OK, wild week. Things all over the country are heating up, good thing about it is I don't think the violence is swaying anyone towards the insurgent's cause. Most of the violence is killing civilians, which is not a good way to convince a population you are right. There have been some pretty spectacular (in a bad way) suicide vest bombings, I have no idea who would strap a suicide vest on and blow themselves up, or how you go about recruiting someone to do that, but wow. In our area . . .
There were 6 IEDs found (mostly by the Sons Of Iraq and National Police) in the southern boundary region of our AO, and another 2 found on two of our major roads. All but one of them were found before they detonated (the one that detonated blew up after a National Police patrol went past it, no injuries), but still, that makes getting in the vehicle to go on missions just a little more thought provoking. Not sure if you remember this from the blog, but our southern boundary is shared with a less than stellar Iraqi Army unit, they haven't really done a lot to help out the situation. They made a few arrests, which didn't work out well for the CPT that made the arrests (he was killed in an ambush that made it clear that the folks that got arrested had friends that didn't like him being arrested).
On top of all of the IEDs, folks in some of the smaller villages are taking pot shots at the National Police, which drives BG E crazy. In response to all of the shenanigans going on down on the southern boundary, he extended his boundary so he could go into the area that a lot of insurgents were able to operate in. His theory was that the insurgents were coming from the zone to our south, emplacing the IEDs in our area then going back to the southern area where he couldn't chase them. So he extended the boundary and started doing missions in that area.
Once he started doing missions down there, IEDs started re-appearing on our major highways, so he probably poked the hornets nest, which is just fine with him. He is very anxious to chase folks down and make arrests. His biggest frustration is that the legal system is holding him back - - he can't get warrants very quickly (still waiting on warrants that he requested at the beginning of April). Without a warrant, he can't make an arrest that will stick. Very frustrating.
We went with him when he monitors the operations, he is pretty cool about how he monitors the missions. Most generals (even US commanders) want to be right there, kind of micromanaging an operation, he hangs back with his commo officer and NCO, monitoring three motorolas and two cell phones, map in hand. It is very enlightening to watch, him allowing his subordinates to manage the battle and he just waits to help them out if necessary.
He has another one of his units clearing the businesses on the side of the two major highways that had IEDs on them. It was kind of cool this morning when we were driving out we saw some of the National Police soldiers picking up trash from the sides of the road and the median - - insurgents will use garbage to hide their IEDs because trash is everywhere and most folks just don't notice it anymore.
All of the pressure is starting to work, there was a big arrest last night. The guy picked up was a major IED distributor and had a lot of connections. We will see if other folks shake out from this arrest.
I was out on a mission yesterday and today we had a small humanitarian assistance mission with the National Police, basically we hung around while they passed out boxes of Red Crescent (Arab version of the Red Cross) supplies to needy families. I took a few pictures, that was about it. The guys didn't really want to go - - I think they were looking at a day off and reminding me that two suicide vests had been used in other humanitarian assistance missions, the National Police had it under control and it was an easy mission. Monday's are traditionally our days with no missions scheduled.
Other news:
The team has found out that our replacements are on the way, they should be getting here sometime in August, we should be leaving here in the first couple of weeks of September, and should be back in the US shortly after that. It is a long way off, but it is something to look forward to.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Ruff Week in a Little Corner of Iraq
This past week should have been a very happy week in the 3-1 National Police area of operations - - they received their first 75 Up Armored HMMWVs, which is quite an honor for a non-Iraqi Army unit - - but there were some very sad events that took place in the AO that made it a sad week instead.
The first event was the death of LTC Mohammed on friday. He died in a traffic accident (more on that later) on his way to pick up his unit's HMMVs. He was a true hero of the regiment, in 2006 he was wounded in action, shot three times by the insurgents. He spent the next two years in the hospital and recovering from the wounds. He returned to the brigade about 5 months ago and immediately started working hard. He was a very strong officer that had a great rapport with his soldiers and other Iraqi officers. I enjoyed working with him, no matter what he was doing if I saw him he broke into a huge smile and came over to shake my hand. He also spoke a little English, which was cool. Needless to say, BG Emad was crushed that day. The NP's evacuated LTC Mohammed to the BDE HQs, he was still alive, BG E saw him and said take him straight to the hospital. He died of his wounds at the hospital. 4 other soldiers were wounded in the accident.
