WEBVTT 00:00.840 --> 00:02.970 very good . Well we can hear you well 00:02.970 --> 00:05.192 and we can also see you and we know you 00:05.192 --> 00:08.270 can't see us . Uh But we do have the 00:08.280 --> 00:10.280 pentagon press corps assemble field 00:10.280 --> 00:13.390 this morning and uh we thank you for 00:13.390 --> 00:15.557 taking some time out of your afternoon 00:15.557 --> 00:18.000 today to be with us . Uh We have to 00:18.010 --> 00:20.800 briefers today . Uh Major General 00:20.800 --> 00:22.967 Benjamin Mixon who is the Commander of 00:22.967 --> 00:25.890 multinational Division North uh and the 00:25.890 --> 00:28.450 25th Infantry Division and joining him 00:28.450 --> 00:31.240 as Colonel James . Uh Kragen who is the 00:31.240 --> 00:33.129 Engineer Commander for Task Force 00:33.129 --> 00:36.470 Lightning . Uh Gerald Nixon I think as 00:36.470 --> 00:39.280 you recall , talk to us a couple of 00:39.280 --> 00:41.502 months ago back in december I believe . 00:41.502 --> 00:44.860 And today he is uh at the contingent 00:44.870 --> 00:47.510 Contingency Operating Base Spyker 00:47.520 --> 00:51.510 outside of Tikrit . Um He 00:51.510 --> 00:53.760 took command responsibility for ongoing 00:53.760 --> 00:57.580 security operations and ignored in 00:57.580 --> 01:00.750 september of last year . Uh He does 01:00.760 --> 01:04.180 have a few opening remarks to give us 01:04.180 --> 01:06.180 an overview of what his unit's been 01:06.180 --> 01:08.124 doing and then we'll get into some 01:08.124 --> 01:10.180 questions . So that general , let me 01:10.180 --> 01:12.236 turn it over to you . Well thank you 01:12.236 --> 01:14.402 very much and the members of the press 01:14.402 --> 01:16.624 corps , thanks for assembling today And 01:16.624 --> 01:18.736 allow me to talk to you uh about some 01:18.736 --> 01:20.902 of the progress that we're making here 01:20.902 --> 01:23.069 in Mnd North and some of the work that 01:23.069 --> 01:25.180 we have yet to accomplish . I do have 01:25.180 --> 01:27.347 with me today on my left , Colonel Jim 01:27.347 --> 01:29.291 Trodden who is my engineer for gay 01:29.291 --> 01:31.513 commander . I brought him in here today 01:31.513 --> 01:33.569 because I'm going to address some of 01:33.569 --> 01:35.402 the progress we have made in the 01:35.402 --> 01:37.590 counter I . E . D . Fight and some of 01:37.590 --> 01:40.020 the work that is left to be done . His 01:40.020 --> 01:42.131 units have primary responsibility for 01:42.131 --> 01:44.470 keeping our routes clear . I also 01:44.470 --> 01:46.692 brought him in here today because it is 01:46.692 --> 01:48.920 important to note that his brigade , 01:48.920 --> 01:51.300 the 1/5 Engineer Brigade is a National 01:51.310 --> 01:54.400 Guard brigade but his brigade commands 01:54.400 --> 01:57.950 to active duty engineer Italians . And 01:57.950 --> 02:00.061 I thought that was important to point 02:00.061 --> 02:02.400 out to show the total army concept and 02:02.400 --> 02:04.511 all the forces that are participating 02:04.511 --> 02:06.733 in this global war on terrorism here in 02:06.733 --> 02:09.320 Iraq today . I'd like to take just a 02:09.320 --> 02:10.876 moment to review what we've 02:10.876 --> 02:12.931 accomplished in the six short months 02:12.931 --> 02:15.042 that I've been in command at the same 02:15.042 --> 02:17.209 time explain how we remain on the path 02:17.209 --> 02:19.190 to accomplish our mission in m and 02:19.190 --> 02:22.000 ignored . Since last December , more 02:22.000 --> 02:23.944 than two Iraqi divisions have been 02:23.944 --> 02:25.889 transferred to Iraqi Ground Forces 02:25.889 --> 02:28.280 Command , bringing the total of three 02:28.280 --> 02:30.910 of the four divisions in my area under 02:30.910 --> 02:34.160 Iraqi control . These Iraqi forces are 02:34.160 --> 02:36.340 conducting combined and unilateral 02:36.340 --> 02:38.451 counterinsurgency operations in their 02:38.451 --> 02:40.990 provinces . We anticipate by this 02:40.990 --> 02:43.180 summer all of the Northern Iraqi 02:43.180 --> 02:45.347 divisions will be under control of the 02:45.347 --> 02:48.110 Iraqi Ground forces Command when I 02:48.110 --> 02:49.999 spoke to you last I mentioned are 02:49.999 --> 02:51.999 planned increases to our transition 02:51.999 --> 02:53.999 teams . To date . We have augmented 02:53.999 --> 02:56.150 approximately 50% of the M . M . D . 02:56.150 --> 02:58.206 North military transition teams with 02:58.206 --> 03:00.850 additional 400 U . S . Soldiers 03:01.440 --> 03:03.273 primarily to improve the overall 03:03.273 --> 03:05.610 training capacity of our transition 03:05.610 --> 03:09.010 teams . Our combat operations focus is 03:09.010 --> 03:11.850 changing his will is our brigade combat 03:11.850 --> 03:14.400 teams more of an advise and assist role . 03:14.400 --> 03:16.511 The Iraqi Army will assume a majority 03:16.511 --> 03:19.050 of the counterinsurgency missions . Our 03:19.050 --> 03:21.106 operations will be more intelligence 03:21.106 --> 03:23.272 driven and focused on specific targets 03:23.272 --> 03:26.150 such as I . E . D . Cells , financiers 03:26.220 --> 03:28.830 and those who make the I . E . Ds while 03:28.830 --> 03:31.080 working with a local governance and on 03:31.080 --> 03:33.930 economic issues . Our Iraqi 03:33.930 --> 03:35.930 counterparts in the army and police 03:35.930 --> 03:37.819 have continued to make strides to 03:37.819 --> 03:40.041 obtain , obtain Iraqi security and self 03:40.041 --> 03:42.208 reliance . The manning of units in the 03:42.208 --> 03:44.460 north is at about 85% or above 03:45.140 --> 03:47.251 equipment shortfalls however , remain 03:47.251 --> 03:49.450 an issue for some of our units and we 03:49.450 --> 03:51.450 are aggressively engaging our Iraqi 03:51.450 --> 03:53.750 counterparts to resolve these issues . 03:54.940 --> 03:57.560 Since December , we have added 33 , 03:57.570 --> 03:59.348 I'll say that again . 33 police 03:59.348 --> 04:01.650 transition teams to complement and 04:01.650 --> 04:03.872 bolster the overall effort to train the 04:03.872 --> 04:06.530 Iraqi police forces . Our trainers work 04:06.530 --> 04:08.810 shoulders shoulder day in and day out 04:08.810 --> 04:10.921 with the Iraqi police at the tactical 04:10.921 --> 04:12.977 level to build their law enforcement 04:12.977 --> 04:15.150 capacity while our leaders at the 04:15.150 --> 04:17.150 higher level are working to improve 04:17.150 --> 04:19.960 their equipment and manning . However , 04:19.960 --> 04:22.182 there are many areas , we need to apply 04:22.182 --> 04:24.182 continued pressure in order to make 04:24.182 --> 04:26.127 more visible progress . Our border 04:26.127 --> 04:28.016 security forces and the strategic 04:28.016 --> 04:30.260 infrastructure battalions out of those 04:30.260 --> 04:31.871 that secure the critical oil 04:31.871 --> 04:34.038 infrastructure have a long way to go . 