Iraq Rebuilding Progress Built on Trust  

Soldiers Reap Huge Benefits From Teambuilding Mosul, Iraq All true healthy relationships are built on trust and understanding, and much of the progress being enjoyed by U.S. and Coalition Forces on the ground in Iraq can be directly linked to efforts to build bridges of Trust. On the ground in Iraq, such concepts as Neighborhood patrols and Block Watch programs, new and foreign in nature to the average Iraqi citizen, is fast becoming the new norm.  Such programs and culture is grown from a basic level of trust, which is increasingly being earned by our forces working with local Iraqi leadership. Commander of 101st Airborne, Colonel Caraccilo believes in this concept wholeheartedly.  “It is really making all the difference in the world,” Army Col Caraccilo said at a recent meeting with the press and news crews. The emergence of successful neighborhood watch programs manned by concerned Iraqi citizens is a product of that trust, Caraccilo said, noting that such initiatives entail an element of risk. Top U.S. Forces leadership in the region believes this also.   General David H. Petraeus, Army General in command demonstrates trust and urges his troops to earn the trust of the local populace.  Actions such as taking qualified risks, supporting local groups of citizens, and actively talking and becoming involved in other support actions of local citizens and Iraqi Leaders is vital, according to Colonel Caraccilo. Colonel Caraccilo’s troops and local Iraqi Army forces have made huge strides, working together.  In the recent Operation “Marne Courageous”, insurgents have been driven out, and U.S. Forces have then been able to progress forward into areas previously denied to them. As more of these actions occur by U.S. and Coalition Forces, Iraqi troops and the general populace increasingly take on their own security, and responsibility for their own country.  No longer are large areas around Baghdad being referred to as “the Triangle of Death”