PHOTOS
(click photos to enlarge) |
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A
member of Abna'a Al Iraq (Sons of Iraq), a security
group contracted by the U.S. government, provides
security at a checkpoint as U.S. Army Soldiers assigned
to 3rd Platoon, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th
Parachute Infantry Regiment, patrol Rusafa, Baghdad,
Iraq, Feb. 18, 2008. |
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Members of Abna'a Al Iraq (Sons of Iraq), a security
group contracted by the U.S. government, breach a door
before searching a house during a patrol with U.S. Army
Soldiers assigned to 2nd Platoon, C Company, 1st
Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in Rusafa,
Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 19, 2008. |
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Members of Abna'a Al Iraq (Sons of Iraq), a security
group contracted by the U.S. government, leave after a
patrol with U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 2nd Platoon,
C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry
Regiment, in Rusafa, Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 19, 2008. |
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Sons of Iraq |
Members of the Duraiya Sons of Iraq group
provide security along the Salman Pak to al
Lej, Iraq, road. |
Sons of Iraq are organized groups of local citizens
in Iraq helping with security. More than 91,000 Sons of Iraq
local security volunteers are under contract to help coalition
and Iraqi forces protect neighborhoods and secure
infrastructure and roads.
According to General Petraeus, Commanding General -
Multi-National Force Iraq, these volunteers have helped to
reduce violence and contributed to the discovery of improvised
explosive devices and weapons caches. "The Sons of Iraq have
been directly responsible for many lives and vehicles saved,
and their value far outweighs the cost of the contracts to pay
them... Given the importance of the Sons of Iraq, we are
working closely with the Iraqi government to transition them
into the Iraqi security forces or other forms of employment,
and over 21,000 have already been accepted into the police or
army or other government jobs. This process has been slow, but
it is taking place, and we will continue to monitor it
carefully," Petraeus said.
(Last
updated April 12, 2008.) |
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