The truck he was driving in was a Chevy Silverado, the Iraqi's love the Silverados - - big V-8s so they move out. LTC Mohammed's driver was driving too fast, hit a pot hole, lost control and the truck flipped over. LTC Mohammed was not wearing a seatbelt, and was thrown from the vehicle. Very sad day, and a loss for Iraq.
The second event happened on Saturday night. An IED exploded in Center City, killing two kids and wounding two others. A kid had found an IED (probably some Un-exploded ordnance left over from the hard times) and was carrying it to town to show his friends or sell it in the market. When he pulled it out of the bag to show his friends, he dropped it and it exploded, killing him. Iraq is a tough place to live sometimes. Another sad day for Iraq.
The bad thing about the whole situation was that at the same time the IED exploded, our Explosives Ordnance Disposal team was blowing up some other things that were found or turned in, so there was a series of explosions at the same time as when the IED exploded in Center City. One of the local leaders (not the best leader and definitely not interested keeping public order) ran straight to the TV and radio stations and claimed that Center City (a Shia city) was under attack from a smaller Sunni town, stirring the sectarian violence pot a little bit. He also claimed that there were 10 people killed and hundreds wounded. He did this without permission or making sure he had all of the correct facts. Unfortunately, this story got picked up by several news agencies and now Center City is famous for the wrong reason. There was even a story in Stars and Stripes about the attack, the story used the leaders account as a reference, so even our friendly press got it wrong.
Needless to say, that leader has been talked to by most everyone that is doing the right thing in the area. BG Emad called him out and let him know how much damage he had done, Sheik Q dressed him down in front of several other sheiks, so the guy either got the message or is too stubborn to admit he was wrong.
The final thing that happened was a comic sort of tragedy. We asked BG Emad to record some radio announcements, asking kids not to pick up Un-exploded ordnance and if they do find something, they should report it to the National Police. He of course agreed to do it and we made an appointment at the local radio station (a US friendly radio station, pretty much because we give them money for generator fuel and bought all of the radio equipment). We arrived at the appointed time, and were ticked off right off the bat. You can always tell if something isn't going to happen in Iraq if nobody is around. The radio station was deserted. We made some phone calls, got the manager there 30 minutes late. He went into the Iraqi song and dance, Iraqi's really hate saying they can't do something - - there was no fuel for the generator (not true), we can't start the first generator, the generator mechanic is on his way to start the second generator . . . blah, blah, blah. After about 30 more minutes of beating around the bush it turns out that an employee of the radio station had stolen all of the gear and they couldn't put BG E on the air. I have no idea why they couldn't say that on the phone, but it was very frustrating.
I was pretty frustrated, we bought the equipment, paid for the fuel to run the radio station and someone stole the show, literally. BG E, being the total pro that he is asked to not be frustrated, these things happen in Iraq.
That sums a bad week, and the enemy didn't do a darned thing.
Kids, if you are out there, wear your seatbelts, drive at a reasonable speed and don't play with UXO.
The first event was the death of LTC Mohammed on friday. He died in a traffic accident (more on that later) on his way to pick up his unit's HMMVs. He was a true hero of the regiment, in 2006 he was wounded in action, shot three times by the insurgents. He spent the next two years in the hospital and recovering from the wounds. He returned to the brigade about 5 months ago and immediately started working hard. He was a very strong officer that had a great rapport with his soldiers and other Iraqi officers. I enjoyed working with him, no matter what he was doing if I saw him he broke into a huge smile and came over to shake my hand. He also spoke a little English, which was cool. Needless to say, BG Emad was crushed that day. The NP's evacuated LTC Mohammed to the BDE HQs, he was still alive, BG E saw him and said take him straight to the hospital. He died of his wounds at the hospital. 4 other soldiers were wounded in the accident.
The truck he was driving in was a Chevy Silverado, the Iraqi's love the Silverados - - big V-8s so they move out. LTC Mohammed's driver was driving too fast, hit a pot hole, lost control and the truck flipped over. LTC Mohammed was not wearing a seatbelt, and was thrown from the vehicle. Very sad day, and a loss for Iraq.
The second event happened on Saturday night. An IED exploded in Center City, killing two kids and wounding two others. A kid had found an IED (probably some Un-exploded ordnance left over from the hard times) and was carrying it to town to show his friends or sell it in the market. When he pulled it out of the bag to show his friends, he dropped it and it exploded, killing him. Iraq is a tough place to live sometimes. Another sad day for Iraq.
