Dear Friends,

It has been an honor and privilege to represent the First District over the past 12 years, and I look forward to new challenges in the future.

*****

On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced his resignation. Secretary Rumsfeld has served our country with distinction, but it appears that it's time to take a new approach.

President George W. Bush selected former Central Intelligence Director Robert Gates to head up the Department of Defense. I'm hopeful that this change will signal a change in our Iraq policy. As I said when I returned from Iraq in July, we must put more pressure on the Iraqis to police their own streets.

Ultimately, the future of Iraq depends on the Iraqis. Once the Iraqis take more responsibility for their own security, brave Americans in uniform can return home to the victory parades they so richly deserve.

Weekly Progress Report on Iraq

• Special Iraqi Army forces, with coalition advisors, detained three suspects during an operation in Sadr City. Iraqi forces received small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire from hostile elements during departure from the objective. Iraqi forces returned fire at clearly identified targets to neutralize the threat and continued their return to base.
• Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is eager to take more responsibility for his country's security, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, said. Currently, two Iraqi Army divisions are completely under Iraqi control
• Coalition Forces located and destroyed a terrorist weapons cache this week in Julaybah. Coalition Forces conducted a thorough search of the target area based on intelligence indicating this area was a historical location for al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders to meet and coordinate operations. Coalition Forces found an extensive weapons cache consisting of 15 cases of anti-aircraft ammunition, improvised explosive device material, rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and improvised rockets. All weapons and associated items were destroyed on-site to prevent further use by terrorists.

For a complete progress report on Iraq, please click here: http://www.mnf-iraq.com>

Gil Gutknecht
Member of Congress

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