WEBVTT 00:00.040 --> 00:02.840 I will mute . You can do your opening 00:02.850 --> 00:06.440 statement sir . Yeah . 00:10.440 --> 00:13.160 Okay , good morning everyone and uh 00:15.340 --> 00:18.650 either early late morning or early 00:18.650 --> 00:20.870 afternoon , but thanks for taking your 00:20.870 --> 00:23.970 time uh for us to say a few words here 00:23.970 --> 00:26.026 from the third Brigade combat team . 00:26.026 --> 00:28.330 Colonel john work . And I've got my 00:28.330 --> 00:30.552 right hand man who's sitting on my left 00:30.552 --> 00:32.497 side started major daily from that 00:32.497 --> 00:34.719 started made of the brigade . I'll kind 00:34.719 --> 00:37.052 of start off with a few opening remarks , 00:37.052 --> 00:39.510 talk a little bit about what we look 00:39.510 --> 00:42.010 like right now , what we're doing and 00:42.010 --> 00:44.232 then talk about an operation that we're 00:44.232 --> 00:46.343 currently executing as we speak . And 00:46.343 --> 00:48.232 then obviously open it up for any 00:48.232 --> 00:50.343 questions that you might have on your 00:50.343 --> 00:52.566 end . But first , let me start off with 00:52.566 --> 00:54.621 the kind of the setting of where 3rd 00:54.621 --> 00:56.677 Brigade is right now in in Iraq were 00:56.677 --> 00:58.899 kind of spread out all over the place . 00:58.899 --> 01:00.732 We've got we've got one infantry 01:00.732 --> 01:02.899 battalion , the first italian of eight 01:02.899 --> 01:05.010 infantry up in Mosul . Uh doing great 01:05.010 --> 01:07.177 work up there , fighting , fighting al 01:07.177 --> 01:09.343 Qaeda and obviously trying to help the 01:09.343 --> 01:11.120 citizens of Mosul regain some 01:11.120 --> 01:13.410 governance , economic and other other 01:13.410 --> 01:15.960 essential services . That has been uh 01:15.970 --> 01:19.830 has extremely 01:19.830 --> 01:21.997 well up there , particularly the Iraqi 01:21.997 --> 01:24.108 security force working side by side . 01:24.108 --> 01:26.108 I've also got my cavalry squadron . 01:30.140 --> 01:32.590 First time Maria is the west Central 01:32.590 --> 01:35.780 Quarter Baghdad , which is just just 01:35.790 --> 01:38.530 east of the Camp Victory or Camp 01:38.530 --> 01:40.720 Liberty as some of you may know . And 01:40.720 --> 01:42.442 then I have my field artillery 01:42.442 --> 01:44.276 battalion . The pace setters are 01:44.276 --> 01:46.276 located in the Green Zone providing 01:46.276 --> 01:48.442 security uh for the international zone 01:48.442 --> 01:50.498 which has the uh the embassy and the 01:50.498 --> 01:52.609 government of Iraq as well as some of 01:52.609 --> 01:54.664 the parts of General Petraeus office 01:54.664 --> 01:56.609 there as well . Um for the brigade 01:56.609 --> 01:58.800 itself , we are we're also kind of 01:58.800 --> 02:00.467 working in multiple different 02:00.467 --> 02:02.578 directions . I'm located right now in 02:02.578 --> 02:04.522 Taji Iraq , which is just north of 02:04.522 --> 02:06.060 Baghdad . I've got 02:10.640 --> 02:12.529 the place is called Callaghan Pop 02:12.529 --> 02:14.751 Callahan , which is on the east side of 02:14.751 --> 02:16.862 the Tigris in an area called Shop and 02:16.862 --> 02:19.850 Herb The 64th DSB is here with me . The 02:19.860 --> 02:22.690 base support battalion is at Taji along 02:22.690 --> 02:25.290 with the Support troops battalion is 02:25.290 --> 02:27.820 also here at Tashi . With me . I'm 02:27.820 --> 02:29.931 working on really focused on the east 02:29.931 --> 