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On the ground in Iraq

RAMADI, Iraq – The Iraqi policemen loaded up into two pickup trucks, each painted blue and white and equipped with lights and sirens.

As they rolled out of their compound in Ramadi’s Albu Faraj neighborhood, three Humvees filled with American soldiers followed. It was Sunday morning, and the policemen were on their way to patrol the neighborhood while the Americans, their trainers and advisers, tagged along to watch and evaluate.

The soldiers, of Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery, based in Geissen, Germany, have lived with their Iraqi charges since October, teaching them how to patrol their districts, maintain personnel records, pay their men and, eventually, take over the task of securing the homes and the people they serve.

They are part of a high-priority U.S. Army program to train thousands of Iraqi security forces with the goal of turning over to them the job of stabilizing their country, which then will allow American forces to begin drawing down. At the front end of that effort, the U.S. Army is training and assigning thousands of its troops to teams detailed to train the Iraqis.

“The training team mission is the center of gravity for the remainder of the war,” said Lt. Col. John Tien, the battalion commander and commander of Task Force 2-37 at Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi. “The Iraqi security forces are definitely capable of securing their country.”

He added that the Iraqi forces in his portion of Ramadi, a more rural area of about 100 square kilometers north of the Euphrates River, will be able to secure their neighborhoods within a year as long as they have support from coalition forces.

Troops in Ramadi began to see a turnaround among the area’s Sunni sheikhs after terrorists killed one of them last summer. Called the Al Anbar Awakening, the sheikhs banded together in August and turned to U.S. forces for help. Army leaders here say that resulted in a spike in police recruits.

The policemen in Tien’s area of operations have shown great progress, he said.

Since the battalion arrived in October, the police have uncovered more than 100 improvised explosive devices, detained more than 300 detainees, rooted out more than 200 arms caches, secured an additional 25 square kilometers of the battle space and grown their numbers from about 500 to about 1,200 policemen.

“I would always rather have a local Iraqi be a policeman than someone from outside,” Tien said. “So much of what’s important in a counterinsurgency is knowing who the insurgent is. Therefore you accept the trade-off that the policeman will sometimes be more hesitant to search and detain someone they know and believe to be good than give up all that good intel.”

During the two-hour patrol on Sunday, Iraqi policemen searched about 10 houses. As the Iraqis, armed with AK-47s and PKCs, prepared to enter each house, the U.S. soldiers stood back.

“Go ahead,” one of the American officers said. “This is your mission.”

The Iraqis entered and secured house after house while the soldiers waited, kneeling or standing on the dry, dusty ground, to enter behind them.

“Make sure you check the roof before you tell us the house is secure,” the officer advised the Iraqi lieutenant in charge of the patrol.

“We’ve overcome a lot of challenges,” Sgt. Willard Clark said. “The hardest thing is the language barrier. They’ve come a long way but they still have a long way to go.”

Most, if not all, of the police live in the neighborhoods in which they serve, and they know – or are related to – the local residents.

“That’s the great thing about the police,” said Capt. Lucas Connolly, commander of Alpha Battery. “They’re all from here. They know who the good people are. They know who the bad people are.”

Clark and his platoon mates live in the police station in Albu Faraj. The two-story brick building used to be a house, and it was donated to the Iraqi police by a local resident.

Iraqi policemen stay at the house when they’re on duty, typically three days at a time. There is no running water, and the soldiers get a chance to shower about once a week when they return to nearby Camp Blue Diamond for 24 hours of rest.

It’s important for the Iraqis to see the soldiers living with them, Tien said.

“When you’re in war you’re facing danger,” he said. “When you’re in danger you have a lot of burden. You could die. So, you need to share that burden with your Iraqi counterparts. When they see that they’re going to emulate you in everything you do.”

However, the training teams are not ready to do the job alone, Tien said.

Some U.S. soldiers said they continue to have misgivings about the Iraqi troops they are training.

“I think instinctively as soldiers we don’t trust them,” Clark said.

Staff Sgt. Kevin McKeithan agreed.

“They rely on us a lot, but [sometimes] I don’t know who’s who,” he said.

The policemen often don’t wear uniforms – blue shirt and pants – and they often have their faces covered while on patrol, making it difficult to identify one from the other.

Many of the soldiers said it’s important for them to stay and continue supporting the Iraqi police and army.

“These guys can’t fend for themselves yet,” said Spc. Brandon Truitt, who is stationed at the Al Jazeera police station. “They can’t support their mission if we’re not here to support them. It’s hard to change in three years what they’ve done their entire lives.”

Sgt. Kevin Davis, also at Al Jazeera, likened it to the relationship between a teacher and a student.

“The teacher didn’t do your homework for you,” he said. “You have to want to improve. Our guys are very good guys. They’re here because they want a change.”

On Sunday evening, after that day’s patrol, the area’s seven police chiefs gathered at the Albu Faraj station to discuss issues related to their stations and have dinner with their American trainers.

Col. Tariq, the security adviser for the Al Anbar Awakening and a highly respected officer, attended the meeting and talked about the progress he’s seen in the area. The fact that the police chiefs were able to gather in a safe place was progress in itself, he said.

American support of the fledgling police force is vital, he said.

“If we save this area, the projects will come to this area, the roads, the schools, the shops,” he said. “Four months ago this was impossible, patrols were impossible. Four months ago this was a dream. Now it’s real.”

Staff writer Michelle Tan and staff photographer James J. Lee have just begun their two-month embed in Iraq.