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| "On the Baby Steps" in "the Bullseye:" February 05, 2007
Insh'allah: A Nighttime Raid with the Iraqi Army
Posted by Bill
It was after midnight when our convoy of Iraqi Army soldiers (IA) and trailing Marine advisors rolled out into Fallujah's neighborhoods, their darkened Humvees barreling down pitch black streets and muddy back alleys. Additional marines from Charlie Company added a security element along with several Abrams tanks, ghostly juggernauts which would periodically materialize out of the darkness, their poised turrets and night optics scanning jumbled city streets. The mission was a "cordon and knock:" Iraqi Army, the Iraqi Police Special Missions Group and U.S. Marines were to raid residences and snatch up and question suspected insurgents.
The Marine Military Transition Team (MiTT) mission kicked off hours earlier with a preliminary briefing in the late afternoon, a weapons test fire at the range and a convoy to a downtown staging area with elements of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division of the Iraqi Army.
On the ride over, we received small arms fire but didn't positively identify the shooters. Believed to emanate from a mosque, one marine remarked that "someone probably got his prayer on and decided to sling a few shots." The up-armored Humvees pressed forward, the marines ignoring the bullets.
The MiTT advisors attached to the Iraqi Brigade were led by Lt. Col. Clayton Fisher and briefed by Marines embedded down at the Iraqi Battalion level. Marine First Lt. Christopher Kim was the mission's commander for our detachment from the Iraqi First Company, responsible for advising the Iraqis on the raid's plan and coordinating security and support from American elements. The risk on such a mission is two-fold: insurgents pose typical threats with small arms, IEDs and snipers, plus the danger of friendly fire accidents and collateral damage increases with such a conglomeration of heavily-armed Iraqi and American elements converging on the same target area in the middle of the night. The inferior weapons discipline of the Iraqis sometimes results in what's termed an "Iraqi death blossom," a descriptive analogy for police and soldiers returning fire with brightly colored tracers up, down and in 360 degrees. "It's a 3-dimensional battlespace, and sometimes their survival instinct kicks in and they shoot back in all directions," commented Fisher.
After a second briefing, we spent a few hours of downtime: PB&J sandwiches, coffee and "Starsky and Hutch" on the TV.
Sometime after midnight, the mission began.
The Humvees drove to the first house, the IA's dismounted, charged and swept the residence: an old sheik was quietly apprehended. The second target was empty - a "dry hole." A raid on a third residence met with high-pitched complaints from the women inside, who swore that a rack of bunk beds was usually occupied by girls who were away, despite the male clothes scattered about the room. The Iraqi soldiers thought it likely that the suspects had heard the raid coming and quickly fled the house. They searched the place thoroughly and quietly, but found nothing.
A fifth stop was another dry hole, but occupants told the IAs that the house of the man they were looking for was a block away, so the soldiers immediately splashed down a sewage-filled side street on foot, leaving the cordon, the convoy and its crew-served heavy weapons behind. We chased them down the darkened alley, Lt. Kim struggling to communicate with them about the ad hoc plan of action. The move was poorly planned but ultimately successful, as the suspect was quickly apprehended, blindfolded and led from the newly targeted house with no shots fired. This chaotic initiative highlights one of the strengths and weaknesses of the fledgling Iraqi security forces in Fallujah, particularly the Iraqi Army. Their aggression bordering on recklessness signals problems with command and control: planning, coordinated execution and battlefield communication. The marines think that this proclivity signals a need for more training, as well as results from cultural differences - one American remarked that "when your entire life has been spent fearing death, your concept of planning and self-preservation is a bit different." "Insh'allah," as they say: "if God wills it." On the plus side, they're motivated and brave. Lt. Col. Fisher believes that aggression is a good problem to have, citing the old Marine saying, "it's better to have to reel them in than have to push them out the door."