The bad thing about the whole situation was that at the same time the IED exploded, our Explosives Ordnance Disposal team was blowing up some other things that were found or turned in, so there was a series of explosions at the same time as when the IED exploded in Center City. One of the local leaders (not the best leader and definitely not interested keeping public order) ran straight to the TV and radio stations and claimed that Center City (a Shia city) was under attack from a smaller Sunni town, stirring the sectarian violence pot a little bit. He also claimed that there were 10 people killed and hundreds wounded. He did this without permission or making sure he had all of the correct facts. Unfortunately, this story got picked up by several news agencies and now Center City is famous for the wrong reason. There was even a story in Stars and Stripes about the attack, the story used the leaders account as a reference, so even our friendly press got it wrong.
Needless to say, that leader has been talked to by most everyone that is doing the right thing in the area. BG Emad called him out and let him know how much damage he had done, Sheik Q dressed him down in front of several other sheiks, so the guy either got the message or is too stubborn to admit he was wrong.
The final thing that happened was a comic sort of tragedy. We asked BG Emad to record some radio announcements, asking kids not to pick up Un-exploded ordnance and if they do find something, they should report it to the National Police. He of course agreed to do it and we made an appointment at the local radio station (a US friendly radio station, pretty much because we give them money for generator fuel and bought all of the radio equipment). We arrived at the appointed time, and were ticked off right off the bat. You can always tell if something isn't going to happen in Iraq if nobody is around. The radio station was deserted. We made some phone calls, got the manager there 30 minutes late. He went into the Iraqi song and dance, Iraqi's really hate saying they can't do something - - there was no fuel for the generator (not true), we can't start the first generator, the generator mechanic is on his way to start the second generator . . . blah, blah, blah. After about 30 more minutes of beating around the bush it turns out that an employee of the radio station had stolen all of the gear and they couldn't put BG E on the air. I have no idea why they couldn't say that on the phone, but it was very frustrating.
I was pretty frustrated, we bought the equipment, paid for the fuel to run the radio station and someone stole the show, literally. BG E, being the total pro that he is asked to not be frustrated, these things happen in Iraq.
That sums a bad week, and the enemy didn't do a darned thing.
Kids, if you are out there, wear your seatbelts, drive at a reasonable speed and don't play with UXO.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Wild Week in Iraq
Last week was kind of a wild week here in Iraq, but quiet in our corner of the country. This past week (4-9 APR 09) was the anniversary of the US invasion of Sadr City, the anniversary of the death of the elder Sadr and the anniversary of the capture of Saddam Hussein. All of the car bombs that you saw going off are the way one segment of the Iraqi society has decided to commemorate those events. Nothing has happened in our little corner of Iraq, knock on wood.
There was a smaller bomb that went off south of us in another unit's sector, but nothing here yet. The area to the south of us has been a problem area: The Iraqi unit there isn't very good, the commander is very old school - - weak figurehead, doesn't engage local leaders and has no respect for the SOI and sheiks, exact opposite of BG Emad. The terrain is also as close to a forest as you are going to find in Iraq, mostly date farms, with very close trees and not a lot of roads. Insurgents can slip between the two unit's areas, cause problems in one area then just fade back into another area. We have started to work closer with the US unit that is down there, and trying to drag the Iraqi unit into some agreements on how to operate and sharing information and intelligence. We are also trying to get a combined operation or two with the Iraqi units to make it harder for the insurgents to operate.
BG Emad went on Jazza (vacation, he takes about 5 days a month), he went on Jazza the day that all of the wildness started - - 6 car bombs in Bagdhad. On that same day a National Police general was assassinated in Bagdhad which caused some concern until we knew it wasn't him. He told me that when he goes home he hangs around the house, doesn't go outside of his yard and mostly does gardening. I tease him about the Lion of the Mada'in gardening, he just chuckled. He will be back on Saturday.
While he is gone, his deputy will be running the show. Good guy, but he likes to taaaaallllllllkkkkkkkk. BG E is very cut and dry, COL A drags things out. The team hates going to meetings when COL A is running them, I have to drag them into the meetings. COL A can take a 30 minute meeting and make it last 2 or 3 hours. Very difficult to maintain focus.
There was supposed to be a million-man march (sponsored by Al-Sadr) in Bagdhad today, but it rained all morning and I don't think that Iraqis want to come out in the rain and march. CNN said they had "tens of thousands" which to me means about 16,000 people or so. I don't think that the folks around here really have the heart for that sort of stuff anymore. LATER NOTE: There were about 7,000 folks at the march, so not a real strong showing.
