DoD News Briefing with Col. Funk from Iraq
(Note: The colonel appears via teleconference from Iraq.)
JIM TURNER: Good morning.
Colonel Funk, this is Jim Turner in the Pentagon briefing room. Can you hear me?
COL. FUNK: I can, Jim. How are you doing?
MR. TURNER: Good.
All right, let's get started. We're privileged today to have as our briefer Colonel Paul Funk. He's the commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. Colonel Funk's brigade arrived in Iraq in November of 2006 and operates as part of Multinational Division Baghdad.
He's coming to us today from Camp Taji, which is northwest of Baghdad. This is the second time briefing us in this format, having talked to us last April. As is customary, he'll start with an opening statement and will take your questions.
And with that, Colonel Funk, over to you.
COL. FUNK: Thank you.
Good morning. I want to thank you for the opportunity to answer your questions today. First I have a brief comment, and then I'll take your questions.
The 1st Brigade Combat Team has been responsible for the northern and western outskirts of Baghdad since about December of 2006. It covers two qadhas -- the U.S. equivalent could be a county or a parish -- the Abu Ghraib qadha west of Baghdad and the Taji qadha north of Baghdad, and a small amount -- portion of the Al Anbar province.
We stand about 4,000 troopers strong and work daily side by side with three Iraqi army brigades, who are actively working to bring us a sustainable security arrangement to the local populace as we transition to Iraqi security forces' control. This security arrangement is Iraqi army, Iraqi police and volunteers from local Sunni and Shi'a tribes who have grown weary of the intimidation tactics of extremist elements, working together to secure their homes, their children and their future through coordination amongst themselves, the tribes and the local government.
From a security perspective, there has been significant progress. With the change in tactics encapsulated by this surge, our direct targeting of extremist cells and their financing the brutal tactics of al Qaeda, and the resulting growth and migration of the Awakening, the growth and capacity of the Iraqi security forces, and the subsequent creation of a sustainable security arrangement, we have seen attacks drop from an average of 150 a week, in late January and February time frame, to less than 10 attacks a week.
The result has been nothing short of phenomenal. When I walk through the local markets, they're full. Small businesses are erupting everywhere, and we'll use microgrants in kind to help fuel this small-business momentum.
A sense of a return of normalcy has caught on, and there has been remarkable progress, but we have a long way to go. The extremist threat still remains. These extremists, who have lost the support of the local populace, are still working to execute spectacular attacks in order to create the perception that Iraq is out of control, and to convince the people that the Iraqi government is simply unable to protect them. We will continue to see attacks, but they are beginning to be the exception, not the rule.
Since the evolution of the sustainable security arrangement and the subsequent drop in attacks, the people no longer talk about security as a prime concern. Now it is services, government, academics for their children, and the future. Security does not truly exist through the use of force. The next stage of this campaign involves a concerted level of follow-through to connect those who have chosen to reconcile to the local and national government, and a continuing marginalization of extremist elements. This is done by creating jobs, establishing a viable governance and providing the necessary and essential services to the people.
We have used the Commanders Emergency Response Program to hire those who have chosen to reconcile to secure their communities, and to reestablish essential services such as irrigation, electricity, trash, sewage and roads, to fix schools and to invest in local businesses. We have hired thousands in public works initiatives to provide the workforce needed to keep the essential services running, to invest in the local economy and to take away the extremist option of using money as an incentive to attack the government of Iraq.
These programs have been working effectively, yet the simple fact is, these programs are funded by the coalition. We see the funding, with the help of USAID, as a burgeoning strategy to push local government capacity to fund and manage these essential services, and to work with the provincial and national-level government of Iraq to not only see the benefit of these civil service initiatives to solidifying the gains from reconciliation, but to fund them as an enduring investment into the future of Iraq.
Our relationship with local Iraqi leaders and the leadership demonstrated by the embedded provincial reconstruction teams have been pivotal in moving away from the coalition-force-generated initiatives to working with local and provincial government leaders to build capacity to manage their own initiatives. This is the follow-through needed to cement the gains of the surge and to allow Iraq to take the next step forward.