02:32.050 side of the river . I also have , 02:34.540 --> 02:36.207 it's part of the brigade next 02:41.440 --> 02:43.662 working with us on the east side of the 02:43.662 --> 02:45.360 river . So I had added to the 02:48.740 --> 02:51.160 technical operations on the east side 02:51.160 --> 02:53.382 of the east side of the Tigris , on the 02:53.382 --> 02:55.440 northeast part of Baghdad are areas 02:55.440 --> 02:57.551 about the size of Rhode island . When 02:57.551 --> 02:59.662 you look at it , it goes from the top 02:59.662 --> 03:01.662 place called this kettle , which is 03:01.662 --> 03:04.040 which is equivalent of a county down 03:04.040 --> 03:05.318 into the city itself . 03:10.540 --> 03:12.596 And then we have a large area called 03:14.940 --> 03:16.460 Which has about 2.5 03:23.640 --> 03:24.750 we've been very 03:31.140 --> 03:33.150 the force also focused 03:35.240 --> 03:36.040 huh ? 03:40.240 --> 03:42.129 And connect them with the central 03:42.129 --> 03:44.410 government . We've also tried to assist 03:44.410 --> 03:46.120 in the local local economic 03:46.120 --> 03:48.231 enhancements . The local economies of 03:48.231 --> 03:51.260 small markets to factories , to small 03:51.260 --> 03:53.482 businesses out there to try to get some 03:53.482 --> 03:55.840 economic growth going over on the east 03:55.840 --> 03:58.560 side , as well as essential services 03:58.570 --> 04:00.700 primarily focused in on trying to get 04:00.700 --> 04:03.930 clean water , trash And to some extent 04:03.930 --> 04:06.152 yet the electricity up and running that 04:06.152 --> 04:08.263 has been somewhat suppressed over the 04:08.263 --> 04:10.430 last couple of years . That's been our 04:10.430 --> 04:13.680 focus up until about 25 March . But on 04:13.680 --> 04:15.860 25 March , a lot of you have 04:17.440 --> 04:21.100 mhm in violence 04:21.110 --> 04:24.560 uh coming out of cyber city On 25 04:24.560 --> 04:26.560 March , the checkpoints that we had 04:26.560 --> 04:28.671 established around Cedar City to kind 04:28.671 --> 04:30.727 of control some of the road criminal 04:30.727 --> 04:32.949 elements that were operating in and out 04:32.949 --> 04:35.140 of there , particularly illegal arms , 04:35.140 --> 04:37.362 things like that that we're moving into 04:37.362 --> 04:39.584 and out of cedar city were all attacked 04:39.584 --> 04:41.870 by the road , jaysh al Mahdi group that 04:41.870 --> 04:43.790 had been operating in there and 04:43.790 --> 04:46.230 attacked the Iraqi security force on 04:46.230 --> 04:48.286 the northwest side of my boundary of 04:48.286 --> 04:50.508 Cider city . Additionally , we began to 04:50.508 --> 04:52.900 see rocket attacks that were coming out 04:52.900 --> 04:54.956 of Cider City that we're hitting the 04:54.956 --> 04:57.370 international zone . Uh We got the 04:57.370 --> 05:00.460 mission to reestablish the checkpoints 05:00.470 --> 05:02.560 and re secure those and then then 05:02.570 --> 05:04.681 receive the Iraqi security force that 05:04.681 --> 05:07.450 had been run off as well as defeat the 05:07.840 --> 05:09.840 the indirect fire attacks that were 05:09.840 --> 05:12.290 coming out of the green zone . So they 05:12.290 --> 05:14.457 were coming out of cedar city into the 05:14.457 --> 05:16.710 green zone . Uh We have been executing 05:16.710 --> 05:19.210 that mission since the 25th of March 05:19.220 --> 05:22.160 with 168 armor conducting a ground 05:22.170 --> 05:24.810 ground operations against some of the 05:24.810 --> 05:26.921 point of