Hopes pinned to Iraqi police as U.S. trainers get ready to exit Basra

The 100 men and women with the Army’s 793rd Military Police Battalion’s headquarters unit have been in Iraq so long they’ve seen units arrive, serve their 12 months, and return home.

Finally, with less than a month to go on one of the Army’s last 15-month tours, the military police are headed back to Bamberg, Germany — "to the hefeweizen (wheat beer)," as one soldier said Saturday.

The unit has spent the last months of their tour working with the Iraqi police in Basra, who are on a 15-month journey of their own.

In March 2008, about the same time the 793rd arrived in Baghdad, the Iraqi army swept through Basra and cleaned out the Shiite-backed militias who waged much of the violence in the area.

During the campaign, some Basra police either joined the militias or abandoned their posts, according to Marine 1st Lt. Mike Masters, the intelligence officer for an Iraqi army training unit inside Basra.

Now the police must try to clean up that bad reputation. The locally-hired police must also prove their worth to the Iraqi army, who are outsiders but remain the dominate law enforcement authority in the city and province, Masters said from his unit’s operation headquarters at Naval Base, a U.S. outpost next to an Iraqi Army base in the city.

The military police units are preparing the police to take over in Basra, one of Iraq’s most populated cities, according to Lt. Col. Mike Blahovec, the 793rd’s battalion commander.

"It’s an important police force, on par with Baghdad," Blahovec said last week during an interview in his office at COB Basra. "The difference here [with the situation in Baghdad] is the partnership is new."

In December, the battalion and its attached companies — 900 military police in all — were among the first U.S. troops to move to Basra to begin the transition from British to U.S. military.

Since then, those police split into about 30 U.S. military police transition teams, called PiTTs. Those teams moved in with Iraqi police around the province, which holds 1.8 million people and the country’s second-largest city.

Currently there are about 20,000 Iraqi police in Basra province, though about 10 percent have yet to go through basic training, which is about average. Iraq is bringing large blocks of recruits in before running them through a training class, according to Army Capt. Jay Cash, a 793rd member and the intelligence officer for the police training team working with the provincial-level police in Basra.

Internally, the Iraqi police’s biggest obstacle remains their supply chain, a common problem in police units throughout the country, Blahovec and others said. Partly that’s a funding problem at the very top of government, they said.

But it’s also partly cultural.

Iraqis tend to look at a successful supply chain as one with a closet full of goods rather than one with a series of empty shelves, even if the materials are simply being used, at smaller stations or among officers, Masters said. To complicate things, it’s a sign of weakness for an Iraqi commander to ask for supplies, the Marine said.

"Just getting them to submit the forms is hard," he said.

Blahovec has similar concerns. But he said the police training teams are making progress in other ways. He also said the U.S. teams have adjusted the way they measure success.

"It’s a subjective assessment you make," he said Thursday. "Are they are at work? In uniform? Are they willing to get out into the community? How are they responding to crimes?"

Some things are more black and white. Last week, the battalion shared one of its "watch lists" of suspected criminals with the No. 2 Iraqi police chief in the province. The general promised to hand over similar information from his troops in the future.

Earlier this month, the top police chief in Basra survived an assassination attempt outside his home. A police lieutenant colonel was not as lucky and died last weekend in an attack.

"The police get targeted just as much as coalition forces," Cash said.

Blahovec said goal is to prepare the Iraqi police to secure Basra without the help of the Iraqi Army.

"At some point the Iraqis will pull the army out of the city," Blahovec said. "Then the police will be the only game in town."

That point may come sooner than the Americans, or the Iraqi army, want. Rumors are that the newly elected Basra officials want the Iraqi army gone as soon as possible, according to Masters.

"We’ve been told that it’s coming down," Masters said. "The [Iraqi police] can’t handle it yet."

Britons hail successes in Basra - Middle East Times

British defense officials praised the success of the Iraqi provincial elections and general security improvements during a tour of Basra.

British Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth paid a visit to members of an artillery regiment and military transition teams operating in Basra, the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Ainsworth hailed the work of his troops, saying they helped pave the way to a peaceful election in January that went by with few reports of violence.

"Democracy is flourishing, and people can now go about their daily business," he said.

He added the ability of Iraqi security forces to coordinate operations in the bustling port city, as well as the opportunity for provincial council candidates to campaign openly, was a triumph for British forces.

