Ramadan, the 19 August bombings, and other stuff

Sorry for the lack of update all week. No excuse.

The Islamic holiday of Ramadan started on the 22d. Ramadan is a period of fasting and abstainment from sinful things during the day, and festive dinners "breaking of the fast" at night. During the day, nothing can touch the lips: no water, no gum, no food, no cigarettes, nothing, all in sacrifice and honor to God. The time of Ramadan is based off the lunar calendar, so it fluctuates every year when it occurs. It just so happens that this time Ramadan happens during the hottest part of the year, so the Iraqis really don't do much of anything during the day. Nighttime is a different story; they kind of go reverse cycle, and it lasts around a month. They end Ramadan with the Eid al Fitr, which is sort of like Thanksgiving and Christmas rolled into one. It is an interesting holiday. The only thing comparable to Ramadan in our Christian culture might be lent, but muslims don't have a big blowout "Fat Tuesday" or anything like a Mardi Gras beforehand. To us, it is just another thing we have to work around to get some advising done.

19 August was not a good day in Iraq. It was the day a couple of big bombs went off in Baghdad outside the Ministry of Finance and another building: 75 killed and 500 or so wounded. There were some other blasts in Babil and up north. I got to go to a big meeting in Baghdad at the Baghdad Operations Center (BOC) where the BOC Commander (the equivalent of a US Corps Commander) gave guidance to his Division Commanders. The bombings sort of punched them in the nose, and brought them back down to earth a little bit, as after 30 June the Iraqi Security forces (ISF) sort of got a little big for their britches. What was interesting about the bombings and their reaction is that they did not ask for assistance, and they handled events on their own.

With regards to the effects of the bombings, the country didn't (or hasn't yet) death-spiraled into chaos and sectarian violence again. Politically they are handling things moderately well; there is much jockeying for power, they aren't doing much about fixing a lot of the problems, but the government is holding together, even with the recent death of prominent Shiite Abdul Aziz Al Hakim (which of course involves another pilgrimage south to Karbala and Najaf, down the road right outside our compound...). The January elections for Prime Minister will be the next decisive point for the Government of Iraq (GOI).

I'm reading an interesting book called the American Patriot's Handbook. It is a collection of essays and important documents in US history: Stuff like Patrick Henry's 'give me liberty or give me death' speech, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other documents spanning our 230 years of independence. Every time I get frustrated with the GOI, their inefficiency, the infighting, and general madness, I try to remember Iraq is a country that is simultaneously establishing its sovereignty, enduring an insurgency, a civil war, a civil rights movement, establishing a government, and repelling foreign invaders, all in about six years. We experienced all of these things too, but we did it over the course of 230+ years. It gives hope to think that if they can make it past this, maybe they will make it.

I have some other stuff about how the US does Targeting and how we are trying to teach this convoluted square peg process to the round hole Iraqi Army, but I'll save it for later.

Hope you are well-- take care.
Ron

Logistics:

Holy crap, it's hot...

Kinda warm this week.

With regards to the uptick in violence, it is interesting to see the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Government reaction. The bombs in Baghdad and Babil killed over 100 and injured over 700 all total. Iraq got punched in the nose. Lots of theories abound over who did it. Most point to Al Qaeda, others point to political parties that are Maliki's rivals, trying to show the Government is incapable of providing security and essential services for the people. But, to the Government's credit and the Army's credit, they detained 11 high ranking military officials who were responsible for the lax security.

Wow, accountability in Government. How novel. Wonder if you'd ever see that in America.

I watched my Iraqi Brigade Commander hold a meeting with his Battalion Commanders last night. I had a laundry list of recommendations to pose to him to improve security, but I waited until after the meeting to discuss the issues with him. As he spoke with his commanders, he was deliberate, precise, and relevant. One by one he made all of the same comments I would have. He closed the meeting with his intent to execute over 200 warrants for bad guys in the next two days. They started at 5am this morning.

It was good to observe. Maybe I am jaded, or too attached to the unit, having been here for 10 months, but in our area the IA seems very capable. I hope it stays that way.

Ramadan starts tomorrow. That should be interesting.

Hope you are well-- take care.

Ron

Amazing What You Learn in Iraq

An Electrical Power System has four components: A generation station, a bunch of transmission station, some distribution sub-stations, and then loads. At each station, electricity is stepped up or down to move or distribute power accordingly. Normal power grip operation is where generation exceeds demand, and generation is matched to load.

