US expected to boost troop levels in Iraq

To ensure that recaptured cities such as Fallujah and Samarra do not fall back under insurgent control, US commanders are having to commit additional forces to maintaining a presence there, both with US troops and non-local Iraqi forces such as Iraqi National Guard (ING) units from outside areas.

Indeed, in recent weeks US commanders have pushed thousands of additional soldiers and Marines into trouble spots in the Sunni triangle such as Fallujah, Samarra, Ramadi, and most recently the northern city of Mosul.

Samarra, for example, had no coalition presence prior to a major offensive in October to root out some 400 insurgents, but now 500 US troops and 500 Iraqi forces are stationed there. Even then, insurgent attacks killed 17 Iraqi police in the city on Nov. 6, as daily strikes in the region tripled.

In Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, the US military doubled its forces recently from one to two battalions, and in recent days has engaged in heavy clashes with insurgents including some who fled from nearby Fallujah. US Marine commanders say they "control" Ramadi, a city of 450,000 people, but have not "cleared" it of insurgents. The increase in troops was needed in part because local Iraqi police and Iraqi National Guard (ING) units were ineffective, if not complicit with insurgents.

"Many ING and IP posts, compounds, and facilities have been blown up or handed over to the insurgents with nary a shot being fired. [There is] much acquiescence in the face of the murder and intimidation campaign," says a senior official of the 1st Marine Division, which oversees Anbar Province.

In Mosul, an estimated 400 insurgents took advantage of a drop in coalition presence during the Fallujah offensive to take over a dozen police stations, burning several of them as well as provincial governor's residence. City police "walked off their posts" and became "completely ineffective," US military officials say. The Mosul police chief was fired.

To quell the violence, US and Iraqi commanders had to impose a curfew, close bridges into the city, and call in two battalions of outside Iraqi forces - a commando unit from Baghdad and Kurdish ING battalion - as well as an additional US infantry battalion from Fallujah.The US strategy in Iraq envisions a growing role for Iraqi security forces, whose ranks are expected to grow from the current 110,000 to more than 150,000 by late January, when elections are scheduled. Yet so far, only a handful of elite Iraqi units have proven highly reliable, while the effectiveness of the bulk of local Iraqi forces remains uneven.

Iraqi commando units such as the 36th commando battalion have performed well in Najaf, Samarra, and Fallujah, US military officials say, yet these forces currently only number about 2,400, including the Iraqi Intervention Force and Special Operations Force. Iraq's Ministry of Interior now plans to add a new commando battalion.

"[There] is a recognition that [Iraqi commando units] are very, very capable and a desire to stand up more of them... because you can move them around the country and apply them where you need to work with local police forces," says General Lessel. "Everyone realizes that the real key to long term success and the biggest challenge is the Iraqi police," he says.

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