A Soldier's Perspective

Iraqis Gain More Autonomy and Sovereignty Through Peace and Stability

March 5th, 2009 by CJ

In July 2008, Major General David G. Perkins became the Director for Strategic Effects, CJ-9, Multi-National Force-Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq. In this capacity, he coordinates and implements political, economic, and communications activities on behalf of the MNF-I. MG Perkins also serves as a spokesman for MNF-I.

Today, I sat down (virtually through teleconference) along with a few other prominent bloggers and reporters to speak about the President's plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. For those that aren't aware, MG Perkins was my Brigade Commander when I deployed to Kuwait in 2002 and then when we received orders and crossed the border into Iraq. The 2nd BCT was the tip of the spear and we were lucky to have competent leadership for that effort, as well as our follow-on mission to Fallujah. At the risk of sounding a bit suck-upish, MG Perkins is a brilliant leader and one I'd take a bullet for any day. His tactical competence is genius. You can read about those fun times by clicking my "Iraq War Journal" link on the sidebar.

On January 1st, the US and Iraqi governments signed a security agreement that changes the way authorities flow in country. Missions in Iraq will continue to be conducted in conjunction with Iraqi security forces and will be approved by the Iraqi government just as they have for the past year or so.

Among other changes, Soldiers are no longer allowed to detain Iraqi citizens without warrants and must be turned over to Iraqi authorities within 24 hours. This is complicated process that has become standard operating procedure as judges are used throughout the vetting process. These efforts give greater autonomy and sovereignty over to the Iraqi government and continue to seed the efforts for a peaceful and productive Iraq.

For the first time ever, Iraqis recently voted for candidates for political office at all levels of government last month. In the past, Iraqis voted for parties and not individuals. Those parties then put individuals in place as they saw fit. As you can imagine, the Iraqi people were not happy with those people and virtually all incumbant politicians were voted out of office (something we can learn from here in our country). Over 14,000 candidates legally registered to fill over 400 slots. More than 7 million iraqis voted in the election, which was a resounding success.

Additionally, the US military is in the process of transitioning most facilities and areas over to the government of Iraq, according to MG Perkins. The Green Zone was transitioned on 1 January; the palace was given back to the government of Iraq; Basra airport was returned to Iraqi control; and an additional 30 areas and facilities are now being managed and controlled by Iraqis. The transition is moving along fairly rapidly.

"So just in the last 60 days, we have had some very historic events which have had some very significant impacts here in Iraq," noted Perkins. "And I can tell you, on the whole, things are going quite well and these changes are for the better."

As we all know by now, all combat operations in Iraq will cease on August 31, 2010. President Obama has also announced that ALL forces will be withdrawn in 2011. What should be noted here is that US and Iraqi forces will continue with its counterinsurgency mission up until August 30, 2010 or until the insurgents realize it isn't worth fighting and just give in to peace. US forces will continue to draw down and the possibility stands that "combat forces" will be out of Iraq sooner than that date, depending on conditions on the ground.

MG Perkins announced that all US forces will be out of all Iraqi cities by June of this year. This is a process that is already in place and not something new mandated by the Commander in Chief as part of his plan.

"The strategy is not changing," MG Perkins said. "It is just being fought primarily by iraqi forces, not us." The mission is not changing, just the people conducting it. US forces have already reduced their numbers by nearly 25% from surge levels while the capabilities and number of Iraqi military and security forces has increased.

It wasn't but a year ago that we were suffering over 190 attacks PER DAY in Iraq. Thanks in large part to the surge and efforts by our men and women in Iraq, that number is now less than 10 per day. Perkins said that the model being used today has proved to work rather well.

While our troops are moving out, the Iraqis are moving in. This is key to ensuring that we don't repeat the mistakes of Vietnam. When the government decided to withdraw troops from Vietnam, there wasn't any care or thought into the vacuum being created and the levels of violence increased. Helicopters of withdrawing American troops were shot down and the result was more casualties.

As the mission draws down, Iraqis are filling that void. There will not be a lack of protection for our troops as we leave the country. MNF-I is going through a "fairly rigorous planning process" to identify what the transition force structure will look like. Obviously, troops will be left on the ground to advise, coach, teach, and mentor the Iraqi security forces through 2011.

As a follow-on, I asked MG Perkins what is being done to ensure that the neighboring countries, as we start to pull out, aren't going to try and make power plays to control the transition.

"The Iraqi government has been very active recently in going out and reaching out to their neighbors here in the Middle East, as has the U.S. embassy here," he said. "As you know, a number of Arab embassies have recently been stood up here. They're sending their ambassadors here. And we're starting to see foreign investment come in.

"And so the Iraqis are very cognizant of the situation they're in. They have made multiple statements as to their desire to have normal bilateral relationships with its neighbors, based on commerce, trade, exchange of our cultural type things, education things. But they don't want them based on malign influence.

"And so the prime minister has been very specific with Iran and other of its neighbors that have facilitated foreign terrorist flow, that have facilitated explosives coming into the country, and said that that will not stand. And so, for instance, the Iraqi government has put a lot of effort into its border security. Its Department of Border Enforcement is receiving additional training, additional forces. Significant emphasis has been placed on sort of sophisticated measures along the border for electronic surveillance."

All in all, this is good news for us. While I'm not a big fan of announcing a date for draw downs, this gives the American people a point on the horizon with which they can plan huge parades in honor our returning troops for a well-deserved victory! I hope our government, who professes to care about the troops, doesn't drop the ball on this huge opportunity to walk the walk. They should get started now lining up sponsors and getting the American people behind the homecoming of the longest deployment of American troops since WWII.

Posted in Military Perspective