The Logistics of Leaving Iraq – Part Five: Last Convoys

This is the fifth and final post of our Leaving Iraq series, detailing the logistics involved in ending military operations in Iraq.

 Vehicles streamed by, neon blurs of yellow and red. Cars, vans, and 18-wheelers alike honked their “hellos” to the group of paratroopers walking along the dark edge of the highway. Their footfalls came quickly in an attempt to warm their feet, numbed from the cold, until they fell in cadence with the morning Call to Prayer blaring over loudspeakers.

It was barely 5 a.m. and these troopers were already on the streets, their mission to check the route for roadside bombs and ensure the security of the road for U.S. convoys passing through from Baghdad. This was the day Camp Victory was to transition to Iraqi control.

These were not infantry Soldiers, but a group of military police paratroopers who have grown familiar with the area they patrol every day.

The MPs assigned to Headquarters Company, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, had been conducting daily missions in the area since moving to Camp Taji from Al-Asad Air Base in early October.

“We’re the only platoon that’s rolled out every day since we’ve been here,” said Pfc. Tyler Laflamme, an MP.

At Al-Asad, the MPs conducted and oversaw training exercises for local Iraqi Police. Now, their objective was to help ensure the safe passage of U.S. convoys as they travel south through Taji in preparation for the withdrawal of military forces to Kuwait.

“MPs do everything plus some,” said Sgt. Michael Drake, an MP.

During this morning’s patrol, Drake and his fellow MPs walked along for more than two hours while their armored vehicles made circuits around the area, shining floodlights into dark corners in search of possible roadside bombs. The paratroopers passed by multiple Iraqi army checkpoints during their journey; each tower was manned by one or two Iraqi soldiers, wrapped in thick clothes and huddled around small fires. The troopers waved hello, but ignored the inviting warmth and ventured further into the darkness.

As the sun began to peak over the tops of local buildings, each paratrooper took a knee and watched as dozens of U.S. military vehicles passed by, the 2/82 convoy they were there to protect. These vehicles also honked their horns in appreciation for the soldiers on the ground ensuring their safety.

Normally an infantry platoon would be sent out to conduct such a task, but Staff Sgt. Mark Garber said as paratroopers, conducting this type of mission is fundamental.

“This is a basic skill. Everyone should be able to do this,” said Garber.

However, he added that his MPs might actually have an advantage over other military specialties when it comes to ensuring the safety of a convoy.

“One of our main jobs as MPs is maneuver and mobility,” he added confidently. “Route security is our specialty.”

By Sgt. Kissta Feldner, 82nd Airborne for Army.mil.

Biden Trip Marks New Alliance with Iraq

By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2011 – Troops may be leaving Iraq by year’s end, but meetings yesterday between Vice President Joe Biden and Iraqi leaders promise continuing civilian engagement between the two sovereign nations after the end of the War in Iraq, a senior administration official said in Baghdad.

After co-chairing a meeting of the U.S.-Iraq Higher Coordinating Committee with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Biden held separate meetings with Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi.

“They covered a broad array of issues in these meetings, including the transition to a civilian lead in Iraq for the United States [and] the security relationship going forward,” the official told journalists traveling with the vice president.

“They talked about the resolution of some of Iraq’s remaining international issues,” he added, including obligations under Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations placed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of and war with Kuwait, and its current relationship with Kuwait.

Biden and the Iraqi leaders, the official said, also discussed regional issues, including those involving Syria, Turkey and Iran.

On the topic of Iran, the vice president “made clear something that we’ve made clear repeatedly, which is, one, we fully expect Iraq to have a relationship with Iran,” the official said.

“There’s a long border and a long history [between the countries],” the official added, “and that is fully understood. But what is not acceptable and not understood would be to in any way allow Iran to use our presence in Iraq as a target.”

The United States has committed in the past not to use Iraq as a staging ground to act against other countries, he said, and that includes Iran.

“Reciprocally,” he added, “it is fully our expectation that the government of Iraq not allow Iraq to be used as an area to target U.S. personnel.”

Biden and the Iraqi leaders also discussed Arab-Kurd relations, internal security -- especially the need to keep pressure on violent extremist groups -- and Maliki’s visit in Washington with President Barack Obama later this month.

“All of this is very powerful evidence that the United States is not disengaging from Iraq,” the official said. “Rather, the nature of our engagement is changing from what has been a military lead to a civilian lead.”

The United States has “moved, as the vice president put it, from the security agreement that governed our military operations in Iraq to the strategic framework agreement, which is the basis for this comprehensive new relationship.”

