WEBVTT 00:00.240 --> 00:02.660 what this shows you in the green is 00:02.670 --> 00:04.892 where they control battle space . And a 00:04.892 --> 00:07.390 lot of you participated in the Iraqi 00:07.390 --> 00:09.612 army division assumption of that battle 00:09.612 --> 00:11.834 space inside of Baghdad . They continue 00:11.834 --> 00:13.723 to control more and more space to 00:13.723 --> 00:16.430 include the Iraqi police And in the 00:16.430 --> 00:18.790 shaded area here that is battle space 00:18.800 --> 00:20.967 that is planned to be transitioned the 00:20.967 --> 00:23.078 Iraqi security forces within the next 00:23.078 --> 00:25.850 30 days . So if you can compare those 00:25.850 --> 00:27.961 two graphics , what it looked like in 00:27.961 --> 00:30.420 september and what it looks like now 00:30.430 --> 00:33.260 you can see significantly improvement 00:33.640 --> 00:35.529 on the part of the Iraqi security 00:35.529 --> 00:37.418 forces . Their ability to control 00:37.418 --> 00:39.270 battle stars . Next wrap it with 00:45.340 --> 00:46.340 get anything . 00:49.740 --> 00:52.820 Yeah , I can't overemphasize the 00:52.820 --> 00:55.750 importance of the tips that are being 00:55.750 --> 00:58.000 provided to us and the Iraqi security 00:58.000 --> 01:01.440 force by the people of Iraq . If you 01:01.440 --> 01:03.551 just look at what happened a year ago 01:03.551 --> 01:05.607 in the month of January a year ago , 01:05.607 --> 01:08.300 there are about 47 tips that provided 01:08.310 --> 01:10.790 to security forces . Now you can see 01:10.790 --> 01:14.010 that in January of this year over 1300 . 01:14.020 --> 01:16.300 We're showing here you were showing to 01:16.300 --> 01:19.460 you here is specifically of those calls 01:19.470 --> 01:21.359 that were made to the Ministry of 01:21.359 --> 01:24.750 Interior-controlled National Tips up 01:25.440 --> 01:27.860 Here in Baghdad . There are 15 lines 01:27.860 --> 01:29.980 that feed into this national tips 01:29.990 --> 01:33.200 hotline . It's manned by Iraqi security 01:33.200 --> 01:35.620 force individuals and they take these 01:35.620 --> 01:37.800 calls from the people of Iraq . So you 01:37.800 --> 01:40.000 can see that it continues to increase 01:40.010 --> 01:41.970 in numbers but to give you more 01:41.970 --> 01:43.970 fidelity . Let me show what kind of 01:43.970 --> 01:46.303 calls or companies the next graphically . 01:47.340 --> 01:48.340 Yeah . 01:52.440 --> 01:56.050 Yeah this is an amazing statistic 01:57.340 --> 01:59.560 for the valid calls to come in on the 01:59.560 --> 02:02.910 national tip line . Now , as we all 02:02.910 --> 02:06.070 know in all societies , there's a 02:06.070 --> 02:08.950 potential for crank calls . People that 02:08.950 --> 02:11.200 call in with crank calls and that's 02:11.200 --> 02:13.367 happening in this national tip line as 02:13.367 --> 02:15.478 well . But for those valid calls that 02:15.478 --> 02:18.270 come in that we analyse 98% of 02:18.280 --> 02:21.330 98% of them provide actual intelligence . 02:21.340 --> 02:23.430 We followed up on it with the Iraqi 02:23.430 --> 02:25.652 government . Iraqi security forces . We 02:25.652 --> 02:27.708 conducted operation and what the tip 02:27.708 --> 02:30.060 line gave us was indeed accurate 02:30.060 --> 02:32.310 information . Now , if you look closely 02:32.310 --> 02:34.477 at the kinds of calls were coming in , 02:34.477 --> 02:36.699 the majority of the calls come in about 02:36.699 --> 02:39.080 a terrorist and insurgent activity or 02:39.080 --> 02:41.670 in general suspicious activity . But 02:41.670 --> 02:43.614 there are calls that come in about 02:43.614 --> 02:45.500 murders and kidnapping and other 02:45.500 --> 02:48.210 criminal activity . No , this is so 02:48.210 --> 02:50.450 very important . It comes in on this 02:50.450 --> 02:53.730 national tip line . It's accepted by 02:53.740 --> 02:55.907 members of the Iraqi security forces . 02:55.907 --> 02:58.073 They call the appropriate authority in 02:58.073 --> 03:00.184 action statement . So let me give you 03:00.184 --> 03:02.296 two stories that happened in the last 03:02.296 --> 03:04.850 two weeks down in basra . Remember this 03:04.850 --> 03:08.690 is a national pits and bahsrah , an 03:08.690 --> 03:12.170 individual soul insurgents unloading 03:12.170 --> 03:14.850 rockets from the back of an ambulance . 