04:35.140 --> 04:37.362 They still need to make improvements in 04:37.362 --> 04:39.140 their overall manning . They're 04:39.140 --> 04:40.940 equipping and their general 04:40.940 --> 04:43.162 professionalism and we continue to work 04:43.162 --> 04:45.920 that each day I'm encouraged with our 04:45.920 --> 04:47.753 overall progress in the northern 04:47.753 --> 04:50.370 provinces of Minima , her cook and 04:50.370 --> 04:53.120 solid in . Diyala , however , continues 04:53.120 --> 04:55.120 to be played with too much violence 04:55.240 --> 04:57.129 mostly fueled by the insurgents , 04:57.490 --> 05:00.140 sectarian agendas in their attempt to 05:00.140 --> 05:02.540 control the populace for the benefit of 05:02.540 --> 05:05.650 their extremist agendas . We see the 05:05.650 --> 05:07.817 Sunni insurgency trying to desperately 05:07.817 --> 05:10.039 gain control of Diyala because it helps 05:10.039 --> 05:12.206 in their effort to control Baghdad and 05:12.206 --> 05:14.372 to prevent the government of Iraq from 05:14.372 --> 05:16.820 succeeding . Over time , I am confident 05:16.820 --> 05:18.709 that the Iraqi army and the Iraqi 05:18.709 --> 05:20.709 police will overcome these security 05:20.709 --> 05:23.260 threats in cities like baquba Bond ruse 05:23.550 --> 05:25.717 and moved to DEA and throughout Diyala 05:25.717 --> 05:27.550 province and our continued close 05:27.550 --> 05:29.717 partnership with them will assist them 05:29.717 --> 05:31.883 in gaining disadvantage over the enemy 05:32.440 --> 05:34.607 amid the violence . There are signs of 05:34.607 --> 05:36.551 progress and indicators would keep 05:36.551 --> 05:39.240 which keep us cautiously optimistic . A 05:39.240 --> 05:41.351 local tip to the police in diala last 05:41.351 --> 05:43.184 week led to the discovery of the 05:43.184 --> 05:46.090 largest PFP cash or as we call them , 05:46.090 --> 05:48.270 explosively formed projectiles in 05:48.270 --> 05:50.670 Northern Iraq . The Iraqi police lead 05:50.670 --> 05:52.281 this effort and discovered a 05:52.281 --> 05:54.620 significant amount of those projectiles 05:54.620 --> 05:56.970 as well as rockets and mortars , many 05:56.970 --> 05:59.192 of which had serial numbers that can be 05:59.192 --> 06:01.850 traced back to Iran . Another 06:01.850 --> 06:03.794 noteworthy initiative has been our 06:03.794 --> 06:06.017 effort to establish routine conferences 06:06.017 --> 06:08.183 and meetings between the government of 06:08.183 --> 06:10.128 Iraq ministries and our provincial 06:10.128 --> 06:12.350 governors As a result of these continue 06:12.350 --> 06:14.239 to face to face meetings . We are 06:14.239 --> 06:16.239 optimistic that the 2007 provincial 06:16.239 --> 06:18.461 funds will be awarded to the province , 06:18.461 --> 06:20.406 assume this will mean better basic 06:20.406 --> 06:22.950 services to the citizens and they will 06:22.950 --> 06:24.710 see their government actually 06:24.710 --> 06:27.700 functioning for their well being . The 06:27.700 --> 06:29.922 four provincial reconstruction teams in 06:29.922 --> 06:31.756 Northern Iraq continued vigilant 06:31.756 --> 06:33.367 efforts to enforce the civic 06:33.367 --> 06:35.478 governments at the local level . They 06:35.478 --> 06:37.811 are focusing on physical responsibility , 06:38.040 --> 06:40.710 basic management techniques and micro 06:40.710 --> 06:43.350 finance projects to energize economic 06:43.360 --> 06:46.350 and business growth example that these 06:46.350 --> 06:48.630 are evident in Kirkuk . The Kirkuk 06:48.630 --> 06:50.352 provincial Reconstruction team 06:50.352 --> 06:52.408 developed an investment law training 06:52.408 --> 06:54.630 class and will soon offer a workshop on 06:54.630 --> 06:57.730 foreign direct investment . It is also 06:57.730 --> 06:59.341 assisting the government and 06:59.341 --> 07:01.063 preparations for it could cook 07:01.063 --> 07:03.460 investment conference in late March . 