Lt. Kim offered his assessment: "Definitely some more coordination needs to take place between the Iraqis and us. We need to be a little more spun into the plan, as far as what house they're going to go into, how they're going to handle it. A lot of stuff they briefed never happened on site and I understand that not everything is going to go as planned, but they still need to adhere to the basic principles of security with the cordon." Marines noted that other Iraqi Army operations have been planned and executed more smoothly; while many IA's are motivated and aggressive, there is a variety of skill among different units with different leadership and levels of experience. The chaotic night wound down in the early morning hours. Our Iraqi company netted one suspected insurgent (the old sheik had been released), while other Iraqi Army units and the police wrapped up at least another score. Once captured, the IAs brought the man back to headquarters, where he was put in a corner and quietly interrogated by two officers.
I slipped into the room, observed for a few minutes and eventually snapped pictures. I asked Fisher if this relatively humane treatment was typical and/or if it was merely a symptom of having the Americans around. "You've got a lot of work to do if you want to change a mindset that's been forged in their collective memory over half a century. You don't change that in two years with a couple nice hand outs and a Dale Carnegie course. But when they (the Iraqi Army interrogators) see (humane treatment) works, that's what sells the product. You can give them brochures and hand outs and well meaning people coming in and talking to them about human rights, but until they see the tangible product that 'boy this does work, they actually told us what we wanted to know,' until they see it, they don't believe it. And that is very much how this country works." "And the (Iraqi Army soldiers) have seen that; our methodology pays dividends."
All prisoners were then transferred to police headquarters, where US PiTT members and Iraqi police processed, interrogated and incarcerated them. The Iraqis will present evidence to an investigative judge who can order the individuals held for 15 days. From there, they enter the Baghdad court system. With no Iraqi or American casualties, and suspects in custody, the mission was deemed a success. The insurgents captured by Iraqi police and soldiers yielded intelligence that led to successful raids on subsequent nights. In the very early morning hours, the "Jundi" (Iraqi privates) mobbed me and demanded I take their picture as they celebrated.
*** If you'd prefer to donate via check, please e-mail me and I'll provide you mailing instructions. Thank you for your support. UPDATE: Certain elements of the post updated for accuracy. Posted by Bill at February 5, 2007 12:00 AM | TrackBack (12) Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsWell done, Bill! My heart pounds for you and your American and Jundi cohorts. Perhaps with seeing humane methods work they'll also learn to respect their own lives more, too. Posted by: Melissa at February 5, 2007 09:03 AM Bill, You are doing fine work. Keep it up. Funds on the way in a few. Subsunk Posted by: Subsunk at February 5, 2007 09:52 AM Great stuff, Bill. Thank God you're not a "journalist", or we'd never see such things. Posted by: Pablo at February 5, 2007 11:35 AM Wow, glad I just discoverd this blog. This is the kind of stuff I want to read about. That pic of the Jundi, all excited over a job well done, says it all for me. Excellent article. This blog is now in my bookmarks. Posted by: Renée at February 5, 2007 01:06 PM How come you're not holed up in a Green Zone hotel using paid "insurgent" stringers for info like the pros do? Maybe you're just naively full of confidence. Let's hope you stay that way. Excellent work. Glad to see the good story getting out. Posted by: Feldspar at February 5, 2007 03:23 PM Thank you this look at how Americans are teaching an old civilization a new way of being civilized - one they've been denied for years. Posted by: Jane Lee at February 5, 2007 03:41 PM Thanks Bill for your hard work and courage getting the stories that are not green zone spun. Posted by: Mike at February 5, 2007 05:52 PM Thanks for that link Mike, I appreciate it. :-) Posted by: Renée at February 5, 2007 10:55 PM Brilliant. Stay safe. Posted by: RosD at February 6, 2007 10:08 AM Interesting. A useful study in perspective. However, nothing you wrote nor the pictures posted makes the war against Iraq any more sensible or justified. Speaking of images, why no images of "sewage in the streets" and other assorted proof of the wreck of a country? Show more of what destruction has been done to Iraq in the first place, and resistence to occupation makes more sense. Why not show images of the people whose houses get tossed by heavily armed and armored foreign men in the dead of night? Some might