03:14.860 --> 03:16.916 He made the call . It worked his way 03:16.916 --> 03:19.027 through Baghdad went back to security 03:19.027 --> 03:21.249 forces in Bosnia and they conducted the 03:21.249 --> 03:23.416 operation against this situation where 03:23.416 --> 03:25.870 rockets were being unloaded . They 03:25.870 --> 03:29.360 found 11 rockets . They searched nearby 03:29.360 --> 03:32.120 house . They found an additional 27 03:32.120 --> 03:35.040 rockets so that many rockets were taken 03:35.040 --> 03:37.590 off the battlefield because a concerned 03:37.590 --> 03:39.710 citizen called the tip line . 03:40.940 --> 03:44.550 Also this week , mm an 03:44.550 --> 03:46.830 individual was in danger of being 03:46.830 --> 03:49.520 kidnapped . People were trying to 03:49.520 --> 03:51.742 assault his house . He knew that he was 03:51.742 --> 03:53.853 going to be kidnapped . He called the 03:53.853 --> 03:56.160 tip hotline has here in Baghdad . Their 03:56.160 --> 03:57.938 response was almost immediate , 03:58.520 --> 04:01.150 kidnappers were apprehended and the 04:01.150 --> 04:03.580 individual took the time , call the 04:03.590 --> 04:06.350 tips hotline and say thank you . Now 04:06.350 --> 04:08.350 that's an effective mechanism where 04:08.350 --> 04:10.350 you're employing the people of Iraq 04:10.350 --> 04:12.406 because I've talked about before are 04:12.406 --> 04:16.020 tired of the insurgency to help us and 04:16.020 --> 04:17.810 Iraqi security forces park the 04:17.810 --> 04:21.760 insurgents . Uh next . Yeah . 04:23.040 --> 04:26.210 Mhm And I gotta tell you this story 04:26.210 --> 04:29.160 here . I find to be phenomenal . I'm 04:29.160 --> 04:31.271 proud of the Iraqi army to be able to 04:31.271 --> 04:33.382 do this . I'm proud that our army can 04:33.382 --> 04:36.420 do this . Mhm . As you're well aware , 04:36.430 --> 04:39.200 we're in the rainy , stationed in Iraq 04:39.750 --> 04:41.806 and in a small village in the Diyala 04:41.806 --> 04:45.540 province . The rains were so bad that 04:45.550 --> 04:47.661 people in that province were stranded 04:47.890 --> 04:50.770 by flood And 60 of the individuals that 04:50.770 --> 04:52.881 live in that village were found to be 04:52.881 --> 04:55.960 homeless . The governor of the Allah 04:56.640 --> 04:58.696 Now that he has trained and equipped 04:58.696 --> 05:00.918 Iraqi security forces in this area . He 05:00.918 --> 05:03.140 turned to the fifth Iraqi Army Division 05:03.140 --> 05:05.400 Commander , he said we need to help the 05:05.410 --> 05:08.310 people of this village . That Division 05:08.310 --> 05:10.500 commander took his staff to assess the 05:10.500 --> 05:12.890 situation immediately came up with a 05:12.900 --> 05:15.440 plan and executed that plan providing 05:15.440 --> 05:17.551 humanitarian assistance to the people 05:17.551 --> 05:19.900 of that small village . They delivered 05:19.900 --> 05:22.230 water , flour , rice , super blankets 05:22.230 --> 05:24.452 and tarps . And they administered first 05:24.452 --> 05:27.480 aid . Now that is exactly what you want , 05:27.490 --> 05:29.960 a security force that can maintain 05:29.960 --> 05:32.570 domestic order to be able to do . 05:32.580 --> 05:34.524 That's what we expect our National 05:34.524 --> 05:36.469 Guard to be able to do back to the 05:36.469 --> 05:38.469 United States . And that's what the 05:38.469 --> 05:40.247 Iraqi army can do . And in this 05:40.247 --> 05:42.413 particular situation , they were asked 05:42.413 --> 05:44.580 by the governor of the province . They 05:44.580 --> 05:46.691 assess the situation and they came up 05:46.691 --> 05:48.691 with a plan to execute the plan and 05:48.691 --> 05:50.802 provide food and shelter to those 300 05:50.802 --> 05:52.858 Iraqis that were trapped in those 60 05:52.858 --> 05:55.240 individuals that were left homes . Okay , 05:55.240 --> 05:57.407 well that I'll be happy to answer your 05:57.407 --> 05:58.940 questions . Yeah , 06:01.540 --> 06:02.540 please . 