As is the case at other embassies around the world, the official added, an Office of Security Cooperation has been established in Iraq to help Iraqis acquire and then learn how to use military equipment they buy from the United States.

In Iraq, that office will include 157 people assigned to the U.S. embassy and under the authority of the ambassador, he said, and some who might come in on individual contracts for two or three months at a time to help the Iraqis train on U.S. equipment.

“What we’re talking about going forward as possibilities of training beyond the Office of Security Cooperation includes things like … doing ongoing training of Iraqis outside of Iraq in other countries [and] integrating Iraqis into regional exercises,” the official added.

Today at Al Faw Palace at Camp Victory, Iraq, Biden spoke at an event hosted by the Iraqi government and held to honor the sacrifices of U.S. and Iraqi forces. "History will record that the liberation of our country was not only an important turning point in Iraq, but it was an important beginning for the region," Talibani said, referring to events of the Arab Spring.

Maliki thanked former President George W. Bush for signing the U.S.-Iraq status of forces agreement, which established the parameters for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq. He also thanked Obama for seeing the agreement through.

"Because of you and the work those of you here have done, we are now able to end this war,” Biden said, adding that the Iraqi people have not and will not yield again to any kind of external domination.

Biden was presented with a medal called a “shield of commitment," as were Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commanding general of U.S. Forces Iraq, Jeffrey D. Feltman, assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, and ambassadors from other countries who fielded coalition forces.

After the ceremony, Biden met privately with troops for photos before traveling to Erbil in northern Iraq, 50 miles east of Mosul.

There Biden met with Kurdish Regional Government President Masoud Barzani at the official’s ceremonial residence before boarding his aircraft for Ankara, Turkey, the first stop on a four-day trip to Turkey and Greece.

Air Force Iraq Mission Likely to Increase Before It Ends

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2011 – As the American presence in Iraq draws down, the U.S. Air Force mission in the nation likely will increase, Air Force Maj. Gen. Russell J. Handy said.

Handy -- commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force and director of the Air Component Coordination Element in Iraq -- discussed the Air Force mission in Iraq and the way forward during a telephone interview from his headquarters at Camp Victory in Baghdad.

“We have to continue doing the same things we’ve been doing supportwise that we have been doing through the entire transition,” the general said.

The command is responsible for coordinating and enabling air operations in the country. “As we continue to draw down the land component, we will continue to fly cover overhead,” Handy said. He anticipates that the number of U.S. Air Force sorties will trend up in the next few months to cover the drawdown.

This includes the full range of missions, from close-air support to strategic airlift, he said. It also entails armed overwatch of U.S. troops conducting partnered operations with Iraqi forces and aiding U.S. forces as they defend installations and protect convoys.

And intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance “is a huge part of our mission area, and we will continue to fly that,” he added.

Some 46,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq today, and all are set to leave by the end of the year as part of the U.S.-Iraq security agreement signed in 2008. This will mean an influx of mobility forces coming into Iraq, Handy said.

“That is a growth area for the Air Force here between now and the end of the year as we start to pull forces out,” he said. “We will need a lot of airlift.”

This is not just C-130 Hercules tactical airlift, but involves giant C-17 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy transport jets. These aircraft will require tanker aircraft and other support, so this will be a busy time for airmen in country, Handy said.

Meanwhile, the general said, the command is in the process of turning over air bases to the Iraqi air force.

In addition, the U.S. Air Force has a number of units and individual airmen embedded with U.S. Army units in Iraq.

“These airmen are engineers, security forces, intelligence professionals and medics,” Handy said.

Also, a number of airmen are working with experts at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to rebuild the Iraqi transportation system.

“They need to build that from the ground up -- from radars and communications linkages to training air traffic controllers and to fit all that together,” Handy said. The airmen have been transferring “chunks” of Iraqi airspace to the Iraqis for the past two years, he noted, and the U.S. Air Force is responsible for a small segment at lower altitudes of central Iraq.

“Our requirements through the end of the year won’t go down, and in some cases will increase,” the general said. The command will do that in combination with Air Force units from outside the country, he added.

Handy’s command also assists the Iraqi air force and the Iraqi army’s aviation command. The U.S. Air Force partners with Iraqi airmen where it can. “We do partner, advise, assist and train with the Iraqis in every mission area within their capabilities,” Handy said.

As Iraqi capabilities increase, U.S. airmen pull back, the general said. For example, he said, the Iraqis operate their own tactical airlift program with no U.S. involvement.

The Iraqis have run the C-130 squadron on their own since 2009, the general said. In addition, the Air Force partners with the Iraqis in intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance platforms. The Iraqi military has a fledgling ISR capability that has, despite its newness, had significant operational successes.

