Credit Where It's Due Department
rantingprofs.com
By Cori Dauber
Ive repeatedly complained that despite the fact that over and over and over again the press had made clear that it will be the quality of Iraq's nascent security forces that will determine when and how American forces can home, there has seemed to be virtually no interest in doing serious reporting on the quality of Iraqi security forces -- if you define "serious reporting" as going out and seeing for themselves. Those outlets with reporters who speak Arabic are obviously particularly on the hook for this, but any American outlet can speak seriously to American military trainers, yes?
Well, last night 60 Minutes Wednesday, that much maligned show, did exactly that, sending a reporter out to investigate the Iraqi police commandos currently in Mosul -- a city where the Iraqi police have been particularly hard hit -- and to do so through both going out with the cops and speaking at length with the American trainers embedded with the cops.
She makes clear early on that the hopes of the trainers didn't initially rest on especially high standards.
"Now if you look at them, and I look at them all the time when we're on missions and stuff, and look at their fingers. And they're actually holding their fingers out of the trigger and their weapons are on safe," says Doug. "They're trying to point them in a safe direction -- doesn't always happen, but they're working towards that."
Yes, that's right, initially it was a win if these commandos weren't shooting themselves or one another.
But the piece also makes clear that a little perspective is called for. An awful lot is being asked from these men compared to what would be asked of, say, American troops at comparable stages of their career.
Police commandos are the reinforcements that the Iraqi government has sent from Baghdad. But when the commandos arrived, they were little more than a rag-tag bunch of guys, according to the Green Berets, who had to train them almost overnight.
"Looking at these commandos and their level of training and expertise, how long before they were able to do this thing on their own?" asks Logan.
"Six months. I would say six months of steady training," says Doug. "It takes an American soldier eight or nine weeks to learn how to march. We’ve only been training them for three weeks and we’re taking them into combat. You can’t expect in three weeks to grasp everything."
But they’ve grasped enough to take the lead on raids like this one -- when the Iraqi commandos burst in on Hamed Latif, who was wanted for the murder of four Iraqi policemen. He was arrested along with his father and older brother. All three were delivered into Iraqi police custody at the brigade headquarters, where the commandos cheered their success.
The Iraqi police publicly claimed that under interrogation, Hamed, 24, had confessed to killing dozens of people. And they said he’d given up valuable information: the top terrorist leader in Mosul would meet with his lieutenants at a local mosque the following day.
Since I've already brought up that program of airing taped confessions on television, it's interesting that that also came up last night -- and again was described as a raging success, both as regards the population and as regards the new police.
Mosul also got to see Jawb when the Iraqi authorities paraded him and other prisoners on local television. This new tactic of publicly shaming captives has been criticized by international human rights groups, but Warren, one of the Green Berets, told 60 Minutes Wednesday it had been well received by the people.
"The hotlines into the TV station have been ringing off the hook," says Warren. "People are turning in people left and right that are involved in the insurgency."
And back at the base, 60 Minutes Wednesday asked the Green Berets what effect showing the accused insurgents on TV was having on the Iraqi commandos.
Keith said it had motivated them. "They're seeing them on TV and they're like, 'Hey, I was responsible for that.' Because they actually had the hands on, and they were there on the target," says Keith. "And since they can see an effect between seeing a guy that they've put away on TV and hearing the word on the street since elections, 'Hey, we're actually glad that they're here.'"
The upshot is that this intense training is allowing the Iraqis to take the lead, something that feeds on itself and gains momentum. The piece also ends with a note of respect for these men that is all too often missing in the media. The number of American casualties is carefully tracked, of course, and there are many Americans who demand that Iraqi civilian casualties be taken note of as well -- but why aren't we more careful about taking note of Iraqi military casualties?
If we were we wouldn't be hearing absurd claims that the Iraqis weren't willing to fight for their country, that our forces were doing all the bleeding and dying over there. Because it simply isn't true.
The Green Berets were conspicuous by their absence as they let the Iraqi commandos run their own show – and the people seemed to welcome them:
Were they surprised at the way people reacted towards the Iraqi police?
"Absolutely. It was amazing the reaction they had," says Darren. "Some comments that were made to the commander was that they should come every day and do this."
There may not be a more dangerous job in the world right now than to be an Iraqi police officer. Last year, approximately 2,000 policemen were killed in the line of duty there, and hundreds more police recruits were murdered before they even finished their training.
So, thank you, CBS, for taking a serious look at the efforts to train Iraqi security forces. Let's hope it's the first of many. |
