6 posts tagged “tribal”

Recently, a market opened in the city of Garma (sometimes referred to as Karmah), located between Fallujah and Baghdad.  This step in progress was covered by Pfc. Brian Jones.  Just a few months ago, you were guaranteed to be shot at while transiting this region and we considered it "The Badlands."

GARMA, Iraq—Residents here celebrated a success for their livelihoods recently, with the grand reopening of a marketplace central to the city’s economy.

Marines with 3^rd Battalion, 3^rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, and other Coalition Forces joined Garma citizens and local dignitaries in the celebration of the market reopening, marking progress toward economic growth for the community.

“It’s a sign of progress and hope for a new tomorrow,” said Capt. Quintin D. Jones, commanding officer with Company L. “The mayor and I wanted to make an immediate impact in the area by making goods readily available, helping improve commerce. Now, the market can work as a crossroad for Garma to tie back into other cities.”

Sheik Mishen, a prominent tribal leader in the area, was the honorary speaker at the ceremony. He thanked Jones and other servicemembers for their dedicated work to helping the community.

The “Lollipop Market,” named after it took the shape of what resembles a lollipop during reconstruction, was once a battleground between insurgents and Coalition Forces, and had suffered collateral damage during ground fighting.

“Six or seven months ago there were still gun battles being fought here,” said Jones. “This shows how far we’ve come here.”

The market was proposed as an essential investment for the city. In agreement, an embedded provincial reconstruction team, staffed by Defense and State Department officials, financially supported the reconstruction to promote growth in the community through increased revenue.

Once the project had been approved, local contractors were awarded contracts for reconstruction.

Workers first repaired the roads filling in craters from improvised explosive device detonations.Street curbs were
repaired, painted and a center roadway circle was added. Doors were replaced and new awnings were hung on the individual shop spaces. Workers removed dirt and rubble from the area. The planting of some grass and trees for the market were also managed into the budget.

An added benefit was revealed to the public during the ceremony. The main route leading into and out of the market, which is currently only used for military traffic, will be opened to public traffic as the main avenue of travel from north to south through the city. The opening of the road will remove much of the overhead costs associated with shipping goods for local merchants.

The reconstruction of the market was coordinated through the efforts over six weeks.  Though there were few shops opened for business the day of the ceremony, all were optimistic, believing merchants would soon occupy the majority of the shops. Ending the ceremony, both locals and Provincial Security Forces joined in a circle and danced to the beat of a solo drum as they celebrated the event.

This is another video piece from Pfc. Brian Jones. Taken together with the last entry, you can see a small slice of the diverse and complex mission of Coalition and Iraqi forces here. On one hand you've got a platoon from Lima Company conducting combat patrols while the company commander and another platoon engage with tribal sheiks in the city. Often this engagement comes in the form of a meal, sometimes elaborate, sometimes not.

So between this video and the last, you see two "blocks" in the "three-block war" concept. You've got Marines in combat -- or at least on the lookout for it -- and Marines engaging the local government. On some of our other entries you'll see the third block: humanitarian assistance. Nowadays, however, this mostly comes in the form of Marines pulling perimeter security while Iraqi policemen interact with the locals and municipal government actually do the work.

Apologies to ESPN (or whomever) for stealing the entry title there.

I chose that because it's been 3+ weeks since we posted anything. I wish we had some great excuse, like we've been training for our final parachute jump into Berlin or something equally melodramatic. The reality of the situation, however, is that the weather's been great, we're transitioning into the autumn period here in Iraq, and we've been outside staring at the sun for hours every day.

At any rate, here is the long-overdue update I'm sure everyone's been fretting over. It's an article about 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. "America's Battalion." Well, it's not actually about them, it's more about some of the great progress they've been enabling in their area of responsibility. Pfc. Brian Jones reports.

Sheik-sponsored feast

“Be optimistic and you will find the good things.”

This is the notion of a prominent sheik in the city of Karmah, Iraq, who is working with Marines from 3^rd Battalion, 3^rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, to create a peaceful today and a thriving tomorrow for a city that’s weighted down by conflict.

During July, 2nd Bn., 7th Marines, RCT-6, completed their tour and relinquished control over the battle space in and around the city where they had fought to dispose of the enemy seeded in the area.