see your buddies as heavy handed intruders who write their own writ of law looking for what you call "suspects" And who are the "suspects?" "Any swinging dick of military age," right? Why show the empty cages where interrogaters and translaters wait for their charges? Why don't you show what is done to "suspects" to make them talk? That would be more to the point don't you think? "Why we fight" remains a mystery. Posted by: Logos at February 6, 2007 10:19 AM Logos - To answer your rhetoric point by point: 1. "Speaking of images, why no images of "sewage in the streets" and other assorted proof of the wreck of a country?" Well, it was dark. And flash photos on a night military operation are a poor decision. Why do you assume that the broken sewage system is a result of the invasion of Fallujah specifically? Americans are building a sewage system, btw. 2. "Why not show images of the people whose houses get tossed by heavily armed and armored foreign men in the dead of night?" I didn't want to further upset them or invade their privacy by taking flash pictures of them. Also, they weren't "foreign men," they were Iraqis, and in the case of police, even Fallujans. And the searches I saw were fairly gentle after security was established. But for now take my word for it, though I do have video yet to be released. 3. And who are the "suspects?" "Any swinging dick of military age," right? Evidently not, as many of those meeting your description work for the Iraqi police or army. Western standards of evidence are not applied, no, but it's a full on war and the suspects are not tortured, at least within my view or the view of any Americans. And if you really cared about Iraqis beyond using them as bludgeon in your domestic political agenda, you'd have more concern for the individuals - including government officials and civil servants and their families - who are beheaded or tortured by insurgents. Insurgents you euphemistically label "resistance to occupation." It's mostly a gang war over there, not a "resistance." 4. Why show the empty cages where interrogaters and translaters wait for their charges? That wasn't an empty cage, that was a hallway with a gate to a second story. 5. "Why don't you show what is done to "suspects" to make them talk?" I did, there's even a picture. And a quote. Posted by: Bill from INDC at February 6, 2007 10:43 AM Stylish and eloquent fisking of Logos' troll post Bill. It takes a special form of hubris to try to use Code Pink talking points to discredit a man who is there doing it, but that isn't a trait in short supply in that crowd. Posted by: Immolate at February 6, 2007 02:13 PM Logos, I have been to Iraq twice and you are "ignorant". I'm glad to see you still have claim to the "moral authority" and how you seem to know so much more than those that are/have been over there (like Bill, Roggio and Yon). Maybe you're just so much smarter than the rest of us... but somehow I don't think so. Posted by: CPT Brad at February 7, 2007 12:00 PM Thank You for the post. Any idea why the Jundi seem to like having their picture taken ? Posted by: Carolina at February 7, 2007 02:58 PM They're natural hams. Posted by: Bill from INDC at February 7, 2007 03:32 PM How did you manage to get permission to ride along? I've done three tours in Iraq as a civilian security contractor and would love to do what you are doing. I really enjoy most of the Iraqi people I have met or worked with. I'm working in the Afghan area of operations at this time but intend to return to Iraq and continue to assist the brave Iraqi people. Posted by: Tom at February 8, 2007 10:51 AM The soldier on the left has eyes like a chick. Bill, is that a female anti-islamofascist warrior? Wouldn't that be a slap to the jihadists! -Bummer Posted by: BummerDietz at February 9, 2007 11:21 AM Bummer - No, it's a guy. Tom - I requested to go after obtaining embed status. Posted by: Bill from INDC at February 9, 2007 11:24 AM Bill 'n all, I thought that your story was really insightful. First time here (following the December story on Captain Patriquin's Power Point presentation) and I'd like to say that I am a libertarian Democrat and post semi-regularly on a local progressive blog. Your handling of "Logos" was thoughtful and measured. I hope you understand that he doesn't speak for me or for a lot of other liberals, who understand that we really, really need to succeed if at all possible. Posted by: Pat Ryan at February 9, 2007 10:17 PM I hope to God that everything works out for those folks and you. I'm afraid the country's been led to believe there's no way to win. Doesn't say much for our national character, but your actions and those of your comrades does us all great credit. Posted by: Fathairybastard at February 11, 2007 11:37 PM ***ATTN LOGOS*** Bill...another gr8 article... if there were only a way to get you articles out into the mainstream. 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