"I came here a year ago, and Basra was still a troubled place," he said. "It is now a testament to the success of (England's) transition strategy that Iraqis are solving Iraqi problems and Basra is now a secure city."

Click here for the Middle East Times

Going downtown in Basra - DFID

Simon

DFID Representative, Iraq

I’ve been downtown twice in the last couple of weeks now, so I thought it might be interesting to set down some impressions of the city (as well as some photographs). Now that security has improved, we’re out and about in town on a regular basis. One of my trips included a long drive into and through town which gave me a particularly good opportunity to get a sense of the city and how things are doing.

Firstly, the atmospherics (as the military term them) are very positive. I’ve worked in other cities in conflict zones and there’s nothing like getting out on the ground for getting a sense of how you’re viewed. As we drove into town lots of I was positively impressed at the warm reception we received – lots of people waved or gave us the thumbs up and in many ways I found it reassuring that often people didn’t bat an eyelid at our presence either way.

Secondly, it’s very obviously been election time. The provincial elections took place on Saturday, and the city is covered in political posters - and since there were over 1200 candidates there’s a huge range of posters. Maybe this’ll seem simplistic but it looks to me like a town in which the population is engaged in the democratic process (and I’ll write about the elections more shortly). Together with the election posters there are a lot of banners and flags still up from the recent Shia religious festival of Ashura so the streets are nothing if not colourful.

Thirdly, though it’s down at heel and seen better days you can see that the downtown area - particularly the Corniche which runs alongside the Shatt Al Arab waterway, with its cafes and floating restaurants and the canals that spur from it - has real potential to be an attractive location. It’s often repeated to us that Basra used to be the ‘Venice of the east’ and while getting back to that is clearly some way off you can see how that may have been true and how it could be again.

Fourthly, there’s a strong and visible Iraqi Security Force presence – both police and army – on the streets. Checks points are set at regular intervals. Security has improved dramatically, and while the situation remains fragile it is incredibly encouraging that it is now the Iraqi Army that people rely on to provide security, not the UK or US.

Lastly, the city is vast, dirty and in places squalid – the journey into town takes over an hour, much of which runs past obviously poor communities where ramshackle houses stand next to pools of stagnant water and piles of rubbish. Much of this reflects decades of under-investment in the city – the city did particularly badly during the Saddam years (the city’s predominantly Shia and the Saddam punished it by starving it of funding following the Shia uprising in 1992 – it also suffered particularly severely during the Iran-Iraq war).

That said, I’m told by many of the people who’ve been here for a number of years that the city is currently in a better state than they’ve seen it before and that visible progress is being made. And while it’s clear that the city’s going to need years of sustained economic growth and investment in basic infrastructure to bring it to where it should be - given Iraq’s relative wealth – it’s also clear that the city’s moving in the right direction.

To see the blog on the DFID website click here

Voters prepare to test Iraq’s progress - Financial Times

By Andrew England in Basra

The grey, crumbling walls that line Basra's rubbish-strewn streets and surround scruffy buildings have long stood out as examples of the decay that has taken over Iraq's second city after years of violence and neglect.

Yet today, it is as if they have been injected with a new lease of life as they stand plastered with colourful posters that highlight both the different faces of Iraqi society and the battle hotting up for tomorrow's provincial elections. Alongside images of austerelooking bearded men in clerical robes are headshots of women in brightly coloured veils and businessmen in western-style suits, each vying for a seat in Basra's regional government.

Voters head to the polls for the first time in four years in provincial elections that will give an indication of how far Iraq has progressed, as the nation attempts to move away from years of violence to much-needed stability and reconstruction.

For western officials the elections will be a test of the Iraqi security forces' ability to maintain law and order as both the US and the UK look to withdraw their troops - the former in about 16 months, the latter by the end of July. They will also be an important indicator of whether groups that have fuelled much of the violence in recent years are willing to rely on the ballot box rather than bands of militia.

For war-weary Iraqis, fed up with corruption, mismanagement, killing and kidnappings, the polls offer a glimmer of hope that a new generation of politicians may emerge, with a focus on people's needs rather than the corrupt and sectarian politics that have dominated in the post-Saddam era.

"We want to choose the honest one who works for Iraq, not for himself," says Mohammed, a 19-year-old student.

