Special Ops school moves from Jordan to Iraq
March 1, 2006
AMMAN, Jordan (Army News Service, Feb. 28, 2006) – The seventh and final group of soldiers graduated from an elite counterterrorism course in Jordan last week, bringing to an end a special operations training partnership among Iraq, Jordan and the U.S. that taught more than 500 Iraqi troops since 2003.
During the Feb. 23 graduation ceremony, 77 new Iraqi special operators – among them Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds – completed the three-month Operator Training Course which will now move to a permanent training base in Iraq.
With graduation, the Iraqi soldiers became the newest members of the Iraqi Counterterrorism Force, one of two battalion-sized components of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces Brigade. Created in 2004, the ISOF Brigade holds responsibility for conducting special operations missions throughout Iraq.
The role of Jordan and the United States in building Iraq’s ability to fight terrorism within its borders is not only important to Iraq’s homeland security, but to the stability of all three countries for the sake of peace and freedom, said Lt. Col. Adnan al-Abbadi, commander of Jordan’s 71st Counterterrorism Battalion. Adnan’s unit also runs Jordan’s Counterterrorism Training Center, which hosted the Iraqis and Americans for the training.
“The ICTF graduates … are among the best hopes for building Iraq’s future,” said David Hale, the U.S. ambassador to Jordan, during the graduation ceremony.
“You are the front line in building the defense of freedom and Iraqi unity,” Hale said to the graduates. “This class was selected from hundreds of candidates, and now, as graduates, you join the most capable Iraqi unit in the field.”
U.S. Army and Navy special operations forces have served as advisers during each class, but most recently functioned largely as observers because four ICTF soldiers – all graduates of previous OTC classes – served as primary instructors, along with four Jordanians.
“It was helpful having the ICTF guys step up as instructors, because they know the tactics and techniques and have experience” in fighting terrorists all over Iraq, said one U.S. Army Special Forces adviser.
Hale said that the ICTF training program had been so successful that the time was right to move it to Iraq, where “it will be in the very capable hands” of Col. Fadhil Jameel al-Barwari, the commander of the ISOF Brigade, who also attended the ceremony.
Upon leaving Jordan, the Iraqis will assume control of the OTC’s administration and instruction, with U.S. special operations forces again serving as advisers to assist the ICTF trainers as needed.
The lead U.S. adviser, a Special Forces captain, said the most important education during the course wasn’t on military tactics, but Iraqi-to-Iraqi relationships.
“Many of them had never even held a gun, but right now they can accurately engage threats moving at a fast pace, which is a phenomenal feat,” the captain said. “Here, they have learned advanced (close quarters battle) techniques, they’ve learned hand-to-hand combat. But above all, they’ve learned trust, and they’ve learned that they can live with each other, whether (they are) a Sunni, or a Shi’a, or a Kurd.”
“None of this would have been possible without the professionalism and competence of the Jordanian and Iraqi instructors, or the help of my fellow American advisers,” he added.
Jordan, whose military includes a robust special operations component, is a key ally of both the United States and Iraq in the war on terrorism, officials said.
(Editor’s Note: Article provided by the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Arabian Peninsula PAO.)
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