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Press Briefing with Lt. Gen. Odierno

Jun- 1-2007 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT , 4/2 SBCT

Recent comments by Lt. Gen. Odierno indicate that recent operations in Diyala are a prelude to a much larger offensive there. Elements of both the 3/2 SBCT and the 4/2 SBCT are involved.

DoD Press Briefing with Lt. Gen. Odierno from the Pentagon

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Question: General, Bill McMichael with the Military Times papers. You mentioned that you're going to be moving some forces up toward Diyala in a couple of weeks. Is that in response to the request by your commander up there, who told us a couple of weeks ago that he needed more forces up there? How many forces are you moving up? And what are your concerns about the violence in Baghdad spilling over to Diyala and how intense that's become up there?

GEN. ODIERNO: Yeah, well, first, General Mixon and I have constant communication. So -- and when he talked to you all, he told you that we have had several conversations about this. This is -- we've been planning and talking about this for months.

So is it in response to that press conference? Absolutely not. Is it in response for me having a normal discussion with my division commander? Absolutely. We talk about these things all the time. And as assets become available, then I make decisions on where we should put forces.

Baqubah is a part of the Baghdad area that has significant influence on Baghdad. It's also an area of Sunni-Shi'a fault line, where you have al Qaeda, who, I think, I believe, is trying to attempt to make that a center of their operation. And you also have Shi'a extremists, who obviously come in from Iran, since Diyala goes out to the eastern border. So you have several things going on.

You have al Qaeda trying to establish a safe haven, you have Shi'a extremists who are working with Iran trying to bring weapons in from Iran, and then you have the Sunni-Shi'a infighting that goes on there, so it's a very complex environment, and it does influence Baghdad. And that's why it's important -- first of all, it's important to provide security and stability to the people of Diyala, but in addition to that, it does affect the security in the capital. Baqubah is very close to the capital, and many people who live in and around Baqubah work in Baghdad or used to work in Baghdad, so it does have an effect. So we are focused on bringing that security and stability there.

We have recently moved three battalions of a Stryker brigades with two battalions, and then we previously moved another Stryker battalion up there. I'm going to move an additional force up there probably in about another 10 days or so, 10 days to two weeks. And after that, we will conduct aggressive operations to secure and stabilize Diyala province.

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