Operation Raider Harvest holding phase begins (Diyala)

From MNF-I.

Raider Harvest, an operation designed to clear al-Qaeda in Iraq from the northern Diyala River Valley, and keep them out, will soon switch into the holding phase as part of Operation Phantom Phoenix. During the clearing phase, which began Jan. 8 and is currently ongoing, Coalition Forces killed four enemy fighters, wounded another four and detained 24 individuals. In addition, CF also discovered and cleared 13 improvised explosive devices, 10 vehicleborn IEDs, four house-born IEDs and 15 weapon caches. The northern DRV area, know as the ‘bread basket,’ was a traditional safe haven for AQI in Diyala province. Raider Harvest is not only clearing the enemy from this area, but also ensuring that they are unable to return. “Although decisive, the combat operations will likely not have as great of an effect as the next phases,” said Lt. Col. James Brown, executive officer of 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, the unit conducting Raider Harvest. “The big part of it is that now the area will be tied to Muqdadiyah, its closest and largest urban center, and Muqdadiyah will be tied to the province, so the chain of communication between local villages and the Iraqi government will be established. That chain was not there before, so the local people were ripe for AQI to fill that need for them. Now that the link has been established, the government will be able to provide what the people need, which will end AQI’s foothold in the area,” Brown said. “As we transition into the next phase, you will essentially see a planting of the Iraqi flag in the northern DRV,” Brown continued. “You will start to see Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police, which up until this point, had not patrolled in this area, and here shortly, you will see the linkage between the provincial leaders and the local leaders.” One aspect of the next phases of the operation is the building of at least one Joint Combat Outpost in the area. (emphasis added)

This article is signifcant in that it lays out prcisely why Coalition forces are succeeding in defeating Al Qaeda in Iraq now during The Surge, which not only provided an addional 30,000 troops on the ground, but also completely changed the way we fought the war.

In the march up to Baghdad, we avoided cities. However, once Baghdad was secured, we hunkered down in the cities or fought our way into cities (think Fallujah) and then hunkered down in them while leaving the countryside open for Al Qaeda in Iraq to use as a base of operations. Finally, there were many areas which Coalition Forces could not go either by higher orders or because we did not have the strength to fight our way into that area.

Now, we are not only moving into each and every area, but we are linking them to their major towns. We are clearing Muqdadiyah and subsequently the "Bread Basket" area which supports the town and which the town supports. Finally, we are ensuring that towns like Muqdadiyah are supported by neighboring towns and finally by the central government. We do this by building or occupying Joint Security Stations (JSS) or joint combat outposts as expressed in this article.

JSS's are important because they are occupied by US Forces, Iraqi Army Forces and local Police Forces to ensure unity of effort and unity of command. Local police, who interact with the population routinely, are able to provide intelligence to Iraqi Army forces who then pass it to American Forces. If in the capability of Local Police, they take care of the matter, if not, it moves up to Iraqi Army Forces. If beyond their capability, US Forces are used.

JSS's are also important due to the fact that they establish a continual security presence in the area. Over time, civilians gain courage due to the continual presence of security forces and begin to turn on enemy forces, providing intelligence which leads to further clearing and holding operations and subsequently the establishment of another JSS.

Finally, JSS's are linked so that if an enemy presence in one area is too great, then forces can be combined to kill or detain enemy forces through direction of the central government.

What makes JSS's so successful now is the fact that Iraqi Forces now have the capacity (numbers and expertise) to take the fight to Al Qaeda in Iraq. So, when US Surge Forces start to decrease, Iraqi Forces, along with CLCs, will have enough capacity to continue to hold an area and Al Qaeda in Iraq will be diminished enough to not present such a daunting threat.

Finally, I must point out something of equal importance. During this operation, Coalition Forces "discovered and cleared 13 improvised explosive devices, 10 vehicleborn IEDs, four house-born IEDs and 15 weapon caches." This is 10 VBIEDs and several IEDs from the 15 caches that will never harm an Iraqi again. The more and more Coalition Forces are able to prevent attacks, the safer Iraqis will feel, and the more they will provide intelligence of other Al Qaeda caches and personnel.

It doesn't hurt when Coalition Forces can take this many weapons or explosive devices off the street, nor does it hurt when we can kill, wound, or detain 32 Al Qaeda in Iraq members who used to harass and terrorize the people in the town of Muqdadiyah and its surrounding "Bread Basket".

These Iraqis can now get back to growing food which allows them to make a living and engage in commerce. Over time they will rebuild their villages, towns, and businesses with the help of micro-grants and other Coalition reconstruction projects.

Over time, Iraq will become a flourishing economy due to the efforts of Coalition Forces killing Al Qaeda in Iraq and providing security for the local population in places like the "Bread Basket" area of Muqdadiyah.