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The Lesson of Najaf

Times of London reports Iraqi cops switched sides. Why?   

Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra.

His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought.

Such turncoats are the thread that could unravel the British Army’s policy in southern Iraq. The military hoped that local forces would be able to combat extremists and allow the Army to withdraw gradually from the battle-scarred and untamed oil city that has fallen under the sway of Islamic fundamentalists, oil smugglers and petty tribal warlords. But if the British taught the police to shoot straight, they failed to instil a sense of unwavering loyalty to the State.

“We know the outcome of the fighting in advance because we already defeated the British in the streets of Basra and forced them to withdraw to their base,” Abu Iman told The Times.

“If we go back a bit, everyone remembers the fight with the US in Najaf and the damage and defeat we inflicted on them. Do you think the Iraqi Army is better than those armies? We are right and the Government is wrong. [Nouri al] Maliki [the Iraqi Prime Minister] is driving his Government into the ground.”

Apparently the failure to destroy the Mahdi Army in Najaf, allowing them to live to fight another day, made an impression.

This report suggests that while some of the locals may be sick of militias, the situation in Basra is complex.

The reason for his apparent switch of sides was simple: the 36-year-old was already a member of the al-Mahdi Army which, like other militias, has massively infiltrated the British-trained police force in the southern oil city. He claimed that hundreds of others from the 16,000-strong force have also defected to the rebels’ ranks.Abu Iman joined the new Iraqi police force after the invasion, joining the Mugawil, a special police unit infamous for brutality, kidnapping and sectarian murders.

“We already heard two weeks ago that we were going to attack the Mahdi Army, so we were ready,” he said. “I decided to take off my uniform and join my brothers and friends in the Mahdi Army. All these years, we were like a scream in the face of the dictator and the occupation.” He said: “I joined the police because I believed we have to protect Basra and save it with our own hands. You can see we were the first fighters to take on Sadd-am and his regime, the best example being the Shabaniya uprising.”

Enjoy it while it lasts, Abu Iman. May want to check out what’s happening in Baghdad. Washington Post: 

BAGHDAD, March 27 — U.S. forces in armored vehicles battled Mahdi Army fighters Thursday in Sadr City, the vast Shiite stronghold in eastern Baghdad, as an offensive to quell party-backed militias entered its third day. Iraqi army and police units appeared to be largely holding to the outskirts of the area as American troops took the lead in the fighting.

Four U.S. Stryker armored vehicles were seen in Sadr City by a Washington Post correspondent, one of them engaging Mahdi Army militiamen with heavy fire. The din of American weapons, along with the Mahdi Army’s AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, was heard through much of the day. U.S. helicopters and drones buzzed overhead.

The clashes suggested that American forces were being drawn more deeply into a broad offensive that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, launched in the southern city of Basra on Tuesday, saying death squads, criminal gangs and rogue militias were the targets. The Mahdi Army of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite rival of Maliki, appeared to have taken the brunt of the attacks; fighting spread to many southern cities and parts of Baghdad.

Leaving armed criminal gangs running half the country was never going to work, anyway. There were reports a few months ago that in some areas south of Baghdad, Shiites were interested in the Sunni experience and wanted to try it themselves.  U.S. forces can support and even lead Iraqi troops, but none of it works in the long run until the people decide they’ve had enough.

Ed Morrissey at Hotair notes that, contrary to being an American surge failure, this illustrates the folly of premature withdrawal. Specifically, how the vaunted success of the British in Basra that paved the way for them to start bolting turns out to have been, as predicted when the bolting started, a bad idea.  However, if in fact the Americans had no plan to deal with the simmering Shiite militia problem, I call that a surge failing. No time like the present to resolve that.

Joyner, Outside the Beltway, “I can’t wrap my Western mind around the idea of a cease-fire that’s simultaneously in effect and taking place during the midst of an all-out assault.”

Al-Maliki with a bright idea. When threats prove problematic … offer cash! Carrot bid on a stick problem. Could help a little, if they have some quality control on what they’re buying.

Small Wars Journal rounds up Basra commentary here.

Previously, Sadr Tidings.

Topics: Iraq

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:50 am on Friday, March 28, 2008

8 Responses to “The Lesson of Najaf”

1. Outside The Beltway | OTB Says:
   March 28th, 2008 at 9:46 am

   Iraqi Troops ‘Switch’ Sides, Fight with Madhi Army

   I noted yesterday morning an NPR report that had some members of the Iraqi national army taking off their uniforms and joining with the Mahdi Army. The Times of London’s James Hider has more details:
   Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi …

2. tanstaafl Says:
   March 28th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

   Why ?

   Because blood and tribal ties and other so called “religious” ties are still thicker than ties to the new sans Saddam Iraqi state.

   And the brain dead Moqtada (who prefers video games to learnin’ all that religious stuff) will continue to be a thorn in the side, dead or alive, but thornier alive, for sure.

3. theospark Says:
   March 28th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

   Nothing that cannot be cured by carpet bombing.

4. A Decisive Moment in Iraq » The American Mind Says:
   March 28th, 2008 at 1:25 pm

   […] Jules Crittenden and James Joyner add their thoughts. […]

5. Fatty Bolger Says:
   March 28th, 2008 at 3:10 pm

   Nobody “switched” sides. They just stopped pretending.

6. SoldiersDad Says:
   March 29th, 2008 at 12:09 am

   Let’s review….

   IA Units from AlAnbar have been sent to Basra. It’s SOP to assume the local guys have loyalty problems. At some level…every big city police Department in the world develops “soft spot” problems in relation to local thugs with cash. Absolute power corrupts absolutely…blah..blah…

   The press are just playing the standard Middle East Pallywood tape at the moment….actual facts will take some time.

7. TommyO Says:
   March 29th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

   The boss, Gen Patreus, made some very interesting comments about Iran and the Sadr bad boys the other day about rockets and mortars hitting the green zone. Sort of a ‘you better cut it out’ comment. They did not listen up.
   Lo and behold, everybody is taking names and kicking butt in Basra and Sadr city. The mullah ain’t nowhere to be found - can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys without a scorecard - cease fire is over - bad guys counting on their ‘victory’ in Najaf - mom is proud of her boys getting whacked - WP conveniently has a scribe buried in Sadr City - Local thug chieftan denies any contact with Iran but tells the boys to use the Iranian eft’s, no contradiction here though.

   Phase III of the ‘Surge”. eh?

8. Michael Lonie Says:
   March 30th, 2008 at 10:17 pm

   A pity somebody did not put a bullet through as-Sadr back in the summer of 2004.

   As-Sadr is a Saddam wannabe. His boyos are the people who expect to be the consiglieri to the new Saddam looting the country. They are a Goody Redistribution Action Bunch (GRAB) who will grab all the goodies for themselves and inflict the underprivilege on all the rest of the Iraqis. That’s the way it always worked in the past, that is how they see the future. An Arab state governed by a halfway decent, consensual government is beyond their imaginations and contrary to their desires.

   The Iranians are likely to see as-Sadr’s defeat as a black eye for them, but they also have their claws into other groups in the Iraqi government, and support the many terrorist groups as well. Iran will still have a big hand in destabiizing Iraq even if the Mahdi army is destroyed.

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