[Vision2020] Striving for 'Overwhelming Presence' (172nd Stryker Brigade)

[Tom Hansen]

>From the August 28, 2006 edition of the Army Times -

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Striving for 'overwhelming presence'
172nd Stryker team gains influence, brings some peace to 3 Baghdad
neighborhoods

By Sean D. Naylor
Staff Writer

BAGHDAD - The 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team's first operation since the
unit was extended in Iraq and moved to Baghdad began peacefully. Brigade
soldiers swept three neighborhoods in the city's northwest looking for
illicit arms and did not come under attack.

The BCT's Operation Persistent Endeavor began Aug. 13, with the
Stryker-borne troops sealing off Shula, Nur and Ghazilayah with the help of
Iraqi army units. Shula is a Shiite neighborhood, while Nur and Ghazilayah
are home to a mixture of Shiites and Sunnis. Before the 172nd's arrival,
U.S. troops were largely absent from the 25-square-kilometer area, which,
like much of the rest of the Iraqi capital, had been turned over to Iraqi
security forces.

But letting the Iraqis police Baghdad on their own was not working. In late
July, 172nd troops were halted on the eve of redeployment and extended in
the war zone for up to 120 days. They were ordered to Baghdad in an effort
to contain rising sectarian violence. 
 
The three neighborhoods selected for the brigade's first operation were not
picked at random. 

"A disproportionate number of murders have occurred along sectarian dividing
lines where Sunni and Shiite sections of Baghdad meet," said Chief Warrant
Officer 3 Matt Gray, an all-source analysis technician with the 172nd's 4th
Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment. 

The troops are searching each neighborhood house by house, looking for any
weapons beyond the single assault rifle each household is permitted.

On Aug. 17, 4-14 Cav's B Troop found the largest cache of the operation so
far in a farm compound on the northern edge of Shula: Nine 60mm and 82mm
mortar tubes buried under a pile of manure; 600 mortar rounds; thousands of
feet of detonation cord; two 14.5mm heavy machine guns with thousands of
rounds of ammunition and several explosively formed penetrators - the most
lethal explosive device used by insurgents against armored vehicles in
Baghdad.

"It sounds like a big cache, but compared to some of the ones we found in
Rawah [the town in Anbar province where 4-14 spent the past year] it's
tiny," Gray said. The squadron turned up 1,100 anti-tank mines in such a
discovery earlier this year, he added.

The farm where the soldiers unearthed the cache had recently been occupied
by the Mahdi Army, the militia group controlled by firebrand Shiite cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr. U.S. analysis blames much of the recent violence on the
Mahdi Army. 

The violence "probably initiated with" Jaysh al-Mahdi, or Mahdi Army, Gray
said, "and then in retaliation Sunni groups and al-Qaida in Iraq did
retaliatory attacks against Iraqi civilians."

Beyond finding weapons, Gray said, "the brigade's mission is to create an
overwhelming presence so that people open up their businesses and don't fear
being targeted by these death squads that are operating on both sides -
Sunni and Shiite."

As of Aug. 18, the operation has been a success in that regard. Not only
have there have been no attacks on coalition forces in the neighborhoods
since the 172nd moved in, but the sectarian murder rate, which had been
running at about five per day over the previous two months, dropped to about
one per day from Aug. 13-18, Gray said. Although it is possible violence
that would otherwise have occurred in the three neighborhoods has simply
"migrated" to other areas, Gray said that since the operation began the
average number of attacks in Baghdad has dropped from 65 to "the low 40s."

'Things have been safer'

When 4-14's commander, Lt. Col. Mark Freitag, strolled through Shula with
his security detail recently, the message he received from the locals was
overwhelmingly positive. 

"Before you came, there was a lot of assassinations and thefts," said a man
who introduced himself as a warrant officer in the traffic police. "After
you came, it's very good." 

The traffic policeman said the locals preferred the protection offered by
the U.S. troops to that available from Iraqi forces.

"The Iraqi army treats people very harshly, not as nice as the Americans,"
he said through an interpreter.

"The security is better since the Americans arrived," said Jawad K. Razak,
who was selling black-market gasoline on the side of the road. People want
security in order that their businesses may prosper, he added.

"We really love Americans," said Ali Abbar, the owner of a plastics factory,
who stood at the gated entrance to his compound with his young son. "We're
happy for you to be here."

The blacksmith next door, who gave his name as Irasoil, 23, was equally
effusive in his greetings. "We're happy to see you," he said. "Since you
came here, things have been safer. Before that we could hardly open the
door." 

A visiting friend, A. Ihssan, 24, showed Freitag a card that identified him
as an Iraqi policeman. When Freitag asked why he wasn't at work, he said
that police get two days off for every day they work.

But with the welcomes came some complaints. Hatin Addurrazak, a delivery
driver, sounded off about the gasoline shortage - a source of great
frustration in a country sitting on the world's third largest oil deposits. 

"Right now there is no gas," he told the squadron commander. Because it's so
difficult to buy gas from authorized gas stations, Addurrazak said he had to
resort to paying black-market prices of $3 per gallon.

When Freitag stopped to talk with Mohammed Erad, the young man pulled up his
purple polo shirt to reveal an ugly scar across his stomach, which he said
was the result of a drive-by shooting on the same street a few months
previously. The shooting killed two men and wounded another, he said.
Mohammed Reza, standing nearby, said it was never discovered whether the
attackers were Sunni or Shiite. 

"But since the American forces took over it's been very quiet," he added.

Yet, unless there was some cross-cultural misunderstanding, not everyone
hanging out on the main street was overjoyed to see Freitag and his Strykers
rolling down the pavement. Two men conspicuously refused to shake the
lieutenant colonel's hand.

No U.S. troops think that the Mahdi Army and the other sectarian militias
have given up just because the Americans have rolled into their back yard. 

"They're laying low," Gray said.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.