I thank you for your time and I'll look forward to answering your questions.
MR. TURNER: Okay and with that, Kristin.
Q Sir, it's Kristin Roberts with Reuters.
Last time I saw you was maybe two weeks ago in Baghdad, when Secretary Gates was around, and we talked a little bit about the flow of al Qaeda out of Baghdad. They've been driven out of Baghdad and east out of Anbar. And I was hoping you could bring us all up to date on the flow of al Qaeda in your area, what you're seeing, if it's stepped up. What essentially is the trendline right now?
COL. FUNK: Well, in my area, which is north and west of Baghdad, al Qaeda has been driven out. I think they're still dangerous, but they have been driven out of my area. And we look forward to continuing that process. We will attack them anywhere they are, and we continue to rapidly hunt for them.
Q So there remain no elements in your area that you're concerned about; you feel like you've completely eliminated that threat from your AO?
COL. FUNK: I would not say completely eliminated, but I will tell you we're in the pursuit phase of this operation, and we are pursuing them throughout the battlespace or the operational environment. So I am -- they are much more concerned about me now than I am of them.
Q All right.
MR. TURNER: Okay, Ken.
Q Morning, Colonel, or afternoon. Ken Fireman from Bloomberg News. What trends are you seeing in your area about the Iranian support for militant groups that have been attacking your forces? Has there been a diminishment of that support? Has it remained constant? What are you seeing there?
COL. FUNK: In my area, which is predominantly a Sunni area, I don't see many indications of Iranian support. I will tell you that a couple of days ago we found a cache that was -- that had some Iranian ammunition in it, but it appeared to have been there a while. So I can't really tell you the impact of that.
Q Sir, if I can follow up, what do hear about other areas that may have Shi'ite groups active in it?
COL. FUNK: The other areas -- I'd rather not speculate on anybody else's area. I have about 380 square miles of terrain I got to worry about myself. I have not heard that much about that.
Q Thank you.
Q Colonel, it's Scott Foster with NBC News. You mentioned that -- sir, that it passed the security phase and moved on to the providing of services for the Iraqi people. What are the key concerns in terms of lack of some basic services in your area that your folks are hearing?
COL. FUNK: Well, what we're hearing and what the people are telling us -- and we meet -- I also have two qadhas in my area that are the local government, and we're working very diligently with them to build capacity to govern at the local level, and we're starting to see the fruits of our labor.
Electricity has improved from about four hours a day, on average, in my area, up to 12 to 16. Consequently, and however, we hear, we see -- in the markets we're starting to see goods like computers and other power -- other things that take power to run.
And so consequently, as the demand goes up, so does the ability to try to balance that. I'm very encouraged by the increase by about 10 hours, on average, throughout my zone. And the people, they want -- in my area, it's mostly agriculturally based, so we're talking about water for irrigation, electricity to continuously run the irrigation pumps and all of those types of things that power the local economy in my area.
Q It's Kristin again, with Reuters. Can you tell us a little bit about the progress you've seen with the Iraqi forces that you're working with, and particularly in their ability to provide for their own logistics and support roles?
COL. FUNK: Yes, absolutely. I have had the privilege to work with three different Iraqi brigades, and I have seen them grow exponentially throughout the year. We've done that through a program that we call max participation, where we were with them day to day. As a matter of fact, the joint security stations I have are all dually manned with my soldiers and the Iraqi forces. They are providing for their own logistics in most cases now, to include food, fuel and medical supplies at all the JSSs, which is a great move forward. They still have a lot of work to do in sustained logistics, but to do tactical logistics from fixed sites, they are doing exceptionally well now.
Q How long until they're able to do some of that -- those more sustained logistics functions?
COL. FUNK: Well, I think it's -- my brigades also have a -- there are different stages of the formation, too. So in one case, it may be as long as a year; in the next -- another case, it could be as little as two or three months. But my support battalion has been working diligently with all the brigades of 9th Iraqi Division to teach them logistics and have been doing dual patrolling with them, deliberate patrols, combat logistics patrols, to get out on the battlefield and teach them how to do this.