07:03.940 --> 07:05.996 All of our provincial reconstruction 07:05.996 --> 07:07.884 teams are undertaking initiatives 07:07.884 --> 07:10.870 similar to these and none of us . We 07:10.870 --> 07:12.759 finally believe that the tele for 07:12.759 --> 07:14.981 reconstruction funds sought and lobbied 07:14.981 --> 07:17.037 for for the local government will be 07:17.037 --> 07:19.037 released to them . The amount being 07:19.037 --> 07:22.190 approximately $37 million dollars as in 07:22.190 --> 07:24.412 tela for we are also expecting funds to 07:24.412 --> 07:26.390 be released for the rebuilding in 07:26.390 --> 07:29.470 summer . In the Reconstruction Arena , 07:29.470 --> 07:32.010 we currently have 518 projects valued 07:32.010 --> 07:34.177 in excess of $800 million dollars that 07:34.177 --> 07:36.390 are in progress . These range from 07:36.390 --> 07:38.390 small school repairs to large water 07:38.390 --> 07:41.030 projects . Our emergency response 07:41.030 --> 07:43.197 programme budget for this year is that 07:43.197 --> 07:45.419 $75 million dollars and we're beginning 07:45.419 --> 07:48.590 to commit those funds . Another topic I 07:48.590 --> 07:50.757 want to talk about for just a moment . 07:50.757 --> 07:52.923 He's on our role in operation fraud Al 07:52.923 --> 07:55.300 Kanun , commonly known as the Baghdad 07:55.300 --> 07:58.010 security plan as a security plan 07:58.010 --> 08:00.177 continues to be implemented . Our role 08:00.177 --> 08:02.010 is to prevent the terrorists and 08:02.010 --> 08:04.232 insurgents from reinforcing violence in 08:04.232 --> 08:06.010 Baghdad as well as denying them 08:06.010 --> 08:08.430 sanctuary in the outlying provinces , 08:08.520 --> 08:11.640 particularly in Diyala . Our efforts 08:11.640 --> 08:13.862 are concentrated on controlling the key 08:13.862 --> 08:15.696 roads and population centers and 08:15.696 --> 08:17.862 enabling infrastructure development to 08:17.862 --> 08:20.029 allow the government of Iraq and Iraqi 08:20.029 --> 08:22.140 security forces to provide security , 08:22.140 --> 08:24.360 governance and basis . Nervous is to 08:24.360 --> 08:27.230 the people of Iraq in Diyala . We have 08:27.230 --> 08:29.063 picked up the tempo of offensive 08:29.063 --> 08:31.286 operations and we are directly engaging 08:31.286 --> 08:33.500 the enemy in Diyala to throw them off 08:33.510 --> 08:35.343 balance and to prevent them from 08:35.343 --> 08:38.460 reinforcing operations in Baghdad . 08:39.440 --> 08:41.551 One area must touch on before Colonel 08:41.551 --> 08:43.773 Trautman and I take your questions as a 08:43.773 --> 08:45.718 counter I'd fight . We continue to 08:45.718 --> 08:47.662 develop new tactics techniques and 08:47.662 --> 08:49.773 procedures and defeating an enemy who 08:49.773 --> 08:52.080 continues to adapt as well . Our 08:52.080 --> 08:54.191 efforts are multifaceted and reducing 08:54.191 --> 08:56.136 the effectiveness of these ideas , 08:56.136 --> 08:58.247 including providing our soldiers with 08:58.247 --> 09:00.630 the best armor and protective gear . At 09:00.630 --> 09:03.150 this stage , 76% of our soldiers 09:03.160 --> 09:05.760 injured by i.e . DS are returned to 09:05.760 --> 09:09.110 duty after medical treatment . We take 09:09.110 --> 09:11.277 a very aggressive and offensive stance 09:11.277 --> 09:13.166 in the I'd fight , which involves 09:13.166 --> 09:15.290 killing I'd in places clearing high 09:15.290 --> 09:17.700 threat stretches of roadway and hunting 09:17.700 --> 09:20.760 down and eliminating financiers support 09:20.760 --> 09:23.060 structure behind the IED making sales . 09:23.710 --> 09:25.790 The enemy is ruthless in using IED's 09:25.790 --> 09:28.160 which killed more civilians and 09:28.160 --> 09:30.750 security forces . We are equally as 09:30.750 --> 09:32.972 aggressive and violent and our approach 09:32.972 --> 09:36.460 to defeat them since december 2006 , we 09:36.460 --> 09:38.793 have doubled the monthly average of I E . 09:38.793 --> 09:40.793 D . Caches and double the number of 09:40.793 --> 09:43.520 idea in places we have killed . Over 09:43.520 --> 09:45.670 time . We will see continued progress 09:45.670 --> 09:48.160 in this area , but it is a tough fight 09:49.440 --> 09:51.662 to date . We have succeeded in reducing 09:51.662 --> 09:53.829 the overall effectiveness of the I E D 09:53.829 --> 09:55.829 s and we have already increased the 09:55.829 --> 09:58.051 rate at which we find I . E . Ds before 09:58.051 --> 10:00.218 detonation . But we have a long way to 10:00.218 --> 10:03.000 go to defeat this threat . Too many of 10:03.000 --> 10:05.860 our casualties are as a result of the I 10:05.860 --> 10:08.540 E . Ds . I am not satisfied and will 10:08.540 --> 10:11.050 not be satisfied to I dramatically 10:11.050 --> 10:14.050 reduce the numbers of casualties caused 10:14.060 --> 10:17.170 by IEDs . Funny , I'd like to thank the 10:17.170 --> 10:19.170 american people for their continued 10:19.170 --> 10:21.003 support and to those families of 10:21.003 --> 10:23.059 service members that have lost loved 10:23.059 --> 10:25.170 ones or have had loved ones wounded . 10:25.540 --> 10:27.830 We greatly appreciate your sacrifice 10:28.120 --> 10:30.030 and we pray for your strength and 10:30.030 --> 10:33.040 courage every day . At this time , 10:33.050 --> 10:35.300 Colonel Trautman and I will be glad to 10:35.300 --> 10:36.411 take your questions 10:40.640 --> 10:42.930 Kourtney , go ahead . Hi general , this 10:42.930 --> 10:45.400 is Courtney QB . With NBC news . Do you 10:45.400 --> 10:47.511 just have a sort of a general picture 10:47.511 --> 10:49.800 of housing to change specifically in 10:49.800 --> 10:52.420 dialogue problems since the digestive ? 10:52.420 --> 10:54.650 Surely plan went into effect . Have you 10:54.650 --> 10:57.570 seen an increase in violence ? Uh you 10:57.570 --> 11:00.220 know more of an idea of how you change 11:00.250 --> 11:04.130 celebrations ? We have 11:04.130 --> 11:06.780 seen an increase in violence in Diyala 11:06.780 --> 11:09.650 province , but that is caused by really 11:09.650 --> 11:12.440 two things . Number one , we do think 11:12.440 --> 11:14.607 some of the enemy forces not only have 11:14.607 --> 11:16.860 moved out of Baghdad but also may have 11:16.860 --> 11:19.027 moved from the lumbar province , it is 11:19.027 --> 11:21.230 important for the Sunni insurgency to 11:21.230 --> 11:24.170 try to control Diyala . That has been 11:24.170 --> 11:25.948 part of the increase . But more 11:25.948 --> 11:27.948 importantly , we have increased our 11:27.948 --> 11:30.350 offensive operations and we have killed 11:30.350 --> 11:32.572 a significant number of this enemy that 11:32.572 --> 11:35.600 is trying to get control in Diyala . So 11:35.600 --> 11:37.711 the violence has risen but there is a 11:37.711 --> 11:40.050 cause and effect and primarily it's due 11:40.050 --> 11:41.717 to our offensive operations . 