Baghdad, Iraq: A Map, a Strategy, and Being Right

A hand-drawn map, made by the late Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, didn't get destroyed in time. It showed up in an Al Qaeda safe house almost a year ago, giving American military planners details on how Al Qaeda controlled Baghdad.

That helped force Al Qaeda out of Baghdad, to Baquba. And, into the desert, where they were even more vulnerable.

Here's a copy of the map (.pdf): "Battle of the Baghdad Belt."

The troop surge, announced January 10, involved more than just dropping more American troops into Iraq. Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno decided to make a risky move. Instead of keeping American forces concentrated in relatively defensible main base camps, they sent American soldiers to small patrol stations. Iraqis and Americans served together in these stations, so the Americans were essentially living among the citizens of Baghdad.

This arrangement made American troops easier targets, but it also put them where they could communicate with Iraqis. Iraqis learned to trust the Americans, and American troops began getting useful intelligence from the Iraqis.

The strategy seems to have worked. The New York Times says that the rate of suicide bombings in Baghdad is half what it was last summer, other forms of violence are down, and people in Baghdad are, for the first time in two years, able to move freely around their city.

I think this shows what can happen, when American leaders accept the idea that military force can be part of a successful foreign policy, and that it's possible for the American military to communicate with their counterparts, and with civilians, in other countries.

It may still be too early to talk about victory in Iraq, but what's been happening in and around Baghdad is certainly good news.

Facts from
"Zarqawi Map Aided Successes Against Iraqi Insurgency" (November 20, 2007)
"Baghdad’s Weary Start to Exhale as Security Improves" (November 20, 2007)

Fixing the Blackwater Mess: A Sign of American Strength

Iraqis are as good at passing along rumors as people anywhere else in the world. One sort of rumor there involves foreign mercenaries.

In this case, quite a few of the 'foreign mercenaries' are Americans: and many of those are employed by Blackwater, a firm that provides security guards and related services in Baghdad.

One type of rumor about 'foreign mercenaries' in Iraq had guards killing innocent Iraqis. Details, like where, when, and how many, varied, but the basic story was the same: 'Foreign mercenaries killed my neighbor.'

I pay attention to rumors, but I don't accept them as fact.

Then, last month, Blackwater employees killed a lot of Iraqis. In Baghdad. With surviving witnesses. I've written about this before:

• "Blackwater Employees and Dead Iraqis: Let Foreigners Try Americans?!"
  (October 4, 2007)
• "Blackwater USA: Not the Ideal Goodwill Ambassadors"
  (September 18, 2007)

I don't have an opinion about whether the Americans who shot up a street-full of Iraqis are guilty of murder, or were defending themselves. I do think that an Iraqi court should sort out the mess.

I also think the U.S. State Department is being smart, dealing with security needs in Iraq, the reasonable desire of Iraqis to not get killed without reason, and a security company that's gotten the reputation of being trigger-happy mercenaries. And, maybe earned that reputation.

Condoleezza Rice has issued new orders for Blackwater:

• Video cameras get mounted on Blackwater vehicles.
• At least one federal agent rides with security contractors escorting diplomatic convoys.
• Convoys Will maintain direct contact with tactical U.S. military teams in their vicinity.

This sounds like good news for Blackwater, in the long run: video cameras and at least one federal agent to confirm their actions after an attack; at least one federal agent and communications links to the U.S. military while an attack is happening.

Blackwater will be the only security company to have these benefits. Later, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy will be included. These companies work in north and south Iraq.

The U.S. State Department is reviewing all 56 shooting incidents involving Blackwater guards as part of a comprehensive investigation ordered by Rice.

I grieve with those who lost loved ones in the latest Baghdad shootout. That doesn't mean that I believe America should withdraw from the world and hope for the best.

America, Americans, and America's government make mistakes. Sometimes big ones. But, when we do, we don't walk away: We fix them. I see that as a strength.

Blackwater USA: Not the Ideal Goodwill Ambassadors

It's not clear yet, what actually happened when Blackwater USA killed civilians recently. It sounds like the death toll is going up: a lot more than the 11 originally reported. The New York Times says that 20 civilians were killed.

Unlike many killings blamed on foreign contractors in Iraq, this one was "in downtown Baghdad with dozens of witnesses." Maybe that's just as well. I there's been abuse, this can't be ignored.

Living thousands of miles away, I'm willing to let the Iraqi government's investigation play itself out.

Quite a few Iraqis aren't so patient. Feelings are running so high that The United States has restricted American diplomats and civilian officials to the relative security of the Green Zone in Baghdad.

Muqtada al-Sadr, the "Sadr City" cleric, is demanding that the Iraqi government ban foreign security contractors: all 48,000 of them. With so many Iraqis as enraged as they are, he might get his way.

Al-Sadr said, "This aggression would not have happened had it not been for the presence of the occupiers who brought these companies, most of whose members are criminals and ex-convicts in American and Western prisons," in a statement.

Colorful fellow.

Something al-Sadr has going for him is that many Iraqis see the security contractors as mercenaries. They're about as popular as the Hessian mercenaries were in the English colonies in America, during the Revolutionary War.

Calling this a mess is an understatement.

My hope is that Iraqi authorities can sort this out quickly, get some sort of legal resolution that will satisfy most Iraqis, and get on with the business of putting a government together.

There's more about this at "Bad News from Iraq, with a Small Silver Lining." That silver lining looks really small now.

Not tarnished, though. The Iraqi government, fractured as it is, seems to be acting responsibly.