Iraq's power is pushed in different kilo voltages: 400kv, 132kv, 33kv, 11kv. Iraq can generate power at the 400 - 132kv, but the current problem with power in Iraq is from the 11kv down to the loads where power is reduced from 11kv to 240 volts and the end user at commercial and residential loads, where demand far exceeds current capacity. Further complicating the problem is power theft, people tapping into lines on the sides trying to get by in the face of power outages, further overloading the grid.

Electricity is a civil service, a benefit to the people that the insurgent can't provide. It is the biggest gripe of the people in our area. No electricity means I only get power for two hours a day, so I can't run my AC unit in my house, so I get all irritated at the Government. I also can't run my refrigerator, and then all my food goes bad. Less than 12 hours of continuous power also means the pumps that supply water to the irrigation canals don't run and not enough water is pumped from the Euphrades, which means my crops die from lack of water, so then I can't sell my vegetables in the market or grow food for my livestock (and they need water to drink too). No electricity also means that a local factory can't operate at capacity, so it has to let people go, and unemployment goes up. So I get mad at the Government, and I start listening to crazy guys talk about how we should revert to 'traditional' Islam where we flog women for going out uncovered, schools are razed for teaching 'impure' things like reading and writing, and men in the market get their hands chopped off for mixing tomatoes and cucumbers in the market (one is female, the other is male, and in 'traditional Islam' they say it is unholy to mix male things with female things).

Counterinsurgency Doctrine tells us that people are the center of gravity. If the people are on your side, they will turn on the insurgent and support Government, as it does a better job of taking care of me than the insurgent does. So electricity is an important part of establishing a legitimate Government. The Brigade I am attached to figured out that if we can augment production at the distribution level (33kv - 11kv) with additional generators, lines, transformers, switch gear, isolator switches, and production and relay equipment, we can provide 12 hours of continuous power to those regions which currently don't have it. They plan to spend a bunch of money on power generation in our area in the coming days. The deal is that whatever we buy has to be maintained by the Ministry of Electricty, which apparently they have agreed to support.

Twelve hours of power equals running water pumps which irrigate fields, ACs that work when it's 118 outside, and refrigerators that actually refrigerate, which hopefully makes people happy and more confident in the Government, which makes Iraq more stable.

Too easy, right?

Ron

Intense Boredom

I suppose being bored here is good. That means nothing bad is happening. But it sure is boring. There really isn't much to write about that hasn't already been said. Not sure if that is because I'm just not noticing anything new because of the same routine, or if it is because of the Security Agreement, or what. But we are bored. And we still have 60 or so days left.

We do chase the boogey man a lot. I think sometimes we manufacture an enemy to give the big staffs something to do. Not everything in Iraq is perfect; far from it actually, but it is improving. More importantly, it's not our problem anymore, and the Iraqis are slowly figuring this out. The IA is realizing we will one day leave, and they are trying to bleed us dry of everything. "When you leave, will you take ?" The 'Gimme Gimme' bus is in station, and the IA is trying to fill it up. Sadly, every time a US unit gives them something (fuel, water, parts, etc) we are enabling the addiction. You do sort of feel sorry for them. But then again, they had their chance to win. And they lost.

I have no doubt we will leave a bunch of stuff behind, but that's for somebody smarter than me to figure out. Until then, I'll make sure we lock everything up...

Things should pick up this week. And Ramadan is coming up, too.

Hope you are well- take care.
Ron

Yesterday's bombings and what they mean

A bunch of stuff blew up yesterday, but not much was made of it. The bombings are likely done by Sunni extremists trying to incite civil war 2006 style (pure speculation on my part).

But nobody made a big deal about it-- after all, it is Iraq, and as callous as it may sound, things do tend to blow up from time to time. All the news reports (American; the Iraqis didn't make much of it) painted a picture of doom and gloom, and hinted we were taking steps backwards. My view (tunneled through my Iraqi unit) is that they are as good as they are willing to let us make them, and from here they have to figure it out for themselves.

Except this one, which I thought paints an accurate picture: http://www.newsweek.com/id/211298

Yesterday I went to the big American base by the airport for a logistics run, and I had to go see finance to get a pay issue resolved. Life looked overly normal there. Those people are fighting a different war. It looks like we imported a US Garrison state and mindset, complete with buffed floors, EO Policy bulletin boards, and flyers for salsa nite at MWR. Makes you wonder how we are ever going to get all that nice living crap home by 2012.

It was another day in Iraq, I suppose, and there are only less than 70 left.