11:45.340 --> 11:47.507 Do you have any specific numbers ? You 11:47.507 --> 11:49.729 can point to any numbers of attacks per 11:49.729 --> 11:51.920 day or produce . But you can just an 11:51.920 --> 11:53.460 idea how much it's risen . 11:55.840 --> 11:57.896 I'll tell you , we've generally seen 11:57.896 --> 12:01.760 about a 30% increase uh in 12:01.770 --> 12:04.560 offensive actions and attacks . 12:05.640 --> 12:07.660 Many of those are initiated by us . 12:07.660 --> 12:10.710 Some are initiated by Aunt them . I can 12:10.710 --> 12:12.821 tell you that over the last couple of 12:12.821 --> 12:15.160 months we have killed in excess of 175 12:15.160 --> 12:17.760 of the enemy in Diyala . And we 12:17.760 --> 12:20.650 anticipate with ongoing operations that 12:20.650 --> 12:23.580 we will kill or capture many more At 12:23.580 --> 12:25.980 the same time we are establishing 12:25.980 --> 12:28.300 outpost in the key cities such as 12:28.300 --> 12:30.810 baqouba ? Not as many as they have in 12:30.810 --> 12:33.830 Baghdad . But we are using that tactic 12:33.840 --> 12:36.750 to ensure that we retain control over 12:36.750 --> 12:38.972 that key city of the province and we're 12:38.972 --> 12:41.028 going to do that throughout the area 12:41.028 --> 12:42.472 within our capabilities . 12:45.040 --> 12:48.820 Mhm Joel Bennett , Michael bolton 12:48.820 --> 12:51.270 tired newspapers , Do you have a sense ? 12:51.280 --> 12:53.530 The first courses are really have died 12:53.530 --> 12:55.419 and Iowa that they are definitely 12:55.419 --> 12:57.680 trying to wait you out . And are you 12:57.690 --> 13:00.160 hoping to try to carry that ? 13:02.640 --> 13:04.620 Well , I can't say whether or not 13:04.620 --> 13:07.650 they're trying to wait us out . It is a 13:08.040 --> 13:10.207 natural part of an insurgency that the 13:10.207 --> 13:12.900 insurgent will try to move where it 13:12.900 --> 13:15.430 feels no pressure . But we're keeping 13:15.430 --> 13:18.660 the pressure on them . And I think 13:19.140 --> 13:21.480 by what they have seen us do over the 13:21.480 --> 13:24.370 last month and a half . I have sent 13:24.370 --> 13:26.592 reinforcements down in Diyala . They're 13:26.592 --> 13:28.814 seeing a different picture the Friendly 13:28.814 --> 13:31.148 force I expect over the next week or so . 13:31.148 --> 13:33.850 They will see an even different picture 13:33.880 --> 13:37.380 and I am sure that they will understand 13:37.400 --> 13:39.840 that we are going to go after them 13:39.850 --> 13:42.150 vigorously in Diyala . 13:47.740 --> 13:50.560 Uh tell Shango . 13:51.050 --> 13:54.890 Uh two questions . One uh who do you 13:54.890 --> 13:57.350 think is behind the increasing violence 13:57.350 --> 14:00.240 in Diyala ? Is this Al Qaeda in Iraq ? 14:00.250 --> 14:04.120 Is this uh you know , back party uh 14:04.130 --> 14:06.720 Syrian homeland insurgency ? Who's 14:06.720 --> 14:08.831 behind it ? And can give us some more 14:08.831 --> 14:11.060 details on this E . F . P . Cashew 14:11.060 --> 14:13.420 pounds quantifying a little bit is the 14:13.430 --> 14:16.830 biggest , how much um and a little bit 14:16.830 --> 14:19.890 more on the you know , evidence that 14:19.890 --> 14:21.557 ties this to around , right ? 