Iraqi civilians continue to help US troops

Taji's 'Neighborhood Watch' Turns Over Cache- Iraqi citizens stop suspicious vehicle, turn in weapons.

By Maj. Randall Baucom1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division CAMP TAJI, Iraq, June 27, 2007 — For a second time this week, Iraqi citizens here turned in a large cache consisting of improvised explosive device-making material and mortar rounds. The Taji neighborhood watch contacted Coalition Forces June 25, after the driver of a truck fled the scene when the volunteers stopped a suspicious vehicle moving through the rural village of Abd Allah al Jasim. The vehicle contained 24 mortar rounds, two rockets, spare machine gun barrels, small arms ammunition and other IED-making material. "This grassroots movement of reconciliation by the volunteers is taking off all around us. The tribes that had once actively or passively supported al-Qaeda in Iraq now want them out," said Lt. Col. Peter Andrysiak, the deputy commander of the 1st "Ironhorse" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. The neighborhood watch is made up of a group of 500 volunteers, from a number of tribes in the area, who want reconciliation with the Coalition Forces and the Iraqi government. The volunteers are currently being vetted for possible future selection for training as Iraqi Police or some other organization within the Iraqi Security Forces. Mortar rounds and other improvised explosive device-making materials were turned over to Coalition Forces by the "Neighborhood Watch" in Taji, Iraq June 25. U.S. Army photo