THE TENSION: In Iraq, Operation Marne Rugged Aims to Eliminate Remaining Extremists

(Left to right) Col. Tom James, commander of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division; Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of Multi-National Division – Center; Col. Ali Abdul Hussein, commander of 3rd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division; and Lt. Col. Majid Fazaa Sakhii, commander of 3rd Battalion, 3/8 IA, walk from the helipad at Forward Operating Base Zulu, Iraq, March 10. They were at the base for a briefing on Operation Marne Rugged. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael Connors, MND-C PAO.)

Dispatches from the Front:

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, March 15, 2008 -- On the heels of Operations Marne Thunderbolt and Grand Slam south of Baghdad, Multi-National Division – Center will push further south to squeeze extremists during Operation Marne Rugged, which kicks off March 15.

The operation will cover a rural area southeast of Baghdad, south of the Tigris River in the area of operation of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division and 3rd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army.

One phase of the operation will be the establishment of Patrol Base Summers, a joint Iraqi Army and Coalition forces base. It is named for Staff Sgt. Vincent Summers, who paid the ultimate sacrifice with 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment during Operation Iraqi Freedom III.

“We have found that when we put Iraqi Army and Coalition forces in a patrol base in an area like Summers, the population comes to us and gives us that refined intelligence, so that we can do precise operations against any al-Qaeda that may be in this area,” said Col. Tom James, commander of 4th BCT, during a pre-operation briefing at Forward Operating Base Zulu March 10.

In addition to establishing the patrol base and eliminating al-Qaeda and any other extremists, Marne Rugged will focus on capacity building. In anticipation of the operation, the Coalition and IA have already identified approximately 2,500 Iraqi security volunteers who are eager to transition into Sons of Iraq in the short-term and into Iraqi Security Forces in the long-term.

“We see two major tasks that we have to accomplish: One, we have to integrate the Iraqi security volunteers,” James said. “The other is to provide quick-impact, small projects to the local civilians.”

Col. Ali Abdul Hussein, commander of 3/8 IA, also cited the importance of local projects, in particular repairing water pumps that he said were damaged by terrorists.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of MND-C, told Hussein that Coalition forces could help the IA fix the pumps in addition to facilitating other projects.

“I believe we have a window of opportunity,” Lynch said. “You see, I’ve got this idea to transition from security to stability, and stability is about jobs, services, schools, and we can help with all that.”

(Story by Sgt. Michael Connors, MND-C Public Affairs.)