US troops to exit Iraq's cities but new role still evolving

In Mosul, the mechanics – and effectiveness – of US supporting role are not yet clear.

from the June 29, 2009 edition

Page 2 of 2

Page 1 | 2

Five urban outposts, shared

Although the number of daily attacks have been cut in half, security in Mosul is still precarious. Iraqi officials last week agreed to allow several dozen US soldiers to remain at each of five small bases within the city. After June 30, those combat outposts will be called "joint security stations" and the American soldiers will assist their Iraqi counterparts under the new stricter rules.

"The coalition is going to stay in some of the places where we need them – we will call for help," said General Ghazal.

At one of those places – Combat Outpost Mountain in East Mosul – the soldiers live just across a divide of sand-filled wire barriers from the Iraqi battalion their company is partnered with. Little is expected to change except the name, and constraints on how the Americans will operate.

US commanders have said that as US combat troops withdraw from Iraqi cities under the security agreement, the US role in reconstruction will take on more importance. Under the new rules, all such missions must rely on Iraqi escorts for any movement of vehicles.

"The critical thing from our perspective is we have a large number of projects in the city that we have to check on. If we can't get to the projects, [they] will end up stopping. So we need some support to go and look at those projects," Volsky said.

US officials have told the Iraqis that if the projects stop, it could throw some 4,000 Iraqis out of work.

Weak link: coordination

The effectiveness of the agreement will come down to coordination – so far not the hallmark of the Iraqi military. Although there is an Iraqi officer embedded at the battalion tactical operations center, the Iraqis have not provided someone to fill the same function at the higher brigade level in Mosul. Volesky told the Iraqi officials that he would like to hold regular planning meetings to coordinate the escorts that Americansneed and the assistance the Iraqis want.

As if to underscore the concerns, last week at a major checkpoint in the city an IED packed with ball bearings exploded just after a US military training team drove past. The blast missed its apparent target and shattered the windows of a passing Iraqi car.

The IED had been placed just a few hundred yards from the Iraqi Army checkpoint – a small tent set up under the blazing sun.

"It's apparent that someone stopped and placed it there. I'm not trying to point blame at anyone, I'm trying to figure out what we can do to help," Volesky told the Iraqi officers at the scene.

"We're supposed to have two people here and there's only one," said an Iraqi Army first lieutenant, translating from Kurdish to Arabic for his Kurdish colleague. "What can one person do by himself?"

The checkpoint appeared to have been left undermanned due to a raid the Iraqi Army had not informed US forces they were conducting.

"They don't always tell us," says Volesky. "They don't have to."

1 | Page 2