to be a threat and we expect more trilateral talks shortly.  While the trends in cache finds are very encouraging, we continue to understand that there are innumerable challenges remaining in Iraq.

Key Quotes:

“In the first ten months of 2007, coalition and Iraqi security forces have found and cleared 5,364 caches.  That is twice the volume of material found and cleared in all of 2006, some 2,667 caches.” –RDML Smith on cache finds

“It is our intent to release nine Iranians currently held in our custody in the near future.  These individuals have been assessed to be of no continuing value, nor do they pose a further threat to Iraqi security.  Two of them were detained in Irbil in January of this year.” –RDML Smith on detainee release

“We hope in the coming weeks and months to confirm that Iran has indeed honored its pledge through further verification that the flow of munitions and other lethal aide has stopped.” –RDML Smith on Iran stopping munitions flow