06:07.440 --> 06:10.810 How are you ? Good to see you as 06:10.810 --> 06:14.150 well regard less 06:14.540 --> 06:17.200 important part you have the local 06:17.200 --> 06:20.890 population and other one of 4 players 06:21.860 --> 06:24.027 and make sure he has to be . The fight 06:24.330 --> 06:26.040 was about . Yeah . 06:27.940 --> 06:30.060 Yeah . Last week 06:31.140 --> 06:34.960 We apprehended about 16 foreign 06:34.960 --> 06:37.820 fighters across the right and that is 06:37.820 --> 06:40.520 pretty much on the trend line that 06:40.520 --> 06:42.853 we've seen over the last several months . 06:42.853 --> 06:45.131 So to answer your specific question no , 06:45.131 --> 06:47.353 we haven't seen an increase . Uh but we 06:47.353 --> 06:49.353 haven't seen a specific decrease as 06:49.353 --> 06:51.464 well . Zarqawi still is out there and 06:51.464 --> 06:53.520 he still hasn't intent to derail the 06:53.520 --> 06:55.576 democratic process and discredit the 06:55.576 --> 06:57.464 Iraqi government . And he's still 06:57.464 --> 06:59.687 bringing in foreign fighters to conduct 06:59.687 --> 07:01.576 suicide attacks against the Iraqi 07:01.576 --> 07:03.798 civilian population and we continue our 07:03.798 --> 07:06.550 operations to stop that low . Wait , 07:11.140 --> 07:11.680 Hello , 07:17.940 --> 07:21.360 makes you thought that ground here 07:22.840 --> 07:24.260 standing opposite . 07:29.740 --> 07:31.962 We have not heard anything about that . 07:31.962 --> 07:34.010 That's all news to me . But you can 07:34.010 --> 07:36.010 take it to the bank that all of our 07:36.010 --> 07:38.066 ears perk up . When the word Zarqawi 07:38.066 --> 07:40.232 comes up , we are working hard to find 07:40.232 --> 07:42.232 him and kill or capture him and his 07:42.232 --> 07:44.470 network . So I will pursue that . That 07:44.470 --> 07:46.526 might be an actionable lead that you 07:46.526 --> 07:48.526 just gave me . But right now I know 07:48.526 --> 07:50.760 nothing about place . 07:52.740 --> 07:56.200 Hi , I'm john Hendren and NPR um you 07:56.200 --> 07:58.840 had uh in that little chart that you 07:58.840 --> 08:01.062 should , it seems to be a small spiking 08:01.062 --> 08:03.229 kidnapping . It's kind of hard to tell 08:03.229 --> 08:05.340 with the coloring but in the past few 08:05.340 --> 08:07.507 weeks , can you talk about what you're 08:07.507 --> 08:09.618 finding their , what you're saying is 08:09.618 --> 08:11.451 that a reality , bring that back 08:11.451 --> 08:13.562 Rebecca she wanted to show the actual 08:13.562 --> 08:15.673 everything but the last week seems to 08:15.673 --> 08:18.060 be a little higher than previously . 08:19.840 --> 08:20.250 Uh huh 08:25.640 --> 08:29.300 We watched closely trends . Yeah . And 08:29.300 --> 08:31.411 we are concerned about the numbers of 08:31.411 --> 08:33.870 kidnappings that we're seeing . We do 08:33.870 --> 08:37.440 see that the insurgent is in need of 08:37.440 --> 08:40.790 money be the need of assets , conducted 08:40.790 --> 08:42.940 attacks and a lot of the kidnappings 08:42.940 --> 08:45.040 that we're seeing a criminal related 08:45.040 --> 08:46.929 activities . But there are indeed 08:46.929 --> 08:48.873 happening . The people of Iraq are 08:48.873 --> 08:51.096 concerned about it . The individual who 08:51.096 --> 08:53.096 was being kidnapped to call the tip 08:53.096 --> 08:55.151 line , he was particularly concerned 08:55.151 --> 08:56.984 about the kidnappings are indeed 08:56.984 --> 09:00.600 continued . Has that number changed 09:00.600 --> 09:03.030 over the past month or so ? Are we just 09:03.030 --> 09:05.197 seeing some more high profile events ? 09:05.197 --> 09:07.141 They're actually higher numbers of 09:07.141 --> 09:09.474 kidnapping . There's not higher numbers , 09:09.474 --> 09:11.474 it's about the same trend line that 09:11.474 --> 09:13.940 we've seen all along . We are indeed 09:13.950 --> 09:16.450 focused on why are these kidnappings 09:16.460 --> 09:18.700 taking place and a good majority of 09:18.700 --> 09:20.700 them were taking place for criminal 09:20.700 --> 09:23.540 related activities to get money ? Yeah .