Salah ad Din Province sees over 600 men reconcile

TIKRIT, IRAQ

07.01.2008

Courtesy Story

1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs

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By the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division Public Affairs Office

TIKRIT, Iraq - Recently a meeting between coalition forces and local Iraqi leadership took place June 26, regarding reconciliation in the city of Tikrit.

The governor of the Salah ad Din province, Hamad Hamood Shekti along with Col. Michael S. McBride, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) met with local governmental and military leadership to discuss the way forward for Iraqis wishing to reintegrate back into society. Since May, over 600 hundred men, have pledged to support the Iraqi government by taking the gun out of politics in the province, which is home to the key Iraqi cities of Tikrit, Samarra, Bayji and Balad.

By broadening the reconciliation process across the province, the Iraqi government, Iraqi security forces and the Bastogne Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division seek to provide an opportunity for former fighters and supporters of the insurgency to unite under the Iraqi flag.

"The purpose of this is to open doors for those who do not have anything to do with violence or killing of any Iraqis or coalition forces," said Shekti.

The long time governor said that reconciliation is a window of opportunity that men who find themselves wanted by ISF and CF, should not pass up.

"The individuals whose names are on the roster should hand themselves in," he said. "It is great chance to clear your name so you can continue with your life and to rebuild Salah ad-Din and Iraq."

The governor described the reconciliation window as a period of pardon, which is meant to give those who have felt marginalized, a chance to rejoin the budding political processes here.

"Those seeking to wipe the slate clean, will be treated fairly and justly by Iraqi security forces," said Shekti. However those who have committed crimes against the Iraqi people will continue to be pursued, he said.

"Those that are wanted for killing that will not cooperate will be hunted down. We will not rest until we get the individual to justice," said Shekti. "We will build Salah ad Din in a good way - that is why we have this reconciliation plan."

In the city of Ad Dawr, near Tikrit, former extremists have begun filing into the security station there to begin the reconciliation process. Beginning June 30, 58 men have reconciled said Maj. Tim Povich, 1st Special Troops Battalion executive officer.

"Reconciliation is the logical next step in our area," said Povich. "With the recent security improvements in both Ad Dawr and Tikrit, reconciliation, or "Musalaha" as the Iraqis call it, will provide additional momentum to keep the situation improving is both areas."

Returning to a stable life, to not be pursued by coalition or Iraqi security forces is a major draw for many of the former fighters.

Coalition forces will recognize the period of pardon by not pursuing those who wish to reconcile with the Iraqi government, said Col. Michael S. McBride, 1st BCT, 101st Airborne Division commander.

During the press conference, McBride said that he expects hundreds of Iraqis from in and around the area to use this as an opportunity to clear their names.

The meeting comes on the heels of a massive reconciliation effort in the city of Balad, where more than 500 Iraqis pledged loyalty to the Iraqi government by signing a cease fire agreement as a component to the formal reconciliation process. Since the effort began in Balad in May, dozens of weapons caches and munitions have been turned into Iraqi security forces.

Acting on Iraqi sources, coalition forces were led to a subterranean arsenal June 28, which contained rockets, mortars and anti-tank missiles, east of the city of Balad. Troopers from the 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division discovered the cache, which is the latest in a series of large finds.

Approximately four-hundred 82mm high-explosive mortar rounds were found buried, along with three anti-tank missiles, 12 rockets and various other armaments.

Reconciliation efforts in the Balad area have led to an increase in cache finds due to an enhanced flow of information from the local populace, said Maj. Johnpaul Arnold, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division spokesman. "The people of the Balad area are coming forward with information on weapons caches and the whereabouts of terror supporters, because they want to be free from the fear and brutality that al Qaida brought to their country," he said. "They are no longer afraid or intimidated by that fading and failing organization."