His words are echoed by others in Basra, which has been ruled by Shia Islamist parties since the last polls in 2005 and is in desperate need of reconstruction. As Mohammed speaks a campaign vehicle zooms past with a loudspeaker relaying a candidate's pledge to rebuild and change the once dynamic port.

Such promises have been made before, only to vanish beneath an upsurge in sectarian violence that threatened to tear the nation apart and a despairing sense of malaise, fuelled not only by the bloodshed, but also by rampant corruption and mismanagement. Caution still prevails and turnout will be an important indicator of how many Iraqis are willing to put their faith in a political process that has produced mainly empty promises.

There are marked changes from 2005, in part illustrated by the swath of campaign posters adorning the streets.

It is the first "open list" election, under which voters get to see the candidates, rather than in 2005 when they simply selected from faceless party lists. Back then, most political groups were based on religion, but tomorrow thousands of independents are taking part with 14,000 candidates competing for 440 seats in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces. In Basra, more than 1,200 candidates are competing for just 35 seats, partly a result of security gains that have given candidates the confidence to put themselves forward.

Arab Sunni groups, most of which boycotted the 2005 polls, are involved this time and analysts say the combination of independents and Sunni could go some way to addressing imbalances created four years ago and produce more representative administrations.

In Anbar and Diyala, provinces that were hotbeds of the insurgency, the Awakening Councils, which brought together former Sunni militants to fight against al-Qaeda and who became critical to the US success in stabilising the provinces, will gauge their political strength for the first time.

The provincial vote will act as a bellwether for the main Shia Islamist parties that have dominated the government for the past four years, including the Dawa party of Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, the strongest of the Shia ruling parties, before elections for the national parliament scheduled for this year.

Many eyes will be on the Sadrist movement of Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shia cleric. His group and the Mahdi Army militia, which is nominally loyal to Mr Sadr, was viewed by many as one of the big threats to Iraq's stability.

The Sadrists have suffered setbacks but are thought to still enjoy strong support among the urban poor. They are not contesting the elections but have endorsed two "independent" lists, the success of which may offer some insight into the extent of influence they retain.

Ultimately, how the losers react could be just as critical as who wins.

Click here for the FT online

Iraqi police, military coordinate aid - Middle East Times

Iraqi army units worked alongside their police counterparts to deliver medical supplies from a military base in Basra to Basra Hospital, British forces said.

The Royal Air Force Police and members of U.S. forces supervised a shipment of more than two tons of medical supplies from a military base in Basra, the British Ministry of Defense reported.

"This is a great example of the Iraqi security forces, both army and police, working together to provide operational effect," said RAF Police Commander David Wilkinson.

U.S. military forces had planned the initial operations in 2008 but handed the operation over to Iraqi forces in November as British forces restructured their military presence in Iraq.

British forces in support of Operation Telic reached an agreement with the Iraqi government to maintain a military presence in Iraq following the Dec. 31 expiration of a U.N. mandate for multinational forces in Iraq.

RAF police along with the 21st Military Police Company of the United States coordinated the training of Iraqi police units in Basra, where British forces are stationed.

To see the article on the Middle East Times click here

Iraqi security forces heal old divisions on medical supply run

Another positive step towards autonomy and joint Iraqi Army and Police operations was achieved in Basra when members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) delivered 2 tonnes of medical supplies from the Contingency Operating Base (COB) to Basra Hospital.

The operation was initially planned by members of the Multi National Division Headquarters (MND(SE)) staff working on the COB. The detailed planning and execution of the operation was then handed over to the ISF working in the newly formed Provincial Joint Operations Centre (PJOC) that opened in central Basra in November of last year. The PJOC brings together all the various district security and emergency forces allowing them to combine and co-ordinate their command and control from one central location.

In a highly successful operation the Iraqi Army and Police personnel worked in unison to deliver the medical supplies that had been donated by the US Forces operating from the COB. Two truck loads of supplies left the COB and headed for the Basra Hospital under the mentoring of the US Forces 21st Military Police Company and members of the RAF Police who have been helping to train the Iraqi Police Service.

Squadron Leader David Wilkinson, RAF Police, working in the MND(SE) Headquarters said:

“This is a great example of the Iraqi Security Forces, both army and police, working together to provide operational effect.”

Basra 'Won't Be The Same Again'

Lisa Holland, Foreign affairs correspondent

If British troops pull-out from Basra next spring it will be just over six years since the war in Iraq began.

