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Bill Roggio:

Left without its base of Ramadi, which was once the most dangerous city in Iraq, al Qaeda and its allies moved eastward and attempted to reestablish operation in the Fallujah region. Al Qaeda was already entrenched in the Amiriyah, Zaidon and Karma areas. Violence in the cities and towns surrounding Fallujah increased in late 2006 as al Qaeda attempted to halt the spread of the Awakening movement in the eastern portion of the province.

The Fourth Rail recently interviewed Colonel Richard Simcock, the Commander of Regimental Combat Team Six (RCT-6), the Marine regiment in charge of Fallujah and the regions of eastern Anbar province, know as AO Raleigh (Area of Operations Raleigh).

AO Raleigh includes Fallujah proper, Amiriyah and Ferris to the southeast, Zaidon to the east, Karma to the northeast and Saqlawiyah to the northwest. The city of Fallujah is the only city in Anbar province where the Iraqi Army owns the battlespace. The city is run by Iraqis, and has an elected mayor, 20 members on the city council and a police force the works closely with the Iraqi Army and U.S. forces in the region. Fallujah now has an estimated 400,000 residents as people continue to return to the city, and business is beginning to thrive, Col Simcock noted.

Col Simcock credits the success in Fallujah to three factors: the improvements local governance and the development of the security forces, tribal engagement and having the forces available to conduct permanent presence missions throughout the region. "Regimental Combat Team Six has more forces than any of the prior regimental combat teams serving in AO Raleigh," he noted. "It has enabled me to go into more places in AO Raleigh than my predecessors were able to do."

Posted by Bill at June 18, 2007 12:48 PM | TrackBack (0)