Shamus

Ameriyah Update
Web Administrator Notes:
Michael Yon has a policy to publish anything written by an American BN commander in Iraq or Afghanistan on this website.

The following is submitted from Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl, the U.S. Battalion Commander who works directly with Abu Abed of Ameriyah in response to the 10 NOV07 Guardian article written by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad’s recent article on Abu Abed of Ameriyah does not paint an accurate picture of him nor of Ameriyah. Mr. Abdul-Ahad spent several days as a guest of Abu Abed in his home, but failed to see the totality of the security framework established within Ameriyah. While the events he describes occurred, I believe he embellished on the facts and selectively ignored the contribution of the Iraqi Army and of my Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. His characterizations of Abu Abed as a “Sunni warlord” and the Forsan al-Rafidain as the “only authority inside” Ameriyah are completely off base.

The statement of a senior Sunni sheikh in Beirut, that this was just a way to prevent the army and police from entering the area, is absurd and reflects ignorance on the part of this Sheikh on the objectives of Abu Abed and other leaders within the Ameriyah community and the current situation there.

Abu Abed has demonstrated to me time and again that he is non-sectarian.
Some of his closest advisors and much of his Personal Security Detachment are Shia. He has been instrumental in encouraging approximately seventy Shia families to return to Ameriyah. His men regularly check on these families to ensure their safety.

Abdul-Ahad’s assertion that the Forsan are the only authority within Ameriyah is completely false. On the contrary they are part of a security network that also includes the 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment.

The Iraqi Army commander and I have established control measures to provide oversight over the Forsan’s activities. We developed a memorandum of agreement signed by myself, the Iraqi Army commander and Abu Abed that lays out how they will conduct operations to include provisions for detainees and authorized weapons. We have established a system to conduct investigations for any violations of the law. We investigate complaints, and at times I have disciplined members of the Forsan to include detaining one member for criminal activity. Abu Abed published a code of conduct for his men and on occasion has fired those that would not adhere to the published standards.

Abdul-Ahad also fails to mention the importance of local civil oversight on Abu Abed and his men. From the start, local civil leaders have been an important part of the Concerned Local Citizen movement in Ameriyah. If it was not for the endorsement of two local imams, I probably would have never agreed to work with Abu Abed.

The results of our efforts speak for themselves. We have not had a mortar or rocket attack within Ameriyah since July. Dead bodies used to litter the streets, but we have not had a murder reported since August. The last IED attack was on August 7th. Since that time, my battalion has suffered no casualties within Ameriyah, while 2/1/6 IA has had only one wounded Soldier.

With the increased security situation we have finally been able to provide essential services to the community. For the first time since 1-5 CAV deployed to Iraq last November, the beladiyah is routinely providing trash clean up. We have fixed numerous water pipes, pulled out destroyed car hulks and are working to clean out the sewer system. Likewise the local economy is gaining steam with over one hundred stores opening up the last two months.

Over time I have come to trust Abu Abed as a brother. Our men have fought together and in some cases died while fighting a common enemy that has no regard for the innocent civilians of Ameriyah. Abu Abed invited me into his home and showed me not only hospitality, but friendship and camaraderie. He has demonstrated to me that his goal is for the safety and security of the people of Ameriyah and has resisted attempts by outsiders to take credit and control of what he has been able to accomplish. He is an inspiring leader who demonstrates personal and moral courage on a daily basis. I am proud to call him my friend.

Lt. Col. Dale Kuehl
Commander
1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division

Some more good news we won't hear about in the mainstream media.

__________________
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but
it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

stupid

James Hider in Baghdad

One morning in late May, a former Iraqi military intelligence officer working as an American double agent walked up to the al-Qaeda ruler of west Baghdad. The exchange of words, then bullets, that followed has transformed the most volatile neighbourhood of Baghdad into an unexpected haven of calm.

It may, according to US officers, be one of the most significant gunfights since the 2003 invasion, and its ripples across Baghdad are bringing local Sunni and Shia men together to fight terrorists and militia in other neighbourhoods.

The showdown went like this: “Hajji Sabah, isn’t it time you stopped already?” Abu Abed al-Obeidi, a diminutive 37-year-old with a drooping moustache, tired eyes and a ready smile, said. “You have destroyed Amariyah,” he added, referring to the neighbourhood.

“Who are you?” Sabah, the Islamist emir, sneered. “We’re al-Qaeda. I’ll kill you all and raze your homes.”

“You can try,” Mr al-Obeidi said.

The emir reached for his pistol. He was faster than Mr al-Obeidi, but his Glock 9mm jammed. As he turned to run, Mr al-Obeidi emptied his pistol into his back. His assault on al-Qaeda had begun.

Amariyah has experienced a startling rebirth since that western-style shootout. In May its streets were filled with corpses being picked over by stray dogs. American troops ventured in rarely. When they did, they used heavily armoured vehicles, several of which were blown apart by mines.

Now the shops and cafés are open, and schoolchildren and women stroll the streets. Mr al-Obeidi’s men patrol on foot with American troops and Iraqi soldiers.

It has been a precarious journey from al-Qaeda fiefdom to what US commanders see as a possible model for the future of Iraq. The process has not been made clearer by the mystique surrounding the enigmatic man at the centre of the revolt.

After the Americans rolled into Baghdad in 2003, Mr al-Obeidi, a sniper and military intelligence major in Saddam Hussein’s army, briefly joined the Sunni resistance. Within a year he had grown disillusioned with al-Qaeda, which had taken over the movement with the aim of sparking a civil war between Iraq’s Shia majority and Sunni minority.

