Iraqi army brigade leads major operation

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Iraqi army brigade leads major operation
By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, December 1, 2007


AL CHEB ALLIB, Iraq — Soldiers with the 6th Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division raided three villages about 10 miles north of Beiji on Wednesday, an operation in which U.S. forces played only a supporting role.

With U.S. troops in Iraq preparing to step back and hand over lead combat roles to Iraqi forces over the next year, the operation was described as a significant move toward enabling Iraqi forces in the north-central part of the country to operate independently.

The target of the raid was a collection of insurgent arms caches supposedly hidden in the three villages, which are located just up the highway from the largest oil refinery in northern Iraq. About 300 Iraqi army and police participated in the mission, along with about 200 U.S. soldiers.

U.S. helicopters airlifted some Iraqi troops into one part of the objective area, while the rest went in by ground convoy, with U.S. vehicles trailing behind. While the mission turned up virtually nothing in terms of enemy arms or fighters, U.S. advisers said it was a good start for the Iraqi brigade.

“This was the first brigade-size operation ever with 6th Brigade in the lead,” said Maj. Oscar Pintado, 37, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, team chief for the 0412 Military Transition Team. “I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty, but it went pretty good.”

First Lt. Jacinto Serna, intelligence officer for the 0412 MiTT, said the mission was the first time that 6th Brigade had carried out a mission in which they generated their own intelligence, conducted their own planning, and then led the operation.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50644