origin sites that we believe 05:26.921 --> 05:29.143 the rockets were coming from as well as 05:29.143 --> 05:31.800 the one to scr that I mentioned as part 05:31.800 --> 05:33.470 of the team conducting ground 05:33.470 --> 05:35.430 operations in the southern part of 05:35.430 --> 05:38.100 Cider City . In an area we call Jamila 05:38.110 --> 05:41.550 and thorough one brigade headquarters 05:41.560 --> 05:44.370 uh and staff have been very focused in 05:44.370 --> 05:47.750 on attacking the rocket teams that have 05:47.750 --> 05:49.917 been operating in that area as well as 05:49.917 --> 05:52.290 north of Jamila . And thorough one 05:52.300 --> 05:55.170 trying to uh to are you a d support 05:55.180 --> 05:57.347 through our attack helicopters and our 05:57.347 --> 05:59.513 support of us as well as our air force 05:59.513 --> 06:01.569 and other assets that are above us . 06:01.569 --> 06:03.791 Trying to identify the rockets , rocket 06:03.791 --> 06:06.013 teams before they're able to launch and 06:06.013 --> 06:07.958 then use precision strikes against 06:07.958 --> 06:09.958 those targets in order to protect . 06:12.640 --> 06:14.380 Mhm . And government officials 06:14.390 --> 06:16.446 operating in around the green zone . 06:16.446 --> 06:18.501 That operation has been going on now 06:18.501 --> 06:21.660 for about six days recently uh started 06:21.660 --> 06:24.490 declared a ceasefire yesterday . We're 06:24.490 --> 06:26.490 trying to honor that ceasefire self 06:26.740 --> 06:28.962 through maintaining the current posture 06:28.962 --> 06:31.129 that we have re establishing the Iraqi 06:31.129 --> 06:33.351 security force in and around the city . 06:33.351 --> 06:35.370 And then continuing to monitor the 06:35.370 --> 06:37.740 situation that we're observing right 06:37.740 --> 06:39.740 now in the city , which is which is 06:39.740 --> 06:42.090 calm and we're not seeing any increased 06:42.100 --> 06:44.360 levels of violence uh coming out of the 06:44.360 --> 06:46.471 city , which is good news . So that's 06:46.471 --> 06:48.582 kind of the current situation that we 06:48.582 --> 06:50.638 have going on right now . We hope to 06:50.638 --> 06:52.582 get back to the other lines that I 06:52.582 --> 06:54.304 mentioned . The other lines of 06:54.304 --> 06:56.249 operation , the economic essential 06:56.249 --> 06:58.471 services and government governance here 06:58.471 --> 07:00.638 in the next couple of days . Uh , once 07:00.638 --> 07:02.693 we've regained some stability in and 07:02.693 --> 07:02.460 around 07:06.840 --> 07:09.007 except for any questions , if you have 07:09.007 --> 07:11.118 or uh if there's anything I left that 07:11.118 --> 07:13.284 I'm opening statement , if you like me 07:13.284 --> 07:15.396 to highlight some more , feel free to 07:15.396 --> 07:19.240 shoot away . There are first question 07:19.270 --> 07:20.050 tom rider 07:23.740 --> 07:27.690 measure issues your face with without 07:27.690 --> 07:29.412 all Saturdays . He was under a 07:29.412 --> 07:31.634 ceasefire when he started shooting it . 07:32.840 --> 07:35.960 How do you take this new ceasefire 07:37.140 --> 07:40.640 and when his work is not good ? Yeah . 07:41.140 --> 07:44.430 Well , currently right now , we uh , we 07:44.430 --> 07:47.960 have seen a uh a major decrease 07:48.540 --> 07:52.460 in attacks over the last 24 hours . 