In an abrupt about-face, he offered his services as an intelligence agent to the Americans. “I have a basic principle to fight anybody who is hurting my fellow citizens,” he said, surrounded by his uniformed, well-armed gunmen in his large offices in Amariyah. “That’s why I co-operated in 2004 with the Americans and started to work against al-Qaeda.”

He used his skills as a secret agent and former insurgent to infiltrate extreme Islamist groups. He has also built up a network of close comrades from Saddam’s sacked officer corps and the insurgency. This spring, dismayed by the failure of the Iraqi Government and its US allies to stem the bloodshed by al-Qaeda, he decided to act directly himself.

The May gunbattle was touch and go. Of the 150 men Mr al-Obeidi had gathered to fight, all but 15 fled when the bullets and rocket-propelled grenades started to fly.

He had divided his men into two groups, each ruthlessly targeting al-Qaeda leaders. As Mr al-Obeidi shot dead Sabah, his deputy, Zayed, was gunning down his No 2, known as Omar the Slayer. Zayed died in the shootout.

Outgunned, Mr al-Obeidi and his remaining men retreated to a mosque, where his friend, Sheikh Walid alAzzawi, an imam, announced over the minaret loudspeakers what may be the first jihad against al-Qaeda.

Mr al-Obeidi had contacted the Americans before the attack and asked them not to intervene. Unusually, the US Army consented. After a night of fighting, the rebels were down to three men. Sheikh Walid called the Americans and begged for support. They arrived in force and cut down the Islamists.

The Americans had hit a goldmine in Mr al-Obeidi. With his intelligence skills and local gunmen, they suddenly found that they could identify an elusive enemy. The former insurgents knew exactly where to find the Islamists and their weapons. Within a month Mr al-Obeidi’s men had led the Americans on a series of raids that swept the Islamists from Amariyah.

The recent turning of Sunni tribes and insurgents against al-Qaeda in western Iraq and Baghdad has become known as the Sunni Awakening. Here, however, it is more of a national awakening — Mr al-Obeidi’s 600- man force includes disillusioned Shia soldiers as well as Sunni former officers who had worked secretly for the US.

The Shia population of Amariyah, driven out by Sunni extremists, has started to return. “I wish we had a dozen Abu Abeds,” Abdelrazaq Abu Muhammad, a 66-year-old Shia who was chased from Amariyah by alQaeda and returned a couple of weeks ago, said. “He is working round the clock, watching and guarding.”

A retired schoolteacher, Umm Ahmed, a Shia woman who fled a year ago, said: “Everything we have now we owe to Abu Abed. This was the first place to be saved by a hero like Abu Abed.”

Among his men there is open hero-worship, with aides tripping over one another to light his steady stream of cigarettes or to patrol the streets with him.

The new forces, known as the Firsan al-Rafidan (Knights of the Two Rivers), have, however, proved to be a blunt instrument at times. Mr al Obeidi, who still wears the Sabah’s pistol on his hip, deterred al-Qaeda from using a local print shop to produce propaganda leaflets by burning it to the ground.

When he finds his men — only half of whom are paid — occasionally stealing or extorting money, he beats them himself, and has broken his knuckles dispensing rough justice. Few questions are asked either when al-Qaeda suspects die in his house raids.

“Did Abu Abed beat people? I have no doubt,” Major Barry Daniels, of the 1st Battalion, Fifth Cavalry Regiment, who works closely with Mr al-Obeidi’s men, said. “We don’t have everything figured out yet and there’s a lot of risk in this.”

Aware of the dangers of creating yet another large, armed faction in a lawless city torn apart by militia, the US Army has created a special unit, the “roughnecks”, to work alongside them and smooth the coarser edges of Mr al-Obeidi.

“Anyone who says there is no risk in this is crazy,” Major Daniels said. “But we do our best to mitigate that risk.” He said that the best way to do so was for local militia such as Mr al-Obeidi’s to be integrated into the police force. The frustration of US commanders at the refusal of the Shia-dominated Government to make peace with Sunnis is tangible.

“The best way to reconcile is to show the Sunnis that they have a future in this country,” Major Daniels said. “If they continue to demonstrate that there’s no future, then God knows what will happen.”

There is no doubt that the bold assault on Sabah — combined with an increase in US troops in the capital — has calmed the chronic violence of Baghdad.

Inspired by his heroics and by the lucrative contracts for local militia — the US military has paid out $39 million (£19 million) so far — “concerned local citizens’ groups”, as they are known, now number 77,000 men after only six months.

Every day their new leaders come to seek advice from Mr al-Obeidi on taking on not only al-Qaeda but also violent Shia militia, such as the al-Mahdi Army, which are beholden to parties in the Government. Most of all, they want to know how to enlist the support of the Americans.

Some Iraqis worry that the creation of more armed groups will lead to the rise of warlords across Baghdad. Mr al-Obeidi swats that charge aside, saying that he wants to leave the country once he has secured his men jobs in the Iraqi security forces. Amariyah has no police force, partly because of the lack of interest in Sunni areas by the Shia Government. His men want to become legitimate policemen.

Once that happens, he hopes to get out with his surviving family. Two of his brothers died in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, two more were kidnapped, mutilated and murdered by gunmen dressed in Interior Ministry uniforms two years ago. A $500,000 bounty has been put on his head by al-Qaeda and Mr al-Obeidi cannot leave Amariyah, a district walled in entirely by the Americans against car bombs.

“I lost most of my family, I haven’t had any rest for a long time. I think I’m done,” he said. “I did a good thing for Iraq. I want to live a normal life now,” he said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2971288.ece

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