Saturday, November 19, 2005

Mosul Police Visit

Mosul, Iraq
250 miles north of Baghdad
October 22, 2005
with 4/23rd Infantry, 172nd Stryker Brigade, US Army, Anchorage Alaska

The huge bulk of a Stryker vehicle pushes its way through the streets of Mosul, Iraq.  It�s not too bad here in this part of the town, the southeast corner.  The streets are reasonably wide, the crews well rehearsed in maneuvering in tight spaces.  The streets isn�t as tight as the old city to the north.  The crews don�t have to worry so much about narrow alleys. and they appreciate the armored car's tough hide.  One of the Strykers in this patrol of three has been "blown up" by IEDs, or roadside bombs, three times.  The damage was losing a couple of antennas, several blown tires and a ringing in the ears for the crew.
This unit has been here since September.  The insurgents saw the big green Strykers and the new green army uniforms and thought 'easy meat'.  Unfortunately for the insurgents the army carries out a left seat/right seat-ride changeover routine.  Old units help the new ones get settled in.  So when the insurgents attacked using relatively simply tactics, expecting to push over the inexperienced newcomers, they got a surprise because the older guys were in the big new green vehicles as well. That lesson lasted about two weeks of fighting.
Since then the insurgents� activity has dropped off.  The soldiers say they have set back the insurgents, and that's almost certainly true, since the tempo of insurgents operations is much lower now than it was six months ago.  But there is still a major insurgent problem here in Mosul, as the soldiers readily describe.  This town is majority Sunni.  A few miles away from here the Kurdish area begins, but here is a battleground that might as well be farther south in the Sunni Triangle.
The soldiers stop by an Iraqi Police station.  This station is near the edge of town.  It located in an area where the insurgents used to run the police out regularly, where old Baathists and retired military officers give money and support to the insurgents.  These police ought to be in major trouble - the station has such lousy resources one corner is completely open to the elements.  The roof isn�t even properly closed off.  It�s a mess, and the regional government can't be bothered to give them the money they need to fix things up.
But far from run the Iraqi Police, or IPs, out of here, the insurgents are having a difficult time cracking this nut.  Today eight insurgents are being held for questioning. 
The police show the soldiers a sophisticated detonation device used by one of the suspects.  It was placed about 10 feet form the bomb, and linked by a wire to the explosives.  It included a Motorola talkabout, and  is rigged to after receiving a signal from the triggerman it trips an attached egg timer, which counts down about 15 seconds before sending a current to the explosive.  The 15-second delay makes it possible for the triggerman to walk innocently off before the thing blows up.  The device normally lies far enough away from the explosion to be recovered and used again.
The IPs caught the suspects, confiscated the detonator, and are proud of it. 
But they have little to work with, besides guns, ammunition, a few vehicles, and are doing alot of work with many fewer resources than they ought to have (everything is in short supply - generators, uniforms, and and virtually any supplies needed to run a station).
Yet the future relies on police like this taking charge of the country.  The police in Iraq are notorious for being infiltrated by insurgents.  Not so here.  The IPs at this station are in a running battle with insurgents, have a good commander, and their morale is high.
The soldiers promise to deliver generators and other supplies. They then saddle up in their Strikers and move off to patrol the city. 
They respect the police here, they say.  They are impressed by the suspects, and the detonator.  They will do what it takes to make them better and better. 
The only way for these soldiers to get out of Iraq once and for all, is to help build a better Iraqi security force that can stand up to the insurgents in the toughest areas, and prevail.