From Baghdad to Qatar
Austin Bay
Friday morning was a micro-tornado– another wall to wall day of activity in CENCTOM’s theater of operations.
We spent several hours Friday morning listening to senior US and British officers discuss Iraqi security training programs. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense (MOD) commands the Iraqi Army. The Iraqi Ministry of Interior (MOI) controls the Iraqi police, police commandos, and paramilitary security units. MOD and MOI cooperate closely –and this is a huge change from the ancien regime. Saddam structured his security forces to watch one another as well as oppress the Iraqi people. MOD and MOI have made a very rough division of security responsibilities. The Iraqi Army is assuming responsibility –in large measure– for security operations outside of Baghdad. MOI is taking the lead in the Baghdad region. That noted, one particular Iraqi Army battalion has had huge successes in Baghdad. Led by a Sunni colonel identified as “Colonel Muhammad,” in early 2005 this battalion “cleaned up” Haifa Street. Last week a platoon from this battalion found and freed the Australian hostage, David Woods. (I should mention a second hostage was freed in that operation, an Iraqi civilian who had been kidnapped and was held for $50,000 ransom. A military source told me that the hostage takers were “former regime elements,” not Baghdad criminals, but had taken the Iraqi hostage to raise money. He saw this as an indicator that this particular resistance group was running out of cash.)
We left the training cadre and visited the 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. When I walked into the briefing room I recognized a face– the assistant division commander, Brigadier -General Karl Horst gave me the same “We’ve met before” look I gave him. Turns out Karl was US Army Chief of Staff General Gordon Sullivan’s aide at one time. Back in the mid-90s I visited Sullivan’s Pentagon office and had a couple of long discussions with Karl. BG Horst filled in some details about Colonel Muhammad. Haifa Street is indeed an improved situation. BG Horst and Colonel Muhammad had shared a cup of tea in a sidewalk cafe on Haifa Street. The notorious “boulevard of resistance” has changed. Colonel Muhammad had been a professional soldier in the old Iraqi Army– an air defense artillery officer. I’ve written this before and I’ll write it again– so note, the following is my opinion, but I guarantee it will be the subject of post-War on Terror PhD theses for the next six or seven decades. We needed to off the leadership in the Iraqi Army — “de-Saddamize” to use a turn the Iraqis prefer to “de-Baathification”– but find and keep military talent like Colonel Muhammad in the system. Yes, I think disbanding the Iraqi Army the way we did was a mistake. The crooks and political killers had to go, but there were officers and NCOs like Colonel Muhammad who had the military experience, know how, and desire to build a new, responsible organization. Mike Hedges joked that Colonel Muhammad is the “Rudy Guiliani of Baghdad.” The man is getting that kind of reputation. He has also — so far– had 43 threats against his life. I’ve written about heroic Iraqis and we’ve seen the purple-ink stained fingers. Colonel Muhammad is a revolutionary hero. We didn’t have a chance to meet him. His battalion was out on an operation.
We left Baghdad by C-17 and flew back to Qatar. The Ritz-Carlton is almost tasteful in its excess — that’s where we’ve spent the night. I went swimming in the hotel’s outside pool, a winding lagoon with waterfalls and gorttoes. I felt like the jungle boat ride at Disneyland. Don’t laugh too hard — this is an opportunity to clean some clothes.
Saturday CENTAF (CENTCOM’s air forces component) gave us a tour of their command facility. I ran-down a few extra details on the new “Sniper” targeting pod — and advanced LANTIRN targeting system. A couple of weeks ago StrategyPage ran a report on the pod’s capabilities. It can detect rifle fire on rooftops and is a real intel asset for ground troops.
Unfortunately it looks like our Djibouti leg will be cancelled– I always expect changes in route and the Horn of Africa involves some diplomatic maneuvering. We had hoped to visit a humanitarian aid project and talk about intel and surveillance operations along the African coast. It would have been a six hour flight there, a few hours on the ground, then six hours back. I just received a phone call and we’re in the process of re-arranging the schedule. It looks like Afghanistan’s the next stop."
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