thedrifter
09-16-06, 03:57 PM
US uses ink-drop strategy to contain rebel Iraq town
by Thibauld Malterre
The road is dusty and the convoy unusual -- sandwiched between two US armoured vehicles, three Iraqi black and whites are on their way to establish a new police presence in the Sunni insurgent bastion of Ramadi.
"We are opening this station to go after the terrorists where they are," says Colonel Adnan, who commands the police station at Jezira in the northern suburbs of the strategic city west of Baghdad.
"A lot of bad guys are in this area," he says. "The people in Abu Faraj (quarter) know where the terrorists are -- they roam the area. There are some good people there who want to help to get rid of the terrorists."
Around 15 officers, most of them originally from the area, will be stationed in the new police post which they will share with soldiers of the Iraqi army.
"The situation is good because the police want to work and the people want the police. People are sick of the terrorists, who endanger children's lives. They want to see children on the street again," adds Adnan, a former officer in the army of former president Saddam Hussein.
On the way to Abu Faraj, the patrol stops to arrest a driver. He is behind the wheel of a vehicle that had belonged to a policeman killed by gunmen several days previously.
After the killers took the officer's life, they also took his car.
The Abu Faraj police post, like that at Jezira, is on the outskirts of the city in a rural area.
On August 21 a booby-trapped car exploded in Jazira, killing four people, and wounding 20 -- among them eight US soldiers.
"I was surprised to find out that they stayed" after the bombing, says US military policeman and adviser Eric Baker, referring to the Iraqi police.
"They did not run away."
The young sergeant, already a six-year veteran at the age of 24, has just returned to duty after spending 20 days in hospital after the bombing.
"Before we got hit, we did two to three patrols a day," he adds.
Ramadi is the capital of Al-Anbar province in western Iraq. It has taken over from Fallujah as the territory of choice for Sunni insurgent groups and Al-Qaeda, and at first they attracted some popular support in the area.
More than a symbol, Ramadi is a strategically important town, for it straddles the main route linking the capital Baghdad with both Jordan and Syria.
Skirmishes and attacks take place there daily, especially in the city centre around where the governor's building is situated.
The US army, despite suffering regular losses in Ramadi, believes that the fear of attack is now about to change sides.
"Is there still violence? Definitely. But the situation is improving. There is still a lot of work to be done. It's still a battleground but we are really seeing progress any day," according to Lieutenant Colonel Pete Lee, executive officer of the Ready First Combat Team in charge of Ramadi.
He has nearly 5,000 men at his disposal -- soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, Marines and paratroops of the 101st Airborne.
There are also two Iraqi army brigades and nearly 1,000 police tasked with looking after security in the Ramadi district, which is home to nearly half a million people.
"What we did starting back in June is (we) completed the isolation of Ramadi, setting up outposts in the middle of the enemy camps," Lee says.
"Then we denied them sanctuary so that they have no place to relax. They are always fearful we're coming after them. As soon as we install a new camp, they challenge us for a week. Then we expand the battlespace. They have nowhere to go but to leave. They cannot fight us and win face-to-face."
He calls this the ink blot strategy.
"You drop ink and it spreads," Lee says. The tactic also applies to reconstruction and improvements to public services such as water and electricity supplies.
The role of the Iraqi security forces -- of the police in particular, given that many were recruited locally -- is essential in this process.
"We are at a potential turning point in Ramadi," Lee says. "Residents are starting to move to us, to talk to us, to give us tips. They clearly want Al-Qaeda to go away. People are tired -- they live in a battleground. Sheikhs have been killed and that was a mistake."
His optimism contrasts starkly with the sombre situation in Al-Anbar province described in a confidential report published Monday in the Washington Post newspaper, pointing to an absence of progress in the region.
But the US forces do not want another experience like their assault on the other Al-Anbar hotspot of Fallujah in November 2004, which reduced the rebel city to rubble.
Such a strategy would be too costly politically at a time when participation by the Sunni community in the political process has become a major issue.
Lee says there had been talk of a major security operation.
"But we didn't want another Fallujah. We didn't want to do anything that destroys the city. We try to do it in a very non-lethal way," he says.
"It takes a little more time, it's a little bit slower. But it minimizes collateral damage to the city and saves civilian lives."