“We partner with them at the squadron and on the ground, and in the operations center to integrate that ISR,” Handy said.

The Air Force element in Iraq partners with all levels of the Iraqi air force, from the air college in Tikrit to initial pilot training, “and just about everything in between,” the general said.

The American force does not partner with the Iraqis on fixed-wing close-air support, the general said, because the Iraqis do not have that capability yet.

Much remains to be done in Iraq, Handy said, but his command, too, will leave by the end of the year. He said he anticipates that the Office of Security Cooperation in the U.S. Embassy will continue to work with the Iraqi military as the Iraqi air force continues to grow.

Extremists Use Iranian Weapons, Iraq Command Spokesman Says

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, July 11, 2011 – There is no doubt that deadly weapons being used against American forces in Iraq originated in Iran, a U.S. Forces Iraq spokesman said here today.

Army Maj. Gen. Jeff Buchanan led reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on a tour of Joint Task Force Troy here, where they were free to talk to the men and women who examine all enemy ordnance to determine its origin and to look for ways to defeat the threat or prosecute those who launch attacks.

Part of the unit is the combined explosive exploitation cell laboratories. “When p[explosive ordnance disposal] teams go out and they respond to an explosive event, they collect whatever evidence they find and bring it back,” said a military official at the unit, speaking on background. “We take that evidence and take it apart and exploit it.”

The team looks at the weapon from a technical and chemical viewpoint. “You put all those puzzles together, and you can determine where they are from,” the official said. The team also can sweep the weapons for fingerprints and DNA evidence.

Buchanan showed the reporters evidence tracing weapons used in many different attacks to Iran. One piece was an IRAM, short for ‘improvised rocket-assisted mortar.” The extremists took the rocket motor off a 240 mm rocket and attached a much larger warhead. They generally are shot in volleys, the general said.

Fifteen Americans were killed in Iraq in June. Nine of the dead were from just two attacks.

Reporters also saw what the military calls “explosively formed penetrators,” or EFPs for short. These roadside bombs can cut through the thickest and hardest armor.

“We could armor up a vehicle so an EFP charge couldn’t penetrate it, but the vehicle would be so heavy it couldn’t move,” the official said.

Neither weapon is something someone can produce on a lathe in a garage. The EFP requires very precise machining, and the explosive charge is cast. For the IRAM to be effective, it requires specially machined parts to attach the larger warhead to the missile.

The firing mechanisms are factory-made electronic parts that have no other use than firing off IRAMs or EFPs.

And the forensic teams can categorically state that the weapons are from Iran. In one case, an IRAM built in Iran was turned over to the Quds Force – part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard – and then given to an Iraqi extremist in Kitab Hezbollah, a terrorist group that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Quds Force, officials said.

Iran supplying munitions to the extremists alarms Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander of U.S. Forces Iraq. The general said the extremists are turning to these weapons to appear as if they are driving the Americans from Iraq. What disturbs him most is that the attacks indicate “there are folks with significant experience who are involved with trying to help develop the techniques and procedures for employing these weapons,” he said during an earlier interview.

Extremists have experimented with IRAMs since 2007.

“The two most recent attacks, we’ve seen them be a bit more effective than in the past,” he said, because the extremists are getting help from people who understand rocket science. “We’re seeing more powerful EFPs, and they seem to have matured the ability to aim these things a bit more,” the general added.

The team here is using the forensics they’ve developed to take down networks of bomb-makers. Iraqi judges are using this evidence to put the killers in jail.

When the Iraqi police or army capture the people linked to these weapons, all forensic and intelligence evidence points straight back to Iran, officials here said.

Austin Gives Insight Into Drawdown, Possible Aid to Iraq

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, July 11, 2011 – Iraqi leaders are having an intense and ongoing dialogue about whether to ask U.S. forces to remain in Iraq after the scheduled Dec. 31 withdrawal date, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said here today.

Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta.

Some 46,000 American service members still are in Iraq, and the command here has made preparations to begin withdrawing the remaining forces by the end of the year. The withdrawal date was set as part of a U.S.-Iraq security agreement signed in 2008.

U.S. forces will continue to train Iraqi security forces, Austin said. “There are some things they need to do to ensure they have the capability they need for the future to protect their sovereignty,” he explained. Overall, he added, the Iraqis need to continue to work on their governmental institutions, especially rule of law.

Preparations for the drawdown have already begun, Austin said. The command went from 92 bases in January to 52 today. “We’ve done that while remaining engaged with the Iraqi security forces and helping and training them as best we can,” the general said. “We’ve also redeployed about 1 million pieces of equipment, and we’ve got about a million or so to go in the next several months.”

