Contrast this with what the mainstream media is putting out
Jane's Defence Weekly
November 5, 2003
Baghdad Situation Report
Far from the political wranglings at the UN, coalition troops in Iraq continue their mission. Peter Felstead reports from southern Baghdad, on the ground with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division
To the soldiers of the US-led coalition in Iraq, the political arguments over Operation 'Iraqi Freedom' - that the war may have been mis-sold and that weapons of mass destruction may in fact not exist - are irrelevant.
What matters is that Iraq has been crippled by a cruel regime and more than a decade of sanctions. The mission of coalition troops - to provide a safe and secure environment for the Iraqi people - means they are playing a major role in putting Iraq back on its feet.
The 2nd Brigade Combat Team (2BCT) of the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division is currently fulfilling this mission in the Al-Rashid district of Baghdad, an area that comprises the southern third of the city and houses 1.2-1.5 million Iraqis. Baghdad's original name, Madinat as-Salam, meant 'city of peace'. While it is hard to see when that will again ring true, troops are making real progress on the ground.
The eastern half of Al-Rashid, bordered by the city's Highway 8 to the west and the Tigris River to the north, is the area of operations for the 2BCT's 2nd Battalion. This sector, Ad Dawrah, has a number of key infrastructure sites, including an oil refinery, a power plant and a water treatment plant.
The western sector of Al-Rashid, Al-Bayaa, bordered by Highway 8 to the east and the north as the highway turns west and into Baghdad International Airport, is the 3rd Battalion's area of operations. The brigade's 1st Battalion, meanwhile, has been deployed north and attached to the US Army's 1st Armored Division (1AD) while the 82nd's 2nd Brigade has, in turn, received a cavalry squadron from the 1AD. This has given the light infantry of the 82nd some armoured support and vice versa for the 1AD.
Originally deployed in-theatre in February, the 82nd Airborne Division was committed to the fight following the initial push north from Kuwait to Baghdad by the US 3rd Armored Division. With Highways 8 and 9, the key routes used by US military forces moving north, plagued by ambushes and pockets of resistance, the 82nd was employed to eliminate the threat in the vicinity of As Samawah and points north along Highway 8.
The key battle for the southern town of As Samawah (Operation 'Medusa') took place from 30 March to 3 April, during which the division defeated some of Saddam's most determined fighters, including Ba'ath Party militants, Fedayeen and Al Qud units, Iraqi regulars and soldiers from the Iraqi Republican and Special Republican Guards. Despite occasional intense firefights, no soldiers of the 82nd were killed during that operation.
After securing As Samawah, the 82nd split into several elements, moving north to secure the towns of Al Diwaniyah, Al Rumaitha, An Najaf, Al Hillah and parts of Karbala. The degree of resistance after As Samawah, however, had significantly diminished, with Saddam loyalists melting away rather than standing their ground.
The 2BCT arrived in southern Baghdad on 2 May. "When we first got here it was like the Wild West," said Staff Sgt Brandon Petersen of the 1AD's 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Brigade. "There were murders, shootings; we were detaining people every night."
As soon as the 2BCT deployed to Al-Rashid, stabilisation operations got underway, with the US troops working to rebuild the local infrastructure and restore the city's medical, legal, and education systems. Some of the first tasks were clearing the trash from the streets, to minimise what was both a health and security hazard, and restoring the dilapidated local power station.
The sight of Ad Dawrah's power plant now belching out pollution from two of its four chimneys - but more crucially electricity to the city's power grid - is an indication that, despite the difficulties, much progress has already been made. "I really do believe that we've been ahead in a lot of what we've done," says Lt Col David Haight, Commander of the 82nd's 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment. He explains that the 82nd had begun reconstruction initiatives even in areas where it was still fighting, so that by the time the 2nd Brigade moved into the Al-Rashid district it was already used to finding local engineers to fix vital parts of the infrastructure.
By the end of September, 80% of the 572 schools in Al-Rashid had been refurbished and were back up and running (compared to a 12% average in the country as a whole), which also involved the brigade facilitating payments to 15,730 teachers and staff. Many of the schools in Al-Rashid district had been used extensively by Saddam's forces prior to the war, according to Sgt Nicholas Luetzow of the US Army's 307th Engineer Battalion, who collected weapons caches in as many as 30 schools in southern Baghdad.
Much of the work involved in restoring Iraq's society and infrastructure necessarily depends on re-engaging Iraqis in the restoration of their own security and government. The first three-platoon company of the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC) completed its four weeks of basic training last month and one platoon has been assigned to each of the 2nd Brigade's three battalions. The ultimate aim is to form five ICDC battalions (Jane's Defence Weekly 15 October).
The US forces in Baghdad also benefit from the deployment of local police forces and what is known as the Facility Protection Security (FPS) forces, who guard bridges, key intersections, infrastructure sites and the outer perimeters of coalition compounds. Around 2,400 FPS personnel are deployed in the Al-Rashid district, allowing the 2BCT to concentrate on missions other than pure security duties.
Restoration of local government has been framed around the formation of successive levels of councils. In Ad Dawrah, for example, there are 12 'Mahal' Advisory Councils reporting up to six Neighbourhood Advisory Councils (NACs). The latter meet once or twice a week and report into the District Advisory Council (DAC) for Al-Rashid, which meets once a week.
