Iraq mission focuses on capacity building

BAGHDAD, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A top U.S. military official said the troop surge and community-based counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq allow the military to focus more on capacity building.

Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told military analysts his focus as a division commander is 70 percent capacity building and 30 percent combat operations, the American Forces Press Service said.

Lynch attributed the five-brigade troop surge with giving him the extra manpower needed to secure areas throughout Iraq and credited the ground-up counterinsurgency strategy with building resilience among Iraqi citizens.

The new counterinsurgency strategy placed roughly 75 percent of the 20,000 U.S. forces in his division with their Iraqi counterparts manning some 53 patrol bases, Lynch said.

He credited U.S. and Iraqi forces living together at the patrol bases with providing Iraqi units a sense of respect in their communities while softening the perception of U.S.-led forces as the units conduct operations together.

Lynch also noted the work of the nearly 32,000 members of the volunteer security force, Concerned Local Citizens, who man the 1,500 checkpoints in his operational area.