thedrifter
07-16-06, 09:55 AM
A softer approach makes inroads
In Ramadi, US striving to build up city
By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times | July 16, 2006
RAMADI, Iraq -- This is the anti-Fallujah strategy.
Here, in the capital of Iraq's bloodied Anbar Province, the US military is attempting to clear and pacify an insurgent stronghold without leveling the city in the process.
In Fallujah, in November 2004, US forces surrounded the city, created checkpoints at every road, and worked to empty the city of its civilian population. They then moved in and systematically cleared every house and block. The effort destroyed large swaths of the city and forced a massive reconstruction effort.
This time, US forces hope to avoid such drastic measures.
Rather than gauge success by blocks cleared, military officials are taking heart from softer measurements -- neighborhoods that have become safe enough for garbage collection to have resumed, stores that have reopened.
``When we did Fallujah, everything shut down," said Major General William Caldwell, the chief spokesman for US forces in Iraq. ``In Ramadi, it is the exact opposite. Shops are opening up and commerce is increasing."
To American commanders, what is at stake here is their ability to show they can save the village without destroying it.
With both Al Qaeda and Sunni nationalist groups intent on asserting influence over Ramadi, the military cannot afford to draw down its forces in the city.
``The trap lines, the foreign fighter flow from Syria to Baghdad goes right through Ramadi," Caldwell said.
Yet, the seemingly fragile Iraqi government would be unlikely to allow another Fallujah-style assault that resulted in the systematic destruction of an Iraqi city, particularly one the size of Ramadi, a city of 400,000.
Military officials believe Fallujah showed that the United States would not tolerate an insurgent safe haven in Iraq. In Ramadi, they hope to show that a city known as primary battleground can be retaken with a softer approach, one that builds up the city rather than tearing it down.
Ramadi has long been contentious. The conflict here worsened after insurgents fleeing Fallujah relocated here in late 2004.
Since then the violence has ebbed and risen. US military commanders said they made progress in 2005, but that they saw their gains blown away by a brutal bombing in January that killed 60 Iraqi police recruits.
In June, when the First Armored Division began moving into the city, there were large sections of central Ramadi that were difficult to enter, roads mined with improvised explosive devices, and snipers firing from nearby buildings, said Lieutenant Colonel Pete Lee, the executive officer of the division's First Brigade.
Residents responded to the buildup of American troops by packing up. Thousands fled, worried that a massive assault was coming, residents say.
The Marines at the heart of the city pleaded with residents in their area to stay.
``We sent out patrols and said, `Do not leave your homes, we will protect you,' " said Captain Max Barela, the Lima company commander in west central Ramadi. ``They were expecting a Fallujah-style clearing. . . . We want people in their houses and living their lives."
Rather than a direct assault, the goal in Ramadi, officials say, is to shrink the insurgent-dominated areas by creating a ring of combat outposts encircling the central part of the city. The approach uses tactics honed by the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in the much-smaller city of Tall Afar, near the Syrian border.
In some parts of the city, the effort to make residents feel more secure has a long way to go. Among residents there remains widespread worry about the US military's presence.
``The situation became nearly impossible because our lives are threatened each moment," said Minawir Ali Duleimi, a 56-year-old retired university professor from the Sufiya neighborhood. ``Ramadi is a military front."
US forces remain targets for insurgent groups, and some merchants say that so long as insurgents are attacking the Americans, Iraqi civilians will be caught in the middle.
Parts of Ramadi have pitched battle lines. Regular fighting takes place between insurgents and American forces in the heart of downtown. The area around the government center has become filled with bombed-out buildings, damaged by firefights between insurgents and American forces.
Much of the rest of the city, however, resembles Lima company's area of operations, where there are grand homes, by Iraqi standards, interspersed with the occasional blasted out shell of a house.
Ellie
In Ramadi, US striving to build up city
By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times | July 16, 2006
RAMADI, Iraq -- This is the anti-Fallujah strategy.
Here, in the capital of Iraq's bloodied Anbar Province, the US military is attempting to clear and pacify an insurgent stronghold without leveling the city in the process.
In Fallujah, in November 2004, US forces surrounded the city, created checkpoints at every road, and worked to empty the city of its civilian population. They then moved in and systematically cleared every house and block. The effort destroyed large swaths of the city and forced a massive reconstruction effort.
This time, US forces hope to avoid such drastic measures.
Rather than gauge success by blocks cleared, military officials are taking heart from softer measurements -- neighborhoods that have become safe enough for garbage collection to have resumed, stores that have reopened.
``When we did Fallujah, everything shut down," said Major General William Caldwell, the chief spokesman for US forces in Iraq. ``In Ramadi, it is the exact opposite. Shops are opening up and commerce is increasing."
To American commanders, what is at stake here is their ability to show they can save the village without destroying it.
With both Al Qaeda and Sunni nationalist groups intent on asserting influence over Ramadi, the military cannot afford to draw down its forces in the city.
``The trap lines, the foreign fighter flow from Syria to Baghdad goes right through Ramadi," Caldwell said.
Yet, the seemingly fragile Iraqi government would be unlikely to allow another Fallujah-style assault that resulted in the systematic destruction of an Iraqi city, particularly one the size of Ramadi, a city of 400,000.
Military officials believe Fallujah showed that the United States would not tolerate an insurgent safe haven in Iraq. In Ramadi, they hope to show that a city known as primary battleground can be retaken with a softer approach, one that builds up the city rather than tearing it down.
Ramadi has long been contentious. The conflict here worsened after insurgents fleeing Fallujah relocated here in late 2004.
Since then the violence has ebbed and risen. US military commanders said they made progress in 2005, but that they saw their gains blown away by a brutal bombing in January that killed 60 Iraqi police recruits.
In June, when the First Armored Division began moving into the city, there were large sections of central Ramadi that were difficult to enter, roads mined with improvised explosive devices, and snipers firing from nearby buildings, said Lieutenant Colonel Pete Lee, the executive officer of the division's First Brigade.
Residents responded to the buildup of American troops by packing up. Thousands fled, worried that a massive assault was coming, residents say.
The Marines at the heart of the city pleaded with residents in their area to stay.
``We sent out patrols and said, `Do not leave your homes, we will protect you,' " said Captain Max Barela, the Lima company commander in west central Ramadi. ``They were expecting a Fallujah-style clearing. . . . We want people in their houses and living their lives."
Rather than a direct assault, the goal in Ramadi, officials say, is to shrink the insurgent-dominated areas by creating a ring of combat outposts encircling the central part of the city. The approach uses tactics honed by the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in the much-smaller city of Tall Afar, near the Syrian border.
In some parts of the city, the effort to make residents feel more secure has a long way to go. Among residents there remains widespread worry about the US military's presence.
``The situation became nearly impossible because our lives are threatened each moment," said Minawir Ali Duleimi, a 56-year-old retired university professor from the Sufiya neighborhood. ``Ramadi is a military front."
US forces remain targets for insurgent groups, and some merchants say that so long as insurgents are attacking the Americans, Iraqi civilians will be caught in the middle.
Parts of Ramadi have pitched battle lines. Regular fighting takes place between insurgents and American forces in the heart of downtown. The area around the government center has become filled with bombed-out buildings, damaged by firefights between insurgents and American forces.
Much of the rest of the city, however, resembles Lima company's area of operations, where there are grand homes, by Iraqi standards, interspersed with the occasional blasted out shell of a house.
Ellie