BAGHDAD - Iraq police are on the streets in greater numbers and Iraqi soldiers
are at the ready to deal with insurgent violence as the government in Baghdad
prepares to assume full responsibility for security in population centers
starting July 1.
Nearly all US troops - currently numbering about 133,000 - have now withdrawn
from Iraqi cities, towns and villages as stipulated in a US-Iraqi security pact
that took effect this year.
"We are on the threshold of a new phase that will bolster Iraq's sovereignty,"
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on June 27. "It is a message to the
world that we are now able to safeguard our security and manage our own
affairs. We have to trust our security force to administer security and pursue
al-Qaeda remnants and criminal gangs."
The landmark transition was due to take place at midnight on
June 30 as required by the bilateral Strategic Framework Agreement that governs
the continued US military presence in Iraq.
It is both a milestone and a major challenge for the country after six years of
violence. At stake are the security gains achieved in the 2007-2008 "surge" of
US troops into Baghdad and the aggressive "clear, hold, build"
counter-insurgency strategy of former Iraq force commander General David
Petraeus, as well as the feelings of greater safety they have given many
average Iraqis.
'Through the dark days'
In comments to the Fox television network on June 28, the commander of US
forces in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, said he believed the time was right for
the handover.
"We've had a partnership, we've built a hard partnership here over the last
two-and-half to three years, through the surge, through the dark days here in
Iraq when attacks were 10 times what they are today, when there were a
significant amount more of civilian casualties," Odierno said.
"We've worked very hard together to gain this improvement. There have been
sacrifices by Iraqi security forces, there have been sacrifices by the
coalition forces, they recognize this. We are continuing this partnership, but
it's time for this partnership to have an Iraqi lead. It's time for this
partnership to have the Iraqis out front, and it's time for us to support
that," he said.
Significant hostile acts throughout Iraq numbered about 3,250 last year,
according to US figures. That's down from around 6,200 in 2007 and 6,600 in
2006, as US and Iraqi operations broke up terrorist cells, battled sectarian
militias, cut off insurgent supply routes and seized weapons caches.
Attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) - the weapon of choice for
various insurgent groups - numbered 454 in greater Baghdad from January 1 of
this year to the end of May - a 75% drop from last year. And nearly half of
those were discovered and neutralized before they could be detonated.
Nevertheless, more than 200 Iraqis - including schoolchildren, police and
soldiers - are estimated to have been killed in bombings in Baghdad and the
northern city of Kirkuk since June 20.
'This is the right time'
Despite this "uptick" in high-profile attacks, which he blamed on "extremist
elements that are attempting to bring attention to themselves", Odierno said he
believed "this is the right time" to turn responsibility over to the Iraqis.
That message was repeated by the US ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, in a
briefing with reporters in Baghdad on June 28.
"Our military has worked very closely with Iraqi security forces, and it's the
judgment of our military that they are ready to take on these additional
missions. The Iraqi Security Forces have worked very hard, they've trained very
hard, and we believe that they are ready to take over these important
functions," Hill said.
"There's no question that there will be terrorists and other groups who will
try to make this a more difficult process than it already is, but I really do
believe that they will be confronted by the very united spirit of the Iraqi
people," he said.
Al-Qaeda, Iranian-backed "special groups" and other insurgents still operate
throughout the country, however, especially in and around the northern city of
Mosul in Ninevah province, in the eastern and northern sectors of Diyala
province above Baghdad, and in the capital itself.
Mood 'more tense'
In the past week, in northeastern and eastern Baghdad, which includes the
Shi'ite enclave of Sadr City, US forces were targeted five times. At least a
dozen soldiers were wounded by bombs believed to have been planted by special
group cells.
"The mood in the area is definitely more tense," says Staff Sergeant Matthew St
Pierre of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, which operates in
northeastern Baghdad. "What happened [in the recent bombings] is kind of
hitting home, that the transition is going to be harder than we anticipated. If
the insurgents let it go smoothly, they won't grab any headlines. So just like
we're pushing, they are going to push right back."
Also at stake in the performance of Iraqi forces is the political future of the
prime minister, who faces re-election early next year, and plans by US
President Barack Obama for a faster withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and a
troop increase in Afghanistan.
"The training wheels are already off," Sergeant First Class John Shumaker says
of the transition. "If not now, when? They're ready. [Iraqi forces] need to go
and take that next step. They're going to take some bumps, yes, but they have
to stay the course and they'll get over them."
There were more than 200,000 trained and assigned Iraqi army troops last year,
according to figures compiled by the US government. There were also more than
42,000 paramilitary national police and more than 300,000 regular police.
'God willing, nothing will happen'
Brigadier Hameed Kadhim, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the Iraqi police,
told Reuters that Iraqi forces are prepared.
"We are ready and our forces are deployed all over Iraq," Kadhim said. "We are
ready for any situation, and God willing nothing will happen because our forces
are everywhere."
United States troops have transferred about 40 installations in the Baghdad
area to Iraqi control over the past six months - nine in the past four weeks.
Some US troops say they are uncomfortable with the pullback from cities in
general and with their remaining in areas under which they have no control.
Some believe it should be an all-or-nothing approach, while others believe that
playing a support role is still critical.
"One of two things needs to happen - pull back completely or fully commit,"
said one soldier who didn't want to be identified. "They can't keep us in the
middle. If they do, things like the IEDs will happen. If you're going to pull
us out of the cities, then pull us out [of everything] and not say, 'You still
have to do this and do that'."
But you can't pull out completely, said Staff Sergeant St Pierre, "and watch
them fall on their ass. We're going to have to take things nice and slow, see
how things go. And if we have to project more combat power inside and help them
out again - if the government of Iraq requests that - that's how we will go."
Copyright (c) 2007, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of
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