Hope all's well- take care.
Ron

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media

That's my favorite line for every news story coming out of Iraq these days. Makes you wonder about their sources.

It has been a good week for the Brigade. This week was the Shiite Muslim holiday of Shabaniya, which involves yet another pilgrimage to Karbala for a celebration of the birth of the 12th Imam, who never really died, and who is supposed to come back like Jesus. Not as many walkers as Arba'een, maybe the heat has something to do with it. It was a big show in Karbala, and one that involved a tremendous amount of security along the march route, which was right outside our door. There were no incidents in the Brigade's sector, another tribute to their growing ability to execute and provide security for their area. We as Americans decided to lay low on this one, and the IA had complete autonomy, with little to no Americans present outside. While there was violence in the country (some smaller bombs in Baghdad, and one up north) the march overall went off unopposed. As callous as it may sound, it is a Muslim country, and things do tend to explode from time to time in Muslim countries. In our area, security continues to improve.

Here's me on an aerial recon of the pilgrimage:

We even did two things at once this week! The Brigade's Mortar Battery was selected in a competition to "compete in the finals" against another Brigade for top Mortar Battery Honors. The Battery has been working hard, and two guys on our team have been in the shadows advising as needed, but they aren't needed much. Not sure what the winners get, but I bet it involves a big trophy for the Brigade Commander's office, and not much of anything for the soldiers. Such is the way of the IA...

I'll be honest; we are getting bored and running out of ideas and stuff to work with them on. What they do isn't perfect, but it works for them.

We have a week before Ramadan (yet ANOTHER Muslim holiday) starts. It will be another big test for the Brigade, but I think they will do ok.

Hope all's well- take care.

Ron

Occasionally things do go right

I'm a little late in posting this, but better late than never.

The one area that took us the longest to get after was training. The Brigade was averse to conducting any kind of initial, supplemental, or sustainment training until about June, when we finally cracked the nut. The Brigade Commander now sees the value in scheduling and executing training to make his soldiers better. If we could only get him to resource it, it would be nirvana, or as close to nirvana as we are going to get.

We conducted a three week Commando course for five soldiers per Battalion and soldiers at the Brigade. The intent of the training was to create 'train the trainers' so the students would then go back and teach what they learned to their Battalions. The actual training was fairly simple-- regular "10 level tasks" that our initial entry Soldiers do every day, and the Junood picked it up well. Topics included map reading, urban operations, tactical movements, support by fire positions, marksmanship, and first aid. The event culminated in a graduation "capstone" exercise complete with live ammunition. The big victory was getting the IA to buy into the training idea, and then getting the IA to conduct the training. The real lessons were that the IA leadership learned a lot about how to conduct training. On Thursday, 30 July, we graduated 28 from our first class.

The big victories in this short video are controlled fire, controlled movement, and somebody in charge-- All rarities in regular IA operations. These guys worked together pretty well, and they worked hard over the course of three weeks to get this far. I wish I had a before video, but I don't.

Below is an article from the Stars and Stripes that says a lot about the Iraqi Security Forces and their abilities. The current Shabaniya pilgrimage to Karbala will be another "capstone" for the Brigade, and so far so good.

Security Pact gives Iraqi Security Forces a New Swagger - Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes. Turki Atiah Thamer and Mohrfakh Ali Namdar rolled through Khadamiyah to inspect checkpoints in the well-worn Chevy pickup that is the trademark vehicle of the Iraqi National Police force, wagging an AK-47 out the window while waving traffic to pass. On the bustling streets of this Baghdad neighborhood, there’s no body armor, no hulking, blast-resistant trucks - and no American soldiers in sight. “Iraqis are taking over,” Thamer said. “The people appreciate that.” US troops have become a sort of nocturnal curiosity in Iraq’s cities, rarely seen except for the occasional camouflage mushroom of a helmet peeking out of a gunner’s hatch during a pre-dawn convoy. For a month now, since the June 30 pullback of American troops from urban areas to their bases, such convoys have been sharply restricted, operating only late at night and early in the morning - and then only with Iraqi approval. When they do roll, the Americans draw puzzled looks from local residents and the occasional unfriendly greeting from their Iraqi counterparts. In Khadamiyah, both a commercial and Shiite religious center, the differences from a few weeks ago are striking. Before June 30, Humvees and large armored trucks known as MRAPs ruled the roads and soldiers on foot patrol were a common sight. Under the new rules, US combat soldiers can patrol if their Iraqi counterparts request it - but it hasn’t happened.

Hope you are well. Take care-

Ron