Military Officer - April 2008 - (Page 60) Can you describe the effectiveness of U.S. operations on enemy positions and networks and the role special forces play? General McCaffrey referred to an almost an eye-watering capability. He’s probably referring to fusion of intelligence between special mission elements, special forces, conventional forces, and even our Iraqi partners. It’s dramatic. Every patrol that goes out has contact with the population. Every provincial reconstruction team, intelligence element, [and] interagency element, in addition to conventional and special forces, allows for a much more rigorous assessment and, therefore, more precise operations. We obviously want targeted operations versus a dragnet. We don’t want to collect 30 military-aged males to find one. With actionable intelligence, you can knock on the door as opposed to blowing it down. What have the security gains done for Iraq’s economy? Nobody [in Iraq] is doing victory dances. No one is saying we have have turned the corner. It has allowed revival of markets in many areas. In Anbar province, there were no markets in Fallujah or Ramadi. They had been destroyed. To see them back flourishing is a dramatic example of what security has enabled. We see that across Baghdad, too. Markets that were blown up repeatedly have been hardened. Concrete has been one of our most important assets. Markets with tens of thousands of people can be a mile long on a city street and down each alley. Concrete enables us to control access, to keep vehicles out. It enables Iraqi security forces to search people. We’ve done the same thing with various neighborhoods. Initially, some people opposed building walls, either goaded by or supported by or [because they were] actually part of al-Qaida. But now neighborhoods want walls. They want security so markets can come back, kids can go safely to school, and people can get to work. The large amusement parks in Baghdad are back, breaking attendance records. A repaired water park will be operating by spring. Having said that — and please write this down — nobody here is doing victory dances. No one is saying we have turned the corner or seen light at the end of the tunnel. Security gains remain tenuous and could be reversed. Al-Qaida remains very dangerous. Militia extremists are very lethal. We are very cautious in assessing what has been achieved. Odierno speaks with a group of local sheiks at Patrol Base Kemple in Owesat, Iraq. the city — some colocated with Iraqi security forces — to take back [the Iraqi] neighborhoods,” Odierno says. “This time we were able to stay, hold an area, and not give it back.” By January 2008 in Baghdad, 36 Joint Security Stations and 39 combat outposts provided “persistent presence, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Odierno says. 60 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2008 Meanwhile, two more Marine Corps battalions joined those already in Anbar Province to “exploit successes” there in easing the violence. “We continued to push al-Qaida out from Anbar and Baghdad while going after very hard Shi’a extremist elements supported and funded by Iran,” adds Odierno. “We were able to take many individuals off the battlefield.” By June, they began to see the payoff. “From June until December we had a 28-week consistent decline in attacks, in IED [improvised explosive device] explosions, in civilian deaths, in sectarian violence, and in coalition force casualties,” says Odierno. It opened a floodgate of new intelligence. “We eliminated the passive support the population gave to these groups. As a result, they started working with us and volunteering to help against threats.” Days before our phone interview in January, Odierno said an Iraqi man visited one of the joint security stations in Baghdad to report al-Qaida followers had moved into his neighborhood and threatened his life. “He said, ‘I want you to go get them now.’ We went and picked up three guys. That would not have hapPHOTO: STAFF SGT. CURT CASHOUR, USA
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