Freedom Screamer: 2008

As part of our job we frequently move Iraqi "detainees" among several facilities. While there are some US Military operated detainee facilities on bases that we work with, the majority of facilities are local police stations which take in and release detainees. Thus, we often work with the Iraqi police facility in Fallujah. This is an interesting article from a journalist who recently visited the facility. I have never been inside before. Keep in mind, Iraq IS a 3rd world country. They don't live in the same conditions as any Americans or Europeans. This is the fundamental problem with some people who report on situations with which they have little experience, they assign a false standard to the situation they experience.

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/02/the-dungeon-of.php

Friends and Family,

Some of you have been wondering how things are going here in Iraq so here goes a little update. I appreciate all the letters, emails, packages, and well wishes. We are past the halfway mark and only have a few short months left. Amy is being well taken of by her great family in Tennessee and baby Claire Marie Daniels (oh, bye the way she is pregnant and it is a girl!) is nearly 6 months along and due around June 1^st. I should be home in time for the birth!

As for Iraq: we live in Camp Fallujah and we provide convoy security for a variety of different convoys and operations all around Anbar Province but mostly in the stretch from Baghdad to Ramadi (Fallujah being between the two). We have done some combat patrolling in the countryside near Lake Thar Thar where some insurgents like to hide out, we have made it out to both the Syrian and Jordanian borders, we have been to Baghdad quite a few times (only as far east as Baghdad Intnl. Airport—a large coalition force base including Camp Victory) and we have had a few unique missions that have taken us south of Baghdad in primarily Army areas. Our primary mission is as part of a Provisional Military Police Battalion. The Battalion’s largest task is running the regional detention facilities around the province. Our job comes into play when detainees need to be moved from location to location. If there aren’t many detainees then we end up getting a variety of other missions.

So far our time in Iraq has been relatively safe and calm. The western province of Al Anbar has been well known for its strong Sunni insurgency. No place in Iraq has illustrated this more than in the city of Fallujah from late 2004 to late 2006. In President Bush’s State of the Union speech back in 2007 he called the city of Ramadi the “Capitol of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.” At that point the Marines had already fought the battle of Fallujah (Operation Phantom Fury) the past year and brought the city under control leaving Ramadi as the trouble spot. So you can imagine our apprehension at finding out we would be stationed in Fallujah and primarily driving convoys between Ramadi, Fallujah, and Baghdad! However, Anbar province this past year has become one of the calmest least violent provinces in all Iraq. It went from the worst in 2006 to nearly the best in 2007. So far while here our entire company has had a relatively peaceful deployment with few violent problems. Only a couple of IED explosions with no serious injuries and a few more IED finds than that, a few mortar rounds were sent our way (not very accurately though), and a healthy handful of shots have been fired our way (most of these are distant pot shots we never see the impact of). The only time the enemy has ever openly engaged us was once while operating north of Ramadi in the countryside near Lake Thar Thar, a guy in a truck with a .50 cal Machine Gun had a brief fire fight with one of our trucks. Luckily none of the enemy rounds were able to pierce the heavy armor of the truck (see picture), but the bad guy was too far away for them to kill. In fact, I don’t think a single Marine has been killed by enemy activity in combat in Anbar the entire time we have been here. Why so relatively peaceful? Well I don’t know everything but I have observed a few things.

First, the troop surge brought more coalition forces to Iraq boosting our presence and improving the ability of the military to provide a fuller security presence at all times. This bought us a bit of calm and time in order to put into action a few other programs which have made the difference.

Second, the training and deploying of Iraqi security forces including national Iraqi Army (IA’s) and local/provincial Iraqi police (IP’s) has hit a definite critical mass state this year. Finally, there are plenty of trained and independently operating Army and Police. This means more check points and observation points are being manned at more times by these forces. You cannot drive more than a mile anywhere without seeing IA’s or IP’s or driving through one of their checkpoints. This never was the case in 2006. More and more insurgents are being caught by IAs and IPs and more and more enemy activity is being spoiled by local security operations.

