Creating the Iraqi Army

In this post, Bill Roggio mentioned Operation Sayaid, which is now getting underway. Part of this plan calls for the Iraqi 7th Army Division to provide permanent security in the region.

This is the only way the US will be able to extricate itself from Iraq with hopes of leaving behind a nation able to stand on its own, if the Iraqi forces are able to perform security functions by themselves.

This Iraqi 7th Division trained under the II Marine Expeditionary Force.

This photo shows some of the Division in training. This photo is from CentCom, and the caption read:

Iraqi army recruits assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 7th Division, participate in a practical application exercise on entering and exiting a convoy during hostile fire at the Eastern Fallujah Iraqi Camp, located on Camp Fallujah, on July 26, 2005.

I emailed the II M.E.F. to ask about how this 7th Division was formed, and if the makeup of the division might have an impact on its security mission, given it will be operating largely in the Anbar region. This area is largely Sunni, and in general I wonder if significant numbers of Shiite troops operating in Sunni areas might pose difficulties. Iraq will see success only if they can get past these sectarian differences, at this enough to see the Iraqi Army as a national army.

A Major with the Public Affairs Office of Multi-National Force - West emailed me back. This was his reply:

Thank you for your interest in Iraqi Security Forces.

The Iraqi Army, as you may know, is a national (and secular) army, designed much like our own services.

Soldiers are recruited and assigned to units and deployed to areas that they are needed. Recruiting continues and the ISF is striving to ensure that the population of Iraq is well and equally represented in their armed forces.

As I mentioned earlier, all the units are secular and are designed to reflect the make up of the population: Shiite, Sunni and Kurd. Therefore there will be more Shiite than Sunnis and Kurds simply because the country is predominantly Shiite. The 7th Div will be located and operating in Al Anbar province and is a mixed unit.

After speaking with our liaison to the ISF, we are seeing that the units in our area of operation are not only performing, but they are having success. Just as the Marines send forces anywhere and we adjust to work with the local population and gain their trust, the Iraqi Army has done and continues to focus on doing that.

For instance, a commander of one of the units is a Sunni, he will assume command of units that are a widely mixed. Conversely, another commander is a Kurd who has an XO that is Sunni and a chief of staff is a Shiite.

Finally, as a commander speaking to my new Marines in the past, I've explained our Marine Corps, (and now the Iraqi military) like this:

Units are like orchestras. You need many of people with all kinds of backgrounds. Some are violins, some are tubas and we even have some triangles and bells, but the resulting sound is one that can move people and inspire greatness. In our case, our concert hall is anywhere we deploy and the ISF is expected to be employed in the same manner.

Historically, you can even look at the civil war or many other wars where units came from different geographic locations with different backgrounds in the US and were able to mix and achieve success. This model is intended to help establish national unity as well.

From my own experience here now and from 2 years ago, it is common to see people from all backgrounds living in the same neighborhoods. One house will fly a Sunni flag and their neighbor will fly a Shiite flag. Despite what may be reported, I find Iraq to be a religiously tolerant nation.

Hope this helps explain your questions. Thanks for your kind wishes as well!

The Iraqi Army has seen encouraging success lately, for instance in Tal Afar. It is encouragin if mixed units can work together and perform the tasks necessary to rebuild Iraq, and provide security for their fellow countrymen.