NCAA Tournament update: Smooth (SFC T) won the tournament, he had it locked up pretty early, and barring any upsets he was locked in on the prize.
There was a smaller bomb that went off south of us in another unit's sector, but nothing here yet. The area to the south of us has been a problem area: The Iraqi unit there isn't very good, the commander is very old school - - weak figurehead, doesn't engage local leaders and has no respect for the SOI and sheiks, exact opposite of BG Emad. The terrain is also as close to a forest as you are going to find in Iraq, mostly date farms, with very close trees and not a lot of roads. Insurgents can slip between the two unit's areas, cause problems in one area then just fade back into another area. We have started to work closer with the US unit that is down there, and trying to drag the Iraqi unit into some agreements on how to operate and sharing information and intelligence. We are also trying to get a combined operation or two with the Iraqi units to make it harder for the insurgents to operate.
BG Emad went on Jazza (vacation, he takes about 5 days a month), he went on Jazza the day that all of the wildness started - - 6 car bombs in Bagdhad. On that same day a National Police general was assassinated in Bagdhad which caused some concern until we knew it wasn't him. He told me that when he goes home he hangs around the house, doesn't go outside of his yard and mostly does gardening. I tease him about the Lion of the Mada'in gardening, he just chuckled. He will be back on Saturday.
While he is gone, his deputy will be running the show. Good guy, but he likes to taaaaallllllllkkkkkkkk. BG E is very cut and dry, COL A drags things out. The team hates going to meetings when COL A is running them, I have to drag them into the meetings. COL A can take a 30 minute meeting and make it last 2 or 3 hours. Very difficult to maintain focus.
There was supposed to be a million-man march (sponsored by Al-Sadr) in Bagdhad today, but it rained all morning and I don't think that Iraqis want to come out in the rain and march. CNN said they had "tens of thousands" which to me means about 16,000 people or so. I don't think that the folks around here really have the heart for that sort of stuff anymore. LATER NOTE: There were about 7,000 folks at the march, so not a real strong showing.
NCAA Tournament update: Smooth (SFC T) won the tournament, he had it locked up pretty early, and barring any upsets he was locked in on the prize.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Internet Connection Challenges
My civilian internet access got cut off, the contract wasn't renewed so they are trying to find a new contractor to set it up, so my blog has not been updated. The only good way to update the blog is to check into the Morale, Welfare and Recreation internet cafe and update the blog, so I write something, e-mail it to someone or myself then cut and paste. I also can't put anymore pictures in the blog until there is a new civilian internet provider. Sigh, sorry. War is hell sometimes.
Not sure if you are reading about this but the SOI members have not been paid for this month by the government of Iraq so they are getting a little out of hand. There was an SOI unit up in Bagdhad that was disbanded and arrested after they resisted their leader being arrested. In this area there have been some signs of unrest - - - some sniping at a National Police checkpoint and another IED was emplaced and went off (no casualties, but very unsettling) on one of the routes that we travel on sometimes. The IED was on a route that has had 6 IEDs emplaced on it, very close to where one of the earlier IEDs was emplaced, so there is a lot of suspicion, especially with the SOI that are supposed to be watching that area. BG Emad was furious and embarrassed, he was relieved that nobody was hurt. He offered to buy the US another HMMWV to replace the one that was destroyed by the IED.
I have no idea what the government of Iraq is thinking sometimes. There still are some sectarian/tribal shenanigans going on within the government. The ministry of interior (runs the National Police, Iraqi Police and all other internal security units) is Shia. The ministry of Defense (Iraqi Army) is Sunni for the most part, the department of Displace Civilians and Reconciliation is Sunni. There has been a lot of infighting between those organizations about the SOI. The Iraqi Army wants to disband them because they are mostly the folks they were fighting with during the bad years, the National Police wants to keep them around because they know that if you stop paying all these guys things will go wrong. Very frustrating to watch, there is so much potential here - - lots of money, water, agriculture and a population that wants to move on. The SOI pay was held up this month because the organizations couldn't agree who should pay them. One of the organizations wanted to take over paying them from the Department of Displaced Civilians and Reconciliation (DDR) (one of the Prime Minister's personal offices), there was a lot of arguing over who would pay them, in the end, they will get paid by the DDR, just 3 weeks late.