Third, a few key programs have engaged the support of local nationals. This includes a highly successful neighborhood watch program instituted in trouble spots like Fallujah and Ramadi. Other programs include healthy payouts for tips and IED/weapons cache turnins, and the very successful tribal outreach program where we have engaged the support of local tribesman and tribal leaders in rooting out terrorists in their area. The perception is that to US forces anyone could be an insurgent, terrorist, or foreign fighter. The fact, however, is that our enemy is not the Iraqi people, but the enemy hides among the people. There is no one better suited to filter out our enemies from the people, than the people. Lucky for us, this year has marked huge improvement in our ability to engage the locals and the success they have had in turning in the evil doers!

Fourth, from my own observation, it seems we had been detaining a lot of people throughout 2006 and early 2007. Again, this bought us more time by getting potential insurgents off the streets long enough for this fragile security to take hold. Sure, our filter may not have been as discriminating as it could have been, but it seems now that we are releasing detainees by the truckload into an entirely different Iraq, one that is controlled by the people and the security forces, not the insurgents. There have been a few massive detainee releases highlighted in the media where Iraqi officials and American officials have been conducting job training and placement for many out of work men coming off of detainments. Funny enough, I have heard about recent IED attacks using technology insurgents seemed to have abandoned back in 2006. Just think, Ali Baba gets out of a 9 month detainment and goes straight to IED building, what he doesn’t know is that his particular style of IED doesn’t work against us anymore! Blast from the past (literally)!

The point is that a number of key factors have led to a much better security situation in Iraq. Much of the success is part symbiosis (where the output of all the programs together is better than the mere sum of each part), and part turning tides of Iraq itself and the people. It is amazing to see the rapid rate of rebuilding efforts and the growth in local commerce and industry. Anbar province was seemingly dead in 2006. When we got here in mid 2007 it was just barely starting to pick up. Now it is buzzing with life. In the city of Fallujah in the past two months they have cleaned up tons of combat debris and other junk left over from Phantom Fury, they have built a new city wall, they have lined main street with streetlights for night illumination, and they have begun painting all the cement barriers that make up the police checkpoints and blocks around the city. It is starting to look like the city of Mosques again rather than the swiss cheese left behind by the Marines in Phantom Fury!

The surge was a catalyst for this new security. It has been the underpinning support for the success of all these programs. If this security situation in Anbar province continues and spreads we will be out of Iraq far sooner. It is interesting how the Sunni’s went from the most troubling group to the most secure while the Shiites did the opposite. Violence in Baghdad has a lot more to do with Shiites than Sunnis. I think there is some latent inertia left over from the repressive Saddam regime where former Saddam loyalist Sunnis are more at home being compliant and orderly. Shiites, however, aren’t at home if they aren’t constantly raising hell!

Well, that is my two cents on Iraq. Other than that this place is seemingly a barren wasteland. Not the “fertile crescent” or “Cradle of Civilization” I thought it would be. Although this western province is tantamount to the American Southwest, a large desert! I suppose other parts of Iraq a more pretty and fertile.

Camp Fallujah is especially bad. The black water pulled from the bathroom trailers and porta johns is sprayed over the camp wall right next to our corner of camp and the wind changes directions all the time. The constantly-burning-toxic-fume-expelling trash pile is just on the other side of us opposite the blackwater. Thus, either the wind fills our day with offensive odors or toxic smoke from burning trash, we are kind of in the cross-fire! Either way, our relatively remote side of camp gets screwed the most!

Our equipment is great. Ever since Secretary Rumsfeld got caught off guard they have been throwing more gear at us than we know what to do with. Now we go to war with the military we wish we had. However, the military goes to war with the gear they wish they DIDN’T have! Afterall, my gunner has a Kevlar facemask, Kevlar sleeves, and Kevlar leiderhosen. Makes me want to buy stock. Luckily our humvee was replaced by a new MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle) this month, that nearly rounds out our entire company with all MRAP’s.