07:52.840 --> 07:56.280 We were averaging Three days ago , 07:56.280 --> 07:59.950 78 attacks against uh coalition 07:59.950 --> 08:01.783 forces . And a lot of those were 08:01.783 --> 08:05.610 against uh third brigade today we 08:05.610 --> 08:08.250 had to . So what we're trying to do is 08:08.250 --> 08:11.410 obviously not continue to escalate the 08:11.410 --> 08:15.050 violence but maintain and recognize the 08:15.050 --> 08:18.130 ceasefire because as you know , the 08:18.130 --> 08:21.100 civilians that are just trying to uh 08:21.110 --> 08:23.480 have a way of life . And around cedar 08:23.480 --> 08:25.536 city are the ones that get caught in 08:25.536 --> 08:27.570 the middle of all this . So , our 08:27.570 --> 08:30.820 intent is not to continue to press this 08:30.820 --> 08:33.820 fight unless this changes because of 08:33.820 --> 08:36.370 some of the collateral damage that 08:36.380 --> 08:38.570 could obviously occur when two sides 08:38.570 --> 08:40.570 are fighting in and around the city 08:40.570 --> 08:43.560 That has over two million people in it . 08:44.120 --> 08:47.860 Fear over the type of chicken 08:49.540 --> 08:51.750 colonel . Uh huh . 08:53.940 --> 08:57.900 Your perception that that McAda 08:57.910 --> 09:01.440 outsider and turn on the violence or 09:01.440 --> 09:05.320 turn it off at his will . Yeah , 09:05.740 --> 09:08.440 I think he does have some control 09:08.740 --> 09:11.160 obviously in his ability to do that . 09:11.540 --> 09:13.970 But there are rogue special group 09:13.980 --> 09:17.290 elements that have the have the word 09:17.290 --> 09:20.110 jam next to them . They don't follow 09:20.110 --> 09:22.820 his instructions or orders . And what 09:22.820 --> 09:25.910 we , what we witnessed over the last 09:25.920 --> 09:29.110 four or five days was the roads special 09:29.110 --> 09:32.490 groups um kind of creating 09:32.780 --> 09:36.570 this fervor violence and 09:36.570 --> 09:39.950 instigating jam to join in when 09:40.270 --> 09:44.170 when we never really got I 09:44.420 --> 09:47.460 guess the local starters spokesman or 09:47.460 --> 09:50.070 himself either say the ceasefire was 09:50.070 --> 09:52.440 offer on . And so we believe some of 09:52.440 --> 09:54.520 this was just instigated by the road 09:54.520 --> 09:57.400 special groups and then once he became 09:57.400 --> 09:59.620 public again and told told his 09:59.620 --> 10:02.400 followers to stand down and declared a 10:02.400 --> 10:05.840 ceasefire . Yeah , 10:09.140 --> 10:11.140 for dangerous and violence . So the 10:11.140 --> 10:13.362 answer your question is I do believe he 10:13.362 --> 10:17.260 has some yes , but there are roads 10:17.640 --> 10:19.350 what we call rogue criminal 10:21.440 --> 10:23.660 failed to follow his instructions or 10:23.660 --> 10:26.120 anyone's instructions . And I kind of 10:26.120 --> 10:28.231 equate them to kind of the equivalent 10:28.231 --> 10:30.680 of a mafia organization uh that we have 10:30.680 --> 10:32.624 seen operate in other countries to 10:32.624 --> 10:34.624 include hours , pretty much do what 10:34.624 --> 10:37.890 they want to do . They may have a a 10:37.890 --> 10:40.660 background like jam that they say they 10:40.670 --> 10:42.680 say they belong to . But in fact 10:42.680 --> 10:44.800 they're uh very criminal in nature of 10:44.800 --> 10:46.633 dealing with criminal activity , 10:46.633 --> 10:49.120 kidnapping , extortion , you name it . 10:49.130 --> 10:51.463 That's uh , that's what these groups do . 10:51.463 --> 10:53.463 And so we believe that they were in 10:53.463 --> 10:55.800 large part behind some of this . Uh , 10:55.810 --> 10:57.977 some of this obviously need to do with 10:57.977 --> 11:00.088 the political situation going on down 11:00.088 --> 11:02.143 in basra and the fighting in basra . 