British servicemen try to win the support of the local children near Basra

That's been six long years of occupation for the people of Basra and beyond - an occupation although not planned this way - which has meant an end to ordinary life.

It's meant insecurity, fear and rising unemployment as the militias battled with British forces and each other to exert their influence.

For years it meant a life of never quite knowing whether a gun battle could happen down your street at any moment.

And it was an occupation that changed the character of a city.

The situation has changed dramatically in Basra since the Iraqi government took on the local militias earlier this year. As a result, the British presence in Basra could be all over by next summer. Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay

Basra used to be a place where people would travel to from neighbouring Kuwait for a beer or just an evening out.

It was a place where female students walked the streets happily in a fashionable mini-skirt - unafraid of the religious fundamentalists who came to exert such influence in recent times.

It's been a long road which began with a honeymoon period for British forces.

In the beginning they used to be able to walk the streets wearing so-called 'soft' berets. Those days soon disappeared.

The British used to have their headquarters down town in an old palace of Saddam Hussein.

The soldiers I went on patrols with called the road out of the palace into town Death Alley.

By June 2006 things were so bad they told me that seven out of ten patrols were hit by some kind of attack - everything from sniper fire to a roadside bomb.

When you got back to base even the toughest of soldiers must surely have heaved a private sight of relief - there was no doubt you took your life in your hands just leaving the base.

Progress has most certainly been made. And it is considerable.

British troops in Basra

In March this year Iraqi security forces fought fierce gun battles with powerful Shi'ite militias in Basra in a major operation aimed at bringing the southern oil city under government control.

It was a critical test of the training they had undergone at the hands of British forces and of the political will of Mr al Maliki to take on the militias who for so long had undermined his control of the country.

It was a pivotal moment. Iraqi security forces passed the test and life in Basra turned a corner.

Things are slowly changing back but life will never be the same again.

For the Iraqi people the hope is that the promises of those invading forces of the spring of 2003 to deliver a better life might finally be round the corner.

Just as long as the militias haven't simply been biding their time until the last Hercules transporter plane takes off from Basra carrying the last of Britain's fighting forces with them.

For more news and video on Sky News click here

County soldiers 'provide enduring legacy' in Iraq

The work of Northamptonshire's soldiers, who have been in Basra to mentor, train and advise the Iraqi army, will provide an "enduring legacy" in the war-torn country.

Soldiers from 2 Royal Anglian and 9th/12th Lancers have been living and working alongside the Iraqi Security Forces in the province since May, providing training courses and protection to the country's army.

To read the full article on the Northampton Chronicle and Echo website click here.

Basra Blog

UK Military spokesman in Iraq, Major Paul Smyth with his latest update from Basra:
I signed off last week as the team were fully engaged planning for the change of Commander Multi National Division (South East) (MND (SE)). The torrent of coverage that followed the transfer and the London briefing that Major General Barney White-Spunner gave, demonstrated that the team out here in Iraq and back in London had delivered what was required.

Headlines likes "Basra, it's absolutely blooming!" paint a very powerful picture of the significant changes that Basra has been experiencing over the past five months. Life here is much better and there is a new sense of optimism, but, there is still much to do.

On top of the reports highlighting the new pace of life here, there were many stories which speculated on troops being pulled out of Iraq. However much that may be the wish of the newspapers, the reality is that we have a valuable and much needed job to do here. One thing that is certain is that the Prime Minister has a long tem strategy, which will mean a fundamental change in mission. But as in any military operation the decision will be made based on conditions on the ground when the time is right.

Across Al Basrah province, UK and US troops are working with the Iraq Army, as well as the Iraqi Police Service. The coalition troops provide a real and much needed capability which is increasing the self reliance of the Iraqi Security Forces so that they can take control of their own city without the need for outside help.

Two days ago there was an explosion near a US police vehicle that was travelling through Northern Basra. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the vehicle survived with very little damage. It wasn't long before the media ops phones started ringing, asking what had happened.
While we were working out what the situation was and passing on the information to the media, the Iraqi Security Services set up a cordon and search operation around the scene of the explosion. What they uncovered was a bomb factory full of IEDs, detonators, rockets and guns which was an impressive find. But what made the whole event so significant, was that an explosion in Basra made headline news.

Major Paul Smyth, RIFLESMND (SE) Press Information Centre Director and spokesman