14:23.940 --> 14:26.250 Yes . And I'm gonna ask Colonel 14:26.250 --> 14:27.861 Trautman also comment on the 14:27.861 --> 14:30.440 significance of the find of this cash 14:31.040 --> 14:34.550 uh First of all uh in M . M . D . North 14:35.140 --> 14:38.050 uh it is a Sunni based insurgency . 14:38.640 --> 14:40.560 Without a doubt we do have some 14:40.560 --> 14:43.040 sectarian violence . There is a fault 14:43.040 --> 14:45.630 line in Diyala that both the Shia and 14:45.630 --> 14:47.908 Sunni extremists are trying to control . 14:48.040 --> 14:51.060 But it is a Sunni based insurgency . 14:51.640 --> 14:53.640 We have seen a few groups that call 14:53.640 --> 14:55.807 themselves different names in Diyala . 14:55.807 --> 14:57.710 One was called the council , we 14:57.710 --> 15:00.310 destroyed most of their fighters in a 15:00.350 --> 15:02.960 battle south of bottom Rouge you may 15:02.960 --> 15:05.710 recall We killed over 100 firefighters 15:05.710 --> 15:08.660 and captured uh at least 25 or 30 . We 15:08.660 --> 15:11.860 now control that terrain with a combat 15:11.860 --> 15:13.860 outpost that is there with an Iraqi 15:13.860 --> 15:16.250 company and a US platoon that is 15:16.250 --> 15:19.630 located there 24/7 . We have other 15:19.630 --> 15:22.630 elements there that certainly are part 15:22.630 --> 15:25.020 of the former regime . Uh there is no 15:25.020 --> 15:27.450 question about that and there have been 15:27.450 --> 15:30.220 elements of the 1920s revolution uh 15:30.230 --> 15:32.341 that are there uh in other words they 15:32.341 --> 15:34.397 change their names sometimes so it's 15:34.397 --> 15:36.563 hard to track . But without a doubt it 15:36.563 --> 15:39.120 is principally a Sunni based insurgency . 15:39.640 --> 15:42.740 The cash was huge Approximately enough 15:42.740 --> 15:45.950 materials to make about 130 e . f . p . 15:46.740 --> 15:48.962 The materials that we found there . The 15:48.962 --> 15:51.820 other military grade munitions . Many 15:51.820 --> 15:55.270 of those munitions were new . Many of 15:55.270 --> 15:57.970 them have serial numbers on them that 15:57.980 --> 16:01.110 could be traced directly back to Iran . 16:01.110 --> 16:03.110 And I'd asked Jim to comment on the 16:03.110 --> 16:05.570 significance of that PFP fashion , what 16:05.570 --> 16:07.903 it means through operations there in uh , 16:07.903 --> 16:10.280 in violence . Yes , sir , uh , one of 16:10.280 --> 16:12.613 the things that , you know is the E . F . 16:12.613 --> 16:16.100 P . Is an extremely lethal device . So 16:16.110 --> 16:19.240 it was a great fun for our forces in 16:19.240 --> 16:21.720 Diyala , especially for our engineers 16:21.720 --> 16:25.540 who look for um , I . D . S as well as 16:25.550 --> 16:28.160 the other combat forces there who seek 16:28.160 --> 16:31.540 caches daily to prevent these devices 16:31.540 --> 16:34.160 from being emplaced . Although the E . 16:34.160 --> 16:38.160 F.P . less than 1% of the ideas that we 16:38.170 --> 16:41.460 normally see throughout our a uh , it 16:41.460 --> 16:43.400 certainly contributes to a higher 16:43.400 --> 16:46.990 percentage of fatalities and casualties 16:47.070 --> 16:49.860 within the battle spaces , specifically 16:49.860 --> 16:51.916 in Baghdad , where we see these used 16:51.916 --> 16:52.470 more often .