“We’re falling in on the tail end of that so that we can bring the population to the next level and help get the economy moving again,” said Memphis, Tenn., native Capt. Quintin D. Jones, the commanding officer of Company L. “We are transitioning away from the kinetic fight and trying to help the local governance.”

While his Marines continue counterinsurgency operations, Jones is trying to kick start the city’s economy again hoping to tie it all back into larger levels of government.

“On one end I’m fighting, and on the other end I’m disputing between tribal leaders,” Jones said. “The other part (is) trying to stimulate the economy. So, it’s a three-block war here and it’s very, very dynamic.”

Local government has been restored, the city council assembled, and Karmah has an experienced official as mayor. With these three building blocks in place, Jones hopes the Karmah municipal government can tie back into its largest neighbor, Fallujah. Fallujah will then in turn tie Karmah into Ramadi, the provincial capital, so that once Coalition Forces have left, the local government can remain stable.

“The economy will still be thriving because it is tied into the old system that was here,” Jones said.

“I think that we are essentially running a small corporation,” Jones said, “because we are doing a lot of things at the same time.”

Jones prompted meetings with many of the sheiks of the surrounding tribes, Sept. 22, visiting their homes, congregating with them, and sharing their food and hospitality. This brought many of the sheiks to the table with other city officials to discuss what they had to offer the city.

“There is a serious cooperation that has taken place among the tribes and the Marines,” said Sheik Mishen of the

Jumaila tribe, a dominant tribe in Karmah, through an interpreter. “What Capt. Jones did today was as example of our own way of dealing with things.”

Iraq’s political landscape, especially in the areas outside major cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi, is dominated by tribes, their sheiks and internal loyalties. Bringing sheiks into the civil reconstruction picture is what spurred the “Anbar Awakening,” said Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander, Multi National Force-Iraq. In that way, company commanders like Jones are doing their part to undertake the comprehensive plan put in place by Petraeus.

The relationship between the unit commander on the ground, whether he is Iraqi or a Coalition member, and the tribal authorities in his area is an essential part of making things work. It is something that has begun to pay dividends for Jones and his Marines.

Mishen agreed to Jones’ wishes and was willing to overcome animosity toward the sheiks of lesser stature to help improve the security situation in the city.

“I will set differences aside to do the right thing,” Mishen said. “No matter what happens, if anything advances the security of Karmah, I will cooperate.”

Mishen said he strongly opposes the violence that has been brought upon his tribe. Insurgent violence has touched him personally many times throughout the war, losing many of his cousins in attacks. Just weeks before, his daughter was killed in a mortar attack in the home in which Jones met him.

“So far security is very good,” Mishen said. “As far as Karmah is concerned, the Marines are doing an excellent job. With the cooperation between our people here, things are actually working for the best.”

Mishen said he values the Marines as the glue holding things together and is hoping the Marines will stick around until all the bad guys are captured.

He also shared great concern for what he considers a failing judicial system.

“If things continue like this, things will probably backfire on the system,” Mishen said. “I am optimistic, but there are some parts of Karmah that need to be cleaned up.

“We are going to rebuild the place, rebuild the hope and solve the problems of the poverty,” Mishen said about

Conferring over hot chai

plans for the city. “Once the area is 100 percent secure, or secure enough, a lot of kids want to return to school. Education is the key.”

Mishen said he feels they need Jones to keep things going as well as they are. He equated the company commander’s importance to local reconstruction to the importance of President George W. Bush and high-level military leaders in national reconstruction.

“I know that Jones will be leaving, but I hope that in the short time that he is here things will change a lot more than in the past because of his presence,” Mishen said.

We blogged some about the tribal awakening taking place in Anbar Province earlier in the week, and I wanted to share a short vignette about a practical outcome of said awakening.

I visited one of our training centers for the Provincial Security Forces, or PSF. What these are are non-traditional security forces composed of tribesmen from the greater Fallujah area. When I went, a new class composed mostly of Iraqis from the Albu Issa tribe, on the sweeping tract of land running from just west of Fallujah just on the other side of the Euphrates all the way south to Amiriyah. This is the third class held so far.

