BAGHDAD, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. military commanders say the accuracy and amount of information received from Iraqis has risen 20-fold over the last five months.
"We are getting more and more tips every day," Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the U.S. Army's Fourth Infantry Division, told a Pentagon briefing earlier this week. "In fact, it is probably 10- or 20-fold more than when we first started here."
In early November, Iraqi informants led to U.S. military raids of SA-7 missiles, 120mm mortars and other Sunni insurgent weapons caches, Middle East Newsline reported.
In one raid, a Sunni sheik helped the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division locate several weapons caches. In another case, an Iraqi man turned in 16 SA-7 anti-aircraft missile components.
Odierno said the information provided by Iraqi informants is about 90 percent accurate, in contrast to 40 percent accuracy in May.
