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Blackanthem Military News
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Last Updated:
Sep 8, 2008 - 5:58:02 AM |
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Blackanthem Military News
 TIKRIT, Iraq - Leaders from the provincial government of the Salah ad Din province along with their Coalition partners from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, met in Tikrit XXXXX to discuss broadening the reconciliation process in the area.
The meeting established a common understanding between Coalition Forces and Salah ad Din leadership regarding coordination mechanisms between Qadah, provincial and national governments, and CF.
Governor Hamood Shekti, Maj. Gen. Hamed, provincial director of police, and other regional and provincial leaders met with the 1st BCT, 101st Abn. Div., commander and other Coalition leaders to further establish a common foundation for the provincial level reconciliation process.
"Reconciliation is the process where men who have been fighting Iraqi and Coalition Forces renounce violence and pledge loyalty to the government of Iraq," said Maj. Bill Rice, civil affairs officer and a spokesperson for the 1st BCT, 101st Abn. Div. "As we expand reconciliation throughout the province, there are a lot of provincial level security, and legal and judicial entities that need to be coordinated."
The reconciliation process began in May, when more than 500 former fighters turned themselves into Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces in the city of Balad. The fighters chose to be accountable to the Iraqi government for their actions by first initiating contact with ISF or CF.
In order to prevent misunderstandings, cross-judicial confusion and legal delays, it became necessary to coordinate reconciliation efforts at all levels of government and security, said Rice
"I think there are a lot of guys out there who placed IEDs or allowed somebody to hide caches on their farms to earn money to support their families as the economy collapsed. They have spent the last three or four years hiding from Iraqi and Coalition Forces, thinking that they are wanted men, when in many cases they're not," said Rice. "This is an opportunity for those men to come forward,. If they are or think they are fugitives, they are going to be existing on the fringes of society, and their economic and political potential is going to be severely limited as Iraq begins to recover."
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