These guys are being trained to become a legitimate sort of police auxiliary force, tasked with defending their tribal areas, fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq and other terrorist groups. Once made official, the plan is to have them funded by the Ministry of the Interior for weapons and gear, as well as receiving a paycheck from the Iraqi federal government, according to Maj. Mark Clingan, the operations officer for 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. I interviewed Maj. Clingan today and he had quite a bit of interesting information to pass along, most of which will be in a future post.

However, there was something he said that was very revealing and I feel sheds quite a bit of light on exactly what is happening, and why it is significant:

There really is in Al Anbar Province a huge awakening. You could almost call it a revolution where the Iraqi people are tired of the empty promises and lies of (Al Qaeda) and want to take back their own neighborhoods. The (indigenous counterinsurgency forces) which are growing up from the roots is an indication of that. By taking the ICF and turning them into PSF, now we’ve equipped them, we’ve given them the training and now we’re also legitimizing them and making them more of the process, and the local and national government recognizes them. (This recognition) includes funding from (Iraqi Ministry of Interior) and paychecks for individuals. It also puts them on the road to potentially becoming full-fledged (Iraqi Police), and also it means that they are able to act within the authority of the Iraqi government and sanctioned by the Iraqi government.

Things just feel

different here now. The reporters with significant embed experience under their belt who fly in from different areas of the country remark consistently that the environment in Anbar is much different than elsewhere. No one is saying words like "victory" or "peace," but the words "significant hope" are on everyone's lips. With the sheiks coming to our aid to bring their cities and neighborhoods under control, the entire province is taking a step forward.

There is still significant work to be done, no doubt about that. Watch some of the cable news shows and read some of the mainstream papers. It would be difficult not to  find an article about Anbar that does not discuss  in depth precisely what is going on.

"Stay tuned" for more information forthwith on this topic.

Our correspondent with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Lance Cpl. Christopher Zahn, brings us a recap of the battalion's latest operation, Operation Riverwalk:

The tribal awakening in Al Anbar made an enormous impact on an operation by Marines and sailors from 3^rd Battalion, 6^th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, recently.

“We clearly see that the Iraqi citizens have grown tired of what the insurgency has to offer; they do not want any part of it,” said Brig. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus, ground forces commander for Multinational Force West, during a recent news conference.

This weariness aided the “Teufelhunden” Battalion, based out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., when they swept the countryside around this town south of Fallujah May 4. Local residents turned out to point the Marines toward caches and alerted them to homemade bombs, called improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, during their patrols.

 “The Iraqi people are starting to realize that, unlike the Ottoman Empire or the British occupiers, the American military is not a military of occupation,” said Maj. Mark H. Clingan, 36, from Westminster, Md. “We are here to rid the country of the insurgency and allow the Iraqi’s their own self determination. That’s why the local nationals are now standing up to Al Qaeda and assisting Coalition and the (Iraqi Security Forces). This awakening is allowing us to focus our forces in areas where the enemy is seeking safe haven.”

This riverside area on a peninsula south of Fallujah has turned into base of operations for insurgent activity. Tight control over surrounding areas like Amiriyah to the east and Habbaniyah to the west have forced them into an ever-dwindling supply of terrain unoccupied by Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces.

The 72-hour operation, dubbed Operation Riverwalk, denied the enemy this terrain and disrupted his ability to plan and equip to target both the Coalition Forces and the Iraqi Security Forces in and around the city of Fallujah.

Read the rest of this story here.

And for those of you who have always wanted to know what a (relatively small) IED cache looks like:

Teflon Don over at Acute Politics has a good perspective on the impact the tribal awakening in Anbar Province can have and is having on counterinsurgency efforts here:

A nearby coalition unit reported hearing an explosion at 0444, and attempted to make comms with the overwatching unit. They were unable to do so, and a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle was dispatched to investigate. A Quick Reaction Force was sent to the scene when the UAV found two vehicles burning. QRF arrived at 0540 to find five dead and the other three missing.

No insurgent group has publicly claimed responsibility, and coalition forces are already scouring the area for the missing soldiers. The tribes of SAI (Sahawah al-Iraq, or "Iraqi Awakening"- formerly Anbar Awakening) have agreed to help in the search. If we find our missing boys, it will be a testament to the growing success in al-Anbar. The tribes have a native intel ability within their population that we simply cannot match. I hope it will help us bring them home. (permalink)

More on the tribal awakening here in a few minutes.