Though Austin wouldn’t give a specific timeline for the redeployment, he did say the longer it continues, the harder it would be to reverse it. “It’s evident to everyone that once we get into the October [and] November time frame, you are really taking things apart that are difficult to put back together,” he said.

Under the security agreement, Iraq – as the host country – is responsible for providing security for U.S. forces, Austin noted. “We fully expect the Iraqis will do that,” the general said. “We continue to work with them as partners to address threats. That’s always the first option. If there is something I need to do to protect my soldiers, and there is not a way to do that through the Iraqis, I will do what needs to be done to make sure my troops are protected.”

The general said redeploying the Americans out of the country is the easy part. “The harder parts are moving the mountains of equipment and closing the bases,” he said. “Ideally, what you want to do if you were me is maintain as much capability to protect yourself as you can for as long as you can. As you get closer to the fall, it becomes harder and harder to do.”

All this could change if Iraq requests that American help continue after the Dec. 31 deadline. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and others believe the Iraqis will need American help in the years ahead, Austin said.

“Prime Minister Maliki has said he has an emerging capability to provide for the internal security, but they still need to work on intelligence collection, logistics and those types of things,” Austin said. “But he has been clear about his inability to protect the skies, some concerns about the borders, and [that] there is more work that needs to be done about combined arms training with the new equipment he is getting.”

Austin said he agrees with the prime minister’s assessment.

“There clearly is work that needs to continue, but it is their choice as to how they go about doing that,” he said. “We can help them, [or] they can ask for help from a number of other sources.

“Quite frankly, we’re not pushing the Iraqis to ask us for help,” Austin continued. “All we’re saying is if they are going to ask us for help, [they should know] that sooner is better for us, because it will not cause us to disassemble things that we will then have to spend money to reassemble at a later date.”

While U.S. troops in Iraq are aware of the approaching deadline, they simply are going about their missions, the general said.

“They are trying to do as much as they can to develop their force,” Austin said. “I have folks out there helping advise, train and assist Iraqi forces. We’ve been involved in providing security for the provincial reconstruction teams.

“With 46,000 troops that are working throughout the country, you don’t have a lot of slack,” he said. “Everybody is punching way above their weight class. And they are excited about helping create the Iraqi forces.”

Iraq Moving Forward to Establish Democracy, Panetta Says

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, July 11, 2011 – Though Iraq has developed the leaders it needs to move the country forward, forming a democracy has its perils, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said here today.

Iraq is developing a democracy that can be an important example to other nations in the region, Panetta told service members during a talk at the Hope Chapel.

Americans must have patience with the nascent Iraqi democracy, the secretary said.

“We may not agree with everything they do. Sometimes it’s difficult as they work their way through the issues,” he said. “But the nature of a democracy … is you’ve got to fight your way through these issues. People are going to disagree, [and] there are people that are going to have different views. That’s got to play out.”

But waiting as these issues play out can be frustrating, the secretary acknowledged.

“I’d like things to move a lot faster here in terms of the decision-making process,” Panetta said. “I’d like them to make a decision. I’d like them to make the decision: Do they want us to stay, or not stay? Do they want to get a minister of defense or don’t they want to get one? But damn it, make a decision!”

Still, Panetta said, that’s the nature of a democracy. The dialogue will go on, and it is healthy, he added.

Iraq is moving in the right direction, the secretary told the service members. “I think there’s a lot of hope here,” he said. “Bottom line here is the reason there’s hope here is because of you guys. Take that home with you.”

Panetta spoke to the service members about the changes he has seen in Iraq.

“The first time I came to this country was as a member of the Iraq Study Group [in 2006], and this place was in turmoil,” he said. “As a result of the great sacrifice and work of the United States military, this country is on a much better path.”

In an era of the Arab Spring -- with demands for democracy being made from Tunisia to Syria to Yemen -- Iraq is a symbol for the rest of the nations in the area, Panetta said, opening up the possibility for “better rights, better dignity, better opportunities” for their people.

More work to be done in Iraq, Panetta said, and Iraqis and Americans must work together to ensure all the sacrifices that brought the country to this point are not in vain.

The secretary pointed to the soldiers, sailors and airmen and told them they have made a real difference. “The test in life is whether or not people look to you and say, ‘That person made a difference,’” Panetta said. “I can look at you and say each of you, in your own way, has made a difference.”

In honor of that commitment, Panetta pledged to the service members that he will fight for them in Washington.

“As you fought here, I will fight in Washington to make sure that you are protected, that you receive the best training [and] the best equipment, that you receive the best support in terms of the benefits that have been promised to you, and that we also protect your families,” he said.