29 August 2006
Coalition Helps Iraqis Build Strong National Defense
Officials highlight advisers' role supporting Iraqi army, police, border guards
Washington – Iraqi security forces are building a modern national defense while simultaneously defending their country from attack, thanks to support from coalition advisers embedded with Iraqi army and police units, top U.S. military officials say.
The Iraq Assistance Group, headed by Army Brigadier General Dana Pittard, oversees 3,000 U.S. and allied advisers embedded with Iraqi forces as part of 11-15 member military transition teams spread across the country’s 10 army divisions; police transition teams working with all 27 national police battalions; and border transition teams working alongside their counterparts in Iraq’s Department of Border Enforcement.
Appearing via videoconference at an August 28 Pentagon press briefing, Pittard said, “The embedded transition teams are truly making a difference here in Iraq.”
As a sovereign nation, Pittard explained, Iraq’s ministries of Defense and Interior control the security forces. The advisers, drawn from all branches of the military, help their Iraqi counterparts as they plan and execute security operations.
“Over the past three years, the Iraqi army has been rebuilt from the ground up as a modern and effective fighting force,” Army Major General William Caldwell told journalists at an August 28 press briefing in Baghdad, Iraq. “As we continue to make progress toward defeating insurgents and terrorists, we're doing so because of the fact that the Iraqi security forces are in fact taking the lead more each and every day.”
COALITION’S TRANSITION TEAMS ADVISE IRAQI FORCES
Beginning in late June, approximately 7,000 personnel from Iraq’s army and its national police force surged into the capital, supported by 3,000 coalition troops, under “Operation Together Forward,” a campaign to stem a tide of insurgent and terrorist attacks, sectarian violence and other criminal activities, the coalition spokesman said.
The Iraqi-planned and -led strategy to hold, secure, and help rebuild the city’s neighborhoods already is producing results, Caldwell said, announcing a 50-percent decrease in attacks in August compared to the previous month. (See related article.)
At the same time, coalition advisers repeatedly note that the Iraqi Security Forces are only three years old and, while progressing rapidly, Iraq’s army, police and border patrol units continue to experience “growing pains.”
Recently, Pittard said, 100 Iraqi soldiers from the country’s southeastern Maysan province refused to be deployed to support Baghdad security operations.
Iraqi authorities are investigating the incident, which Pittard attributed to the Iraqi military’s tradition of homogenous, locally based units running counter to the new Iraq’s vision of a rapidly deployable force with ethnically integrated units that broadly reflect all Iraqi people.
“The Iraqi army is supposed to be a national army,” said Pittard. “They were recruited regionally, and for the most part they’ve been operating regionally. So that’s where the difficulty is.”
POLICE UNITS OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
In the long term, maintaining domestic security will be the responsibility of the Iraqi police, making their institutional development essential to the country’s future. In March, coalition officials pledged an increased focus on developing Iraqi law enforcement, designating 2006 as “the year of the police.” (See related article.)
Since then, the Interior Ministry forces – which include both Iraqi National Police and border guards – have reached 92 percent of their planned strength of 188,000 personnel. (See related article.)
But while thousands of officers have demonstrated their commitment to serve and protect the Iraqi people, the police also have faced numerous incidents of policemen linked to corruption, organized crime and militant groups involved in sectarian violence, prompting distrust among many segments of the Iraqi public. (See related article.)
Coalition advisers are helping Iraqi police units regain the public’s trust, Pittard said, and they support the Interior Ministry as it works to regain public trust by investigating officers suspected of operating outside the law.
Among the coalition troops deployed to Baghdad, said Caldwell, were five U.S. military police units, whose 180 members were embedded with Iraqi officers at all 100 police stations in the city. In addition, 150 more international police observers were brought into the capital with “Operation Together Forward,” joining 550 already on location to monitor police performance.
Caldwell also reported that police transition teams recently initiated the “Quick Look" project to evaluate the leadership, training and capabilities of personnel in all 27 national police units. When completed in late September, the teams’ assessments will be used in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s plan to rotate national police battalions out of service and provide them with additional, unit-specific training.
IRAQI BORDER GUARDS “A WORK IN PROGRESS”
Given the focus on Iraq’s army and police to meet immediate security threats, Pittard said the country’s border guards remain “a work in progress. (See related article.)
But, he said, coalition advisers are working closely with their Iraqi counterparts to address logistical shortfalls in food and fuel deliveries necessary to maintain field operations for extended periods.
“Our border transition teams … are certainly assisting them in many ways,” he said, “I believe that the transition teams on the border will continue to make a huge difference there.”
The general said he sees a long-term job for coalition training teams with the Iraqi forces. “Our major mission is to help develop and support the Iraqi security forces, and of course to advise them. … U.S. forces will be here as long as the Iraqi government wants us here,” he said.
“But I'll tell you … after the majority of U.S. forces leave, we'll still see some level of advisory teams that'll still be here. In fact, I feel like we'll be the last men standing at the end of the U.S. presence here.”
A transcript of Pittard’s briefing, along with a video link, are available from the Multinational Force – Iraq Web site.
A transcript of Caldwell’s briefing, as well as slides (PDF, 11 pages), and a video link, are also available from the Multinational Force – Iraq Web site.
For more information, see Iraq Update.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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