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| Iraq-Jordan |
| US Marines remain wary of their Iraqi allies in Fallujah |
| 2004-05-08 |
May 08, 2004 FALLUJAH (AFP) -- US-trained forces have been given a key role in maintaining the peace in Fallujah, but some of the US marines who fought in the powderkeg city do not trust their local allies."I’ve heard rumors and stuff about them playing ball for the other team," said Lance Corporal Stephen Bennett, one of a few dozen marines entrenched at the Fallujah train station. His gun is pointed at the Jolan neighborhood, which until last week was the scene of heavy battles and which now is patrolled by members of the US-trained Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.)ICDC troops and the newly formed Fallujah Brigade have been given responsibility for security in Fallujah in a deal that ended weeks of fighting and let the marines lift an almost month-long siege of the Sunni Muslim city. The US-led coalition said Friday their numbers continued to rise, with 1,750 men from the Fallujah Brigade reporting for work the previous day, as well as some 1,100 ICDC and 750 police. Officers hail the deal as a step in the right direction, but some of the men eye the lightly armed Iraqis with mistrust. "We’ve heard some intel about them doing their job in the daytime and hanging out with the enemy at night," said Bennett. No sh!tting, Sherlock! Navy Corpsman Juan Hernandez, who is deployed with the marines in Fallujah, was more guarded in his assessment of the ICDC. "They’re OK, I guess ... It’s not my job to trust them." A rule to live by. A few hundred meters (yards) away, a group of ICDC soldiers sat in the shade by a row of houses whose bullet-riddled facades bear witness to the ferocity of last month’s fighting. "That’s all they seem to be doing, just chilling," said Private Jeremiah Layman. Coalition officials admit the Iraqi force still has its shortcomings, but they express confidence its men will shape up as they continue working alongside US troops. "Every single day, our security cooperation with the ICDC improves," said Lieutenant Colonel Gregg Olson. "We are going from us supporting them to them supporting themselves with our assistance," said Olson who commands the 2nd Battalion 1st Marines Regiment. The coalition forces say their Iraqi allies will eventually be the ones replacing them when they leave the country. "These guys have not given us any reason to doubt them," said Lieutenant David Myers. Note how it’s a Lieutenant who’s saying that. Layman, on the other hand, says "they haven’t given us any reason to trust them yet." Even commanding officers have admitted that the ICDC’s performance during the battle for Fallujah was dismal. Abandoned boots and uniforms along the railway tracks bear witness to the Iraqi troops’ hasty flight at the height of the battle. Trace who’s missing their gear and drum them out of the force. They’re just graft waiting to happen. ICDC members readily admit they left Fallujah during the fighting. "I took my family outside the city during the fighting," said ICDC Private Mohammed Turki, 24. Major Ahmed Hammadi admits many of his men had left town, but said things were now different as the troops were better armed -- though his men’s ageing AK-47 assault rifles lack the firepower of the insurgents’ big guns. Hammadi’s men are based in the main building of the train station, but they have little contact with the marines deployed along the tracks, a few meters away. A few days ago, ICDC Lieutenant Colonel Jubair Mahlaf Hussein thanked Olson for the supplies the marines had brought his men. If the food and water keeps coming, "we can stay here," he told his American counterpart through an interpreter, adding: "and hopefully the gap between us will close. Not a lot of good news. |
| Posted by:Zenster |
| #7 Yep, see what you're saying and agree Carl, just wishing there were better militia available. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-05-08 9:11:59 PM |
| #6 Oh, here's another one: Let's say we have a bunch of insurgents trapped, as we currently supposedly do in northwest Fallujah, but don't want to go in a root them out individually due to the higher cost for us plus the negative PR effects of wrecking that part of the city. An Iraqi "blocking force" that is really nothing of the sort would be a way to encourage insurgents that they have an escape route so they can live to fight another day. And have forces in place to channel them toward some killing zone outside of the city. |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2004-05-08 8:38:29 PM |
| #5 Shipman: Sure, but I'm not looking for Iraqis that compare to Morgan's militia; I am rather looking for the US commander who can turn the weaknesses of the ICDC, Falluja Protection Force, etc into strengths. By weaknesses I mean stuff like dubious "loyalty" -- we know some of them are on the other side; are we using that info to headfake the insurgents in some way ? |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2004-05-08 8:33:41 PM |
| #4 I wonder if the Iraqi irregulars compare to the over the mountain men Morgan employed. Doubt it. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-05-08 8:04:00 PM |
| #3 Adding to 11A5S' comment about Morgan using militia: use fo militia in and of itself is not a bad thing, if they are used properly. In this case, as well as in probably most other cases where they were used "successfully", Morgan counted on them breaking early and fleeing the battlefield, which they did. But they had a place directly in the rear where they were directed to go to and reassemble, and they did so; after resting for a bit, they rejoined the battle and proved to be an important piece of the final victory over the Brit regulars. Takes a clever commander to turn weaknesses into strengths; is the Marine commander a Morgan ? |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2004-05-08 6:15:21 PM |
| #2 It would be good for us to study the role of the Regional/Popular Forces (I'm not endorsing this article, it's the only half-ways decent one I can find about the "Ruff-Puffs" on the web) during the Vietnam conflict in relation to Iraq. Militia can be useful if employed correctly. The best historical example of militia used as a force multiplier (as opposed to being the force detractor they usually are) would be the Battle of Cowpens during the American Revolutionary War. Morgan's brilliant use of militia troops enabled him to defeat a previously undefeated and larger British force. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2004-05-08 3:37:34 PM |
| #1 The marines should already know...they have no allies with muslims...ever. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4768 2004-05-08 12:04:15 PM |