Ellie
by Thibauld Malterre
The road is dusty and the convoy unusual -- sandwiched between two US armoured vehicles, three Iraqi black and whites are on their way to establish a new police presence in the Sunni insurgent bastion of Ramadi.
"We are opening this station to go after the terrorists where they are," says Colonel Adnan, who commands the police station at Jezira in the northern suburbs of the strategic city west of Baghdad.
"A lot of bad guys are in this area," he says. "The people in Abu Faraj (quarter) know where the terrorists are -- they roam the area. There are some good people there who want to help to get rid of the terrorists."
Around 15 officers, most of them originally from the area, will be stationed in the new police post which they will share with soldiers of the Iraqi army.
"The situation is good because the police want to work and the people want the police. People are sick of the terrorists, who endanger children's lives. They want to see children on the street again," adds Adnan, a former officer in the army of former president Saddam Hussein.
On the way to Abu Faraj, the patrol stops to arrest a driver. He is behind the wheel of a vehicle that had belonged to a policeman killed by gunmen several days previously.
After the killers took the officer's life, they also took his car.
The Abu Faraj police post, like that at Jezira, is on the outskirts of the city in a rural area.
On August 21 a booby-trapped car exploded in Jazira, killing four people, and wounding 20 -- among them eight US soldiers.
"I was surprised to find out that they stayed" after the bombing, says US military policeman and adviser Eric Baker, referring to the Iraqi police.
"They did not run away."
The young sergeant, already a six-year veteran at the age of 24, has just returned to duty after spending 20 days in hospital after the bombing.
"Before we got hit, we did two to three patrols a day," he adds.
Ramadi is the capital of Al-Anbar province in western Iraq. It has taken over from Fallujah as the territory of choice for Sunni insurgent groups and Al-Qaeda, and at first they attracted some popular support in the area.
More than a symbol, Ramadi is a strategically important town, for it straddles the main route linking the capital Baghdad with both Jordan and Syria.
Skirmishes and attacks take place there daily, especially in the city centre around where the governor's building is situated.
The US army, despite suffering regular losses in Ramadi, believes that the fear of attack is now about to change sides.
"Is there still violence? Definitely. But the situation is improving. There is still a lot of work to be done. It's still a battleground but we are really seeing progress any day," according to Lieutenant Colonel Pete Lee, executive officer of the Ready First Combat Team in charge of Ramadi.
He has nearly 5,000 men at his disposal -- soldiers of the 1st Armored Division, Marines and paratroops of the 101st Airborne.
There are also two Iraqi army brigades and nearly 1,000 police tasked with looking after security in the Ramadi district, which is home to nearly half a million people.
"What we did starting back in June is (we) completed the isolation of Ramadi, setting up outposts in the middle of the enemy camps," Lee says.
"Then we denied them sanctuary so that they have no place to relax. They are always fearful we're coming after them. As soon as we install a new camp, they challenge us for a week. Then we expand the battlespace. They have nowhere to go but to leave. They cannot fight us and win face-to-face."
He calls this the ink blot strategy.
"You drop ink and it spreads," Lee says. The tactic also applies to reconstruction and improvements to public services such as water and electricity supplies.
The role of the Iraqi security forces -- of the police in particular, given that many were recruited locally -- is essential in this process.
"We are at a potential turning point in Ramadi," Lee says. "Residents are starting to move to us, to talk to us, to give us tips. They clearly want Al-Qaeda to go away. People are tired -- they live in a battleground. Sheikhs have been killed and that was a mistake."
His optimism contrasts starkly with the sombre situation in Al-Anbar province described in a confidential report published Monday in the Washington Post newspaper, pointing to an absence of progress in the region.
But the US forces do not want another experience like their assault on the other Al-Anbar hotspot of Fallujah in November 2004, which reduced the rebel city to rubble.
Such a strategy would be too costly politically at a time when participation by the Sunni community in the political process has become a major issue.
Lee says there had been talk of a major security operation.
"But we didn't want another Fallujah. We didn't want to do anything that destroys the city. We try to do it in a very non-lethal way," he says.
"It takes a little more time, it's a little bit slower. But it minimizes collateral damage to the city and saves civilian lives."
Ellie