The DAC site for Al-Rashid, which also incorporates offices for all the local utilities, was originally a Hunt Club frequented by Saddam's son Udai. It is ironically fitting that what was formerly such an exclusive venue for the Ba'athist elite should now be transformed into the district town hall and the focal point for local government in southern Baghdad.
DAC meetings have come a long way. Col Haight recalls that the first sessions were just endless slanging matches in which the 82nd's commanders would have to intervene and restore order. These days the officers of the 82nd are only seen on the periphery of the meetings, taking notes during the sessions and being present to facilitate and fund the various projects brought forward.
While the security situation in other parts of Iraq, most notably in the so-called 'Sunni triangle' to the north and west of Baghdad, remains precarious, in Al-Rashid the threat from Saddam loyalists remains sporadic. The Western media have made much of the lack of troop contributions from the international community and the rising number of US combat deaths in Iraq since 1 May, when major hostilities were declared to be at an end: a figure that passed the 100 mark in mid-October. The soldiers of the 82nd, however, remain unfazed.
In terms of troop numbers, Col Haight says "We will never need more than we have," while his soldiers remain dismissive of the threat they face. "Everything they [the enemy] do is bad," said one. "The only reason they're killing people is because there are so many people out here." Since 1 May, the 82nd 2BCT has had eight troops killed in action during hostile attacks and four non-hostile casualties.
Now that the security situation in Al-Rashid has been stabilised, the infrastructure issues addressed and local government given the kick-start and support it needed, the 2BCT's operations have changed compared with when it first deployed to the district. "At first there was a lot of house-searching," says Col Haight. Patrols went through all of the neighbourhoods in the 2BCT's area of operations searching for proscribed weapons such as machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Each house, however, is allowed to retain one weapon, typically a Kalashnikov, for personal security.
"The mission now is still the same," says Col Haight, "but the security of fixed sites has been turned over to the Iraqis, along with normal crime-fighting. Now we're more enemy-oriented, less government-oriented." The troops of the 2BCT are therefore now more focused on unearthing Ba'athist militants and Fedayeen, intelligence-collecting and surveillance missions and conducting specific 'knock and detain'-type raids, ideally when more than a single source has identified a threat.
Presence patrols are maintained and certain mosques are kept under surveillance in the 2BCT's area of operations: sermons are recorded to identify whether certain local immams have crossed the line between exercising their freedom of speech and fomenting violence against the troops of the coalition and the Iraqis working alongside them. The former immam of one local mosque, at Al Shuada, had blown himself up trying to build a bomb.
While the troops of the 2BCT can expect occasional attacks by RPGs, hand grenades and mortars, sometimes in concert with small arms fire, the primary threat in this area of operations remains the roadside bomb, or IED (improvised explosive device). The most obvious reason for this is the sheer abundance of ordnance available to those inclined to use it.
"This entire country is one big ammunition dump," says Capt Adam Schlang, a troop commander from the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Brigade (1AD), attached to the 82nd. His view is certainly corroborated by Sgt Luetzow of the 307th Engineer Battalion, who says that during May and June he and his unit were working 16 hours each day moving and disposing of "an unbelievable amount of ordnance and small arms.
"It's worse out west, along the Syrian border," says Sgt Luetzow. "For the last three months, the EOD [explosive ordnance disposal] teams out there have been blowing three large bunkers a day."
The planting of IEDs is not necessarily the work of Saddam loyalists, although they probably do fund such operations. According to Sgt Luetzow, there will usually be two payments: one to the bomb-maker, and one to whomever places the device. Given that any Iraqi prepared to plant a bomb can make enough money to buy a car after placing just two devices, there is no shortage of takers from among the criminally inclined, although many 17- and 18-year-olds have killed themselves trying to make what they saw as easy money.
Describing the current level of the IED threat, Col Haight says: "I think they're dropping a little bit, although I think their sophistication has increased a little." Sgt Luetzow can certainly confirm the latter. He says that while the IEDs initially consisted of artillery and mortar shells hard-wired and detonated using clickers, which made it more difficult for the attackers to remain hidden, the devices he now comes across are mostly detonated wirelessly using garage door openers or car alarms. One he came across even used the timer from a microwave oven as an arming device, making it safer for an inexperienced bomber to plant.
Apart from the obvious measures that are taken to counter the IED threat, such as varying the timings and routes of patrols and removing trash from the highways that could be used to hide devices, the source of the threat again brings home why the 2BCT's operations are now more focused on intelligence-gathering: identifying the bomb-makers and who pays them is the key to neutralising the threat.
Meanwhile, the overall success of the 2BCT's mission - and that of all coalition forces in Iraq - will depend on increasingly handing over the responsibility for security in Iraq to the Iraqis. On pursuing the successful conclusion of his mission, Col Haight says: "It's like teaching a kid to ride a bike: we're at the point where we can let go but we have to be there to catch occasionally. What I'm trying to do is work my way out of a job."
Peter Felstead is Managing Editor, Jane's Web Content, and a JDW Special Correspondent who was embedded with the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Baghdad.