So I am seeing a lot of progress. I'd say three months for one brigade, probably as many as eight for another. And the third brigade that I have is actually a light brigade, and its logistics are not near as difficult as the mechanized brigades.
Q Is it that they just don't have enough experience with this job, with this function, if you will, or are there other challenges that are -- that they're facing?
COL. FUNK: It's mostly other challenges, but there are -- there is -- we're pretty good at logistics and moving -- doing deliberate combat logistics patrols, and that's a -- that is a mind-set that the Iraqi army's got to learn. But there some equipping problems; they need some more fuel trucks and things like that. Those trucks -- they are very good at HET operations, heavy equipment trucks, which move tanks, Bradleys or BMPs and things like that. They're very good at that. I've watched them do it a number of times in my time here, and they know what they're doing in that regard.
Q But how many of these fuel trucks and other types of equipment are still needed?
COL. FUNK: I couldn't pin down for the whole 9th Iraqi Division how many that would be.
I will tell you that on average it takes about 28 to do a tank battalion in the U.S. Army, so I'd say they have about half of those, and they're continuing to get those types of pieces of equipment all the time. So I couldn't really tell you how many that would be.
Q Colonel, it's Scott Foster at NBC. Your brigade's been there for over a year now. We're getting close to the holidays. How would you assess their morale?
COL. FUNK: My brigade's morale is very good. And it's very good because the people -- we're working every day with the people of Iraq; they see the successes that they've had. We've paid a price to do this. They're proud of what they've done and they see the remarkable change that's occurred in our area. But don't get me wrong; they're ready to go home and see their families, too.
Q It's Ken Fireman again. We heard about a very serious car bombing in Diyala province today I realize that's not your area of responsibility, but I'm wondering, A, if you've heard anything about that attack, and B, what it says to you that whoever did this was able to pull it off.
COL. FUNK: I had not heard about that attack. But let me answer the second part of your question, which is I believe that that is absolute terrorism. I also think it's an act of desperation by the enemy. He -- the enemy is a ruthless, absolute -- with no regard for human rights or the loss of life of innocent civilians. So it's an act of desperation by them, I believe.
MR. TURNER: Any more questions?
Q Colonel Funk, Petty Officer Webb, the Pentagon Channel. In lieu of the holiday coming up next week, what do you have planned for your service members to keep that morale high Christmas Eve, Christmas Day?
COL. FUNK: Well, we will do several big meals. Most -- because I'm distributed throughout my area, most will be delivered, but we'll have your traditional holiday meals. There will be some services done. But by and large, most of my troopers are training their replacements now and there will be a lot of brotherhood of soldiers learning lessons together on this holiday, and that's a pretty good thing, in my book.
MR. TURNER: Yeah, I think we're out of questions, Colonel Funk. And if you'd care to share with us any closing comments, we'd appreciate hearing those.
COL. FUNK: Certainly. Let me bring my closing statement up. When my brigade departs Iraq next month, we can leave here knowing we have made a difference. Violence in our sector has dropped almost 75 percent. We've put 86 mid- and high-level insurgent leaders behind bars. We destroyed nine enemy mortar and rocket teams and eliminated 22 insurgent cells.
And our success was not just security related. We've completed 210 civil service projects with an estimated value of just under $25 million, which have increased the amount of services provided to the people in our sector as well as assisted in the revitalization of the local governments to enable them to obtain a level of government capacity that will better support the people in their communities. We also increased the capability of the Iraqi army and the police units through a maximum partnership program so that one day, we will be able to take on -- they will be able to take on the security mission on their own without the assistance of coalition forces.
We've made a difference, and the soldiers of the Iron Horse Brigade can and always will be proud of the contribution they made to making this operation a success. There will be trying times ahead, and there are challenge -- are yet to be met, but our mission is clear and our determination is unwavering.
Thank you for your time. Happy Holidays to all of you. And to all the families back home at Fort Hood, we'll see you soon.
MR. TURNER: Okay, Colonel Funk, thank you very much for visiting us here in the Pentagon Briefing Room. I hope to see you again sometime.
COL. FUNK: You bet. Thank you.
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