11:02.143 --> 11:04.254 But that's kind of my answer in terms 11:04.254 --> 11:08.160 of how I saw the fight . Mhm Right , 11:08.940 --> 11:10.950 Laura Forbes served from Fox 21 . 11:13.740 --> 11:15.950 It has been reported that Britain is 11:17.740 --> 11:21.660 whose tone is reduction in 11:21.660 --> 11:22.250 Iraqi , 11:26.940 --> 11:29.107 Could I ask you to repeat that again ? 11:29.107 --> 11:31.162 It kind of came in a little broken . 11:31.162 --> 11:35.000 She asked about there's news stories 11:35.010 --> 11:37.560 that are reporting that Britain from 11:37.560 --> 11:41.020 their troop troops . The 11:41.020 --> 11:43.320 violence in bahsrah . Wanted to know 11:43.320 --> 11:44.260 your reaction . 11:47.340 --> 11:51.180 I will be honest with you . I haven't 11:51.180 --> 11:55.090 paid attention to really anything uh , 11:55.100 --> 11:57.211 other than what's going on down in my 11:57.211 --> 11:59.322 neck of the woods right now . Insider 11:59.322 --> 12:01.378 city started making or not have been 12:01.378 --> 12:03.378 quite busy , focused focused in and 12:03.378 --> 12:05.378 around that area . So , I , I don't 12:05.378 --> 12:07.600 really know what's going on in boston . 12:07.600 --> 12:07.420 So I don't think I can really answer 12:07.420 --> 12:09.587 that question . One way or the other . 12:12.740 --> 12:14.962 Your next question is from Tom Roeder . 12:16.740 --> 12:19.160 Okay , Colonel , two questions . Uh , 12:21.340 --> 12:23.451 how many folks have you had killed or 12:23.451 --> 12:25.507 wounded in this ? I know you've lost 12:25.507 --> 12:29.050 some that have been , we've 12:29.050 --> 12:31.510 had uh , we've had three soldiers 12:31.510 --> 12:35.320 killed in 12 , etc . Are out of the 12:35.330 --> 12:37.490 deal state Germany , the the squad of 12:37.490 --> 12:39.780 the striker squadron that As part of 12:39.780 --> 12:42.170 the 3rd Brigade combat team now And 12:42.170 --> 12:45.860 we've had approximately 35 or 36 12:46.440 --> 12:48.720 Wounded in action over the last five 12:48.720 --> 12:51.410 days with the vast majority of those 12:51.420 --> 12:53.490 being returned to duty or light 12:53.490 --> 12:56.190 superficial wounds . Um , we've had 12:56.190 --> 12:58.246 some very heroic work out there . We 12:58.246 --> 13:00.660 had a Bradley that was uh , encountered 13:00.660 --> 13:04.130 a complex attack that had nine soldiers 13:04.130 --> 13:06.920 trapped in it engulfed in flames by 13:06.930 --> 13:10.920 uh , by any FP had a medic from 13:10.920 --> 13:14.610 another vehicle rushed forward , pull 13:14.610 --> 13:17.120 all the pull all the eight crushing 13:17.120 --> 13:19.800 nine soldiers out conducted first eight 13:19.800 --> 13:21.800 on all of those nine soldiers under 13:21.800 --> 13:23.930 under heavy fire were able to get all 13:23.930 --> 13:26.470 those nine soldiers back to the cash 13:26.480 --> 13:28.536 while the Bradley was burning to the 13:28.536 --> 13:30.647 ground . And we come to find out that 13:30.647 --> 13:32.480 the medic probably had the worst 13:32.480 --> 13:34.702 injuries of all of them . And so that's 13:34.702 --> 13:37.310 an example of heroic work soldiers 13:37.310 --> 13:39.390 wounded in action , but doing 13:39.390 --> 13:41.612 everything that they've been trained to 13:41.612 --> 13:43.668 do in order to try to accomplish the 13:43.668 --> 13:44.440 mission . Yeah .