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| Iraq-Jordan |
| A Division of Iraqi Troops Trap Terrorists |
| 2005-05-23 |
| May 23, 2005; In the first division size operation involving Iraqi forces since 2003, four battalions of Iraqi troops, three battalions of police, backed by two battalions of American troops, swept into western Baghdad (the Abu Ghraib district). The operation is a large scale "cordon and search", capitalizing on newly acquired information about terrorist, criminal and anti-government activities. There are hundreds of people, places and things to look for. By coming in on such a large scale, the enemy has fewer options to get away. Such a large force of combat ready Iraqi soldiers and police is the result of two years recruiting and training, and peaceful conditions in most of the country. The only areas where terrorists, or any other anti-government forces, can hide are those containing many Sunni Arabs. That means central Iraq, and especially Baghdad. Eastern Baghdad is largely Shia, but western Baghdad, and thinly populated western Iraq, is Sunni Arab. Last week, American marines chased hundreds of terrorists and gangsters away from hideouts along the Syrian border. Some of them fled to other sanctuaries in western Iraq. Now those hideouts are being surrounded and searched. By hitting the enemy this quickly, and this often, they are more likely to get sloppy, make mistakes, and get caught. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 Aactually, the brigade is regarded by nearly every military in the world as a unit that is organized to fight and resupply on its own, a pocket division, if you will, due to the number of the staff in the headquarters and the more senior rank of the officers on the staff. What is decsribed here is more like a reinforced brigade rather than a division, possibly component elements of a divison to be sure. Under Saddam an Iraqi division was composed of three manuever brigades, similar to the size of a US divison**, but frankly with the firepower and combat correlation of a single US maneuver battalion. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-05-23 22:24 |
| #3 Modern US Army doctrine is actually very stratified. There is a recognition that at each command level, the means, method and mode change dramatically. Companies and Battalions have a singleness of purpose, attached to a Brigade they are like fingers to a hand. But there the analogy ends, because at Division level, the Division is like a complete body. It thinks, communicates, eats, runs, jumps, kicks and punches. In earlier days it would have been called an Army, being the largest tactical unit in the field. Corps are in the realm of strategy, otherwise they are just the structure that keeps Divisions operating in concert. As seen in Iraq, the war is won with Divisions. And if Iraq has its first functioning Division, led by those who understand how a Division works, then it really has its first field Army. It will be the future model on which all subsequent Divisions are based. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-05-23 21:58 |
| #2 Hope you're right Mooseman. Sounds like an large scale ad-hoc raid to me. Unless an Iraqi division is going to use 3 batallions of MPs. :) |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-05-23 16:09 |
| #1 Ah-ha! This is a Division training exercise. To explain: Division operations are really unique, difficult, and something that cannot be learned in a book. Undoubtedly, we are bringing in one or more experienced Divisional staffs to fine-tooth-comb train the C&C of the 1st effective Iraqi Division. This training is literally worth millions or even billions of dollars to the Iraqis, because a competant and trained Divisional staff can take on a win against a half dozen comparably armed Divisions that do not have such competency, or whose training is inferior (read Soviet-style). Man, what a gift. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-05-23 13:54 |