On Patrol With Iraq's 'Homeboys'
By Gary Anderson
Wednesday, January 28, 2004; Page A21
BAGHDAD -- The mean streets of Sadr City in Baghdad are some of the worst in Iraq. Even Saddam Hussein's dread security forces feared to go there. But there's a new authority in town. As the Jaguar Platoon of the Fifth Battalion, Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC), patrols cautiously down a side street, its soldiers move with confidence. They should; after all, this is home. Kids wave and young men, some brothers and cousins of the soldiers, chat briefly with the troops. Every patrol also doubles as a recruiting trip.
The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps is something between a constabulary counterguerrilla force and a national guard. In its six month of existence, it has grown into the nation's most respected security service, far outperforming the struggling police and the still tiny New Iraqi Army, now renamed the Iraqi Armed Forces. It has about 20,000 personnel and is growing fast.
Jaguar Platoon was locally recruited and trained, along with the rest of the 5th Battalion, by the U.S. Second Armored Cavalry Regiment. Almost all of its 45 soldiers are Shiites from Sadr City. Pvt. Raal, who is scanning a side street as a flank guard, lives about a mile away and knows many of the families along the route; his former high school is around the corner. As the last of the platoon clears the intersection, Raal sprints to the head of the column, deftly leaping over a stray sheep that has wandered away from its herd as it is being driven to market.
Jaguar Platoon is in its last week of training, which in all consists of a week of pre-boot camp, a week of boot camp at Camp Muleskinner several miles away and two more weeks of practical instruction. This live patrol is one of the final events on the fourth-week training schedule. Next week, the platoon will begin on-the-job training on these same streets under the tutelage of two American trainers, an officer and a staff sergeant, who have been mentoring them for the past few weeks. They also have an Iraqi interpreter and a U.S. Army civil affairs specialist who has been assigned to this mission to talk to the two local sheiks whose neighborhood we traverse. The specialist inquires about local needs and potential civic improvement projects.
The platoon's members went through boot camp together and the platoon leader was selected from the ranks, Israeli style, for his leadership ability. He happens to be a former officer in the old army, but that alone did not help him achieve his rank. This is an army where, perhaps for the first time in Iraqi history, leadership skill and hard work mean promotion. There is no influence-peddling here. Col. Brad May, commander of the Second Armored Cavalry, and I are along for the patrol, which has more the feel of a stroll in Manhattan than a trip through one of the toughest neighborhoods in Iraq.
Pvt. Raal is asked why the ICDC is accepted in Sadr City, where Saddam Hussein's soldiers and police were detested. His answer is simple: "We are their soldiers." Several days later, at a checkpoint in a Sunni neighborhood, Pvt. Ahmed and Sgt. Mohammed are enjoying a few moments of off time. This neighborhood is not as friendly. Mohammed explains that the people are hostile when they patrol with the Americans. "They will respect us more when we can patrol alone, without the Americans," Ahmed says. They also complain that the flak jackets they wear are inferior to the plated ones worn by the Americans. (New flak jackets are on the way).
The next day, a few miles to the northwest, at a U.S. Army camp on a bend in the Tigris, I'm with the 36th Battalion of the ICDC. This unit is unique. It is the strike force of the ICDC. Unlike the regular battalions, which are generally composed of members of a single ethnic group from one sector of the city, the 36th is made up of a mix of fighters from the militias of the parties that opposed Hussein. Mentored by U.S. Special Operations troops, they gather information that Americans could never get and act on it once action is approved by the unit that they are attached to. The battalion commander is a Sunni from the Iraqi National Congress. The executive officer is Shiite, and two company commanders are Kurds. In the short month of its existence, the battalion has achieved some remarkable successes, including foiling two plots involving attacks on the headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Since I've returned from Iraq, several people have asked me if we can win. Our troops in the field think they are winning. So do Sgt. Mohammed, Pvt. Ahmed and Pvt. Raal. From what I've seen, I believe them.
The writer, a retired Marine Corps officer, visited Iraq in July to advise on the start-up of the ICDC and returned this month to assess its progress.
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