NOTE: This previous section was written a couple of days ago, yesterday (Sunday) the SOI money came through so there are a lot of happy former militia members out there. I will let you know about this month - - payday is supposed to be in two weeks . . . .
In other notes, the Humanitarian Assistance supplies that we coordinated for, took the NP up to Bagdhad to get and helped them load up were delivered to Salmon Shtup Village. We didn't go with them because we wanted to make sure it was a NP show and they got all of the credit. It was kind of funny, when we went over the pictures of the distribution from the NP there was some other US unit in some of the pictures. We are trying to find out who those guys are and ask them what the heck they were doing up there in the middle of nowhere with our unit distributing our supplies.
NOTE: We figured out who the glory-hounds were - - - a National Guard MP unit. We see them on a regular basis, they work with the Iraqi police in the area and come to some of our meetings, I am going to bust out the LT that runs the platoon and see what he was thinking.
The National Police finished off their volleyball tournament yesterday, the good guys came home with a close victory. BG Emad's Personal Security Detail team won the tournament, I took some good pics and will post them when I get a chance. The level of play was pretty good, I was impressed with both teams. The second place team was from the Narhwan (Northern City) Iraqi Police Station, they had two players that were very good, lot of good setting and spiking going on. I am glad the Personal Security Detail team won, those are the guys that surround BG Emad and run his security when we are out walking around.
Not sure if you are reading about this but the SOI members have not been paid for this month by the government of Iraq so they are getting a little out of hand. There was an SOI unit up in Bagdhad that was disbanded and arrested after they resisted their leader being arrested. In this area there have been some signs of unrest - - - some sniping at a National Police checkpoint and another IED was emplaced and went off (no casualties, but very unsettling) on one of the routes that we travel on sometimes. The IED was on a route that has had 6 IEDs emplaced on it, very close to where one of the earlier IEDs was emplaced, so there is a lot of suspicion, especially with the SOI that are supposed to be watching that area. BG Emad was furious and embarrassed, he was relieved that nobody was hurt. He offered to buy the US another HMMWV to replace the one that was destroyed by the IED.
I have no idea what the government of Iraq is thinking sometimes. There still are some sectarian/tribal shenanigans going on within the government. The ministry of interior (runs the National Police, Iraqi Police and all other internal security units) is Shia. The ministry of Defense (Iraqi Army) is Sunni for the most part, the department of Displace Civilians and Reconciliation is Sunni. There has been a lot of infighting between those organizations about the SOI. The Iraqi Army wants to disband them because they are mostly the folks they were fighting with during the bad years, the National Police wants to keep them around because they know that if you stop paying all these guys things will go wrong. Very frustrating to watch, there is so much potential here - - lots of money, water, agriculture and a population that wants to move on. The SOI pay was held up this month because the organizations couldn't agree who should pay them. One of the organizations wanted to take over paying them from the Department of Displaced Civilians and Reconciliation (DDR) (one of the Prime Minister's personal offices), there was a lot of arguing over who would pay them, in the end, they will get paid by the DDR, just 3 weeks late.
NOTE: This previous section was written a couple of days ago, yesterday (Sunday) the SOI money came through so there are a lot of happy former militia members out there. I will let you know about this month - - payday is supposed to be in two weeks . . . .
In other notes, the Humanitarian Assistance supplies that we coordinated for, took the NP up to Bagdhad to get and helped them load up were delivered to Salmon Shtup Village. We didn't go with them because we wanted to make sure it was a NP show and they got all of the credit. It was kind of funny, when we went over the pictures of the distribution from the NP there was some other US unit in some of the pictures. We are trying to find out who those guys are and ask them what the heck they were doing up there in the middle of nowhere with our unit distributing our supplies.
NOTE: We figured out who the glory-hounds were - - - a National Guard MP unit. We see them on a regular basis, they work with the Iraqi police in the area and come to some of our meetings, I am going to bust out the LT that runs the platoon and see what he was thinking.
The National Police finished off their volleyball tournament yesterday, the good guys came home with a close victory. BG Emad's Personal Security Detail team won the tournament, I took some good pics and will post them when I get a chance. The level of play was pretty good, I was impressed with both teams. The second place team was from the Narhwan (Northern City) Iraqi Police Station, they had two players that were very good, lot of good setting and spiking going on. I am glad the Personal Security Detail team won, those are the guys that surround BG Emad and run his security when we are out walking around.
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