By Alex Villarreal
Pentagon
US Military in Iraq Shifting Focus to Training
A senior U.S military officer says the improved security situation in Iraq has allowed more coalition forces to shift
their focus from leading security operations to training Iraqis to do so.
The director of operations for the senior U.S. military staff, Lieutenant General Carter Ham, told reporters Friday the
increased strength of Iraqi security forces has enabled some U.S. and coalition troops to transition into a supporting
role.
"Rather than U.S. and other coalition forces being in the lead for providing security, it is increasingly the Iraqi
security forces who are providing that security. And so we, then, are, over time, shifting our emphasis from being the
security force to being the force that is enabling the Iraqis to provide the security," he said.
General Ham said with more capable Iraqi forces available, U.S. commanders can spare more troops to form training teams
to help further improve the Iraqi forces. He said the improved Iraqi troops are having an impact as al-Qaida tries to
increase activity in northern Iraq.
"I think what they are finding are increasingly capable Iraqi security forces, both Iraqi army and Iraqi police," he
said, "and though al-Qaida is specifically targeting them this time, it appears, they are finding those forces much more
resistant to the influences and to the attacks."
On Thursday, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, U.S. General David Petraeus, told reporters in Baghdad the
progress by Iraqi security forces and the surge of U.S. troops have helped reduce violence in Iraq by 60 percent in the
last six months, to the lowest level in nearly two years.
ENDS