Archives » Monday, July 21, 2008
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David Botti
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Jul 21, 2008 05:36 PM
This video shows a recent nighttime raid made by Charlie Company 2-30’s
platoon of soldiers partnered with the Iraqi National Police. The
platoon, nicknamed Team ISF (Iraqi Security Forces), was tasked with
entering two target houses in the Beladiat area of Baghdad, and
arresting all military-aged males.
The soldiers and policeman
were after a militia team suspected of firing rockets into the Green
Zone, and of operating as a sniper team in 2007 that killed an American
soldier.
For Team ISF, this type of raid was nothing new (in
fact, they assisted in a similar mission the next night). Because
they’re partnered with the Iraqi National Police, and live in a police
compound closer to the civilian population, the soldiers often find
themselves tasked to execute these joint actions.
First Sergeant
Brian Disque, who accompanied the soldiers on the raid, said having to
arrest all military-age males in the target houses was the least
preferable option. Most of the time, he said, an informant will go
along on the raid and point out the suspects during the operation.
This time, however, because the informant refused to go along with the
soldiers, Disque’s men were forced to bring all possible suspects back
to police headquarters. Once there, photographs of the suspects were
taken and showed to the informant.
From the two target houses
the raid netted 11 men who spent the night in a small jail cell on the
floor above Team ISF’s living quarters. The next day all but two of
the arrested men were freed, given a bottle of water, and escorted to
the police compound’s gate where they were to make the short walk home.
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David Botti
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Jul 21, 2008 12:26 PM
Ali Mahdi. Photo: David Botti
National
Police commander Ali Mahdi leads a platoon of his men partnered with
American soldiers from the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. The two
groups of men live at a spartan police headquarters in the Beladiat
section of Baghdad, an area that borders Sadr City to the east. Before
the Americans came to Iraq, Mahdi was a special forces soldier in
Saddam Hussein’s army. After the regime fell, Mahdi joined Iraq’s
National Police in 2005 and has worked with American forces ever since.
I spoke last week with Mahdi through the aid of an interpreter.
Are there still militia members in the National Police?
A
little bit, yes. Not just in the National Police, but in the Iraqi
Army too. Iraq is many things: Sunni, Shiite, Kurdish, and Christian.
Everyone sticks together and looks out for themselves. The National
Police and Iraqi Army are involved in all of the big operations in
Iraq, so everyone knows the Iraqi intelligence agencies are watching
them. If I'm working for the National Police, and I'm a terrorist, I
know these agencies are watching me. So, I quit and go home.
I'm
going to give you an example to help you understand: you are militia, I
am militia, and he is militia. [Mahdi points to our translator] Two
of us are arrested for being in the militia and you stay free—and,
nobody knows about you. Iran is supporting you with guns, money,
everything. Iran supports the militia too. When you know we've been
arrested do you stay in the same place, or do you leave?
You'd
leave because we'd tell the police about you and all of these things.
Maybe I am [militia] in Sadr City. There the neighbors know I am in
the militia. They'd make a call from the tip card the Americans give
out and turn me in. So, instead I would move from Sadr City to another
neighborhood where no one would know me.
There is militia,
there's still a lot of terrorists, bombs, and everything. They're
hiding now because they know that the Americans, the National Police,
and the Iraqi Army are all looking for them.
Maybe in the future the Americans, together with the National Police, will arrest all of those sons of ***.
How well do you find yourself working with the American soldiers you’re partnered with?
I
have 22 National Police [under my command]. We have a bond with the
Americans that is sealed with blood. The American soldiers do the
right thing. The American soldiers freed us from Saddam. The American
soldiers want to free us from the militias that come from Iran. We'll
all take this same right road together, and never go back.
The
American soldiers come from very far away to give us security, and make
[the Iraqis] happy people. So I'm going to give them my soul for
that. The Americans leave their children and their wives to make my
country secure. I will give my soul to you [as an American]. If
someone tried to kill you, I'd be the first one to stand up and protect
you.
If National Police and American soldiers are walking
together and one of them is injured or killed, it will be a national
policeman. Why? Because this is my country.
I want you to give
a message for all of the families, and all of the Americans: the
National Police are with the Americans together on one road for the
freedom of Iraq.
If the National Police are doing something
the wrong way, the Americans soldiers tell them how to do it the
correct way. The Americans show them how to be on the correct path.
Will there be a time when you won't need the Americans here anymore?
We
don't want the American soldiers to leave right now. Not until Iraq
has all new buildings, new technology, new cars—until it's rebuilt.
Then we'd tell the Americans to go home, and civilians like you can
walk in the streets [of Iraq].
In the future we want it so
that the American soldiers don't need body armor, or helmets, or
humvees. They can throw the gun away and we can walk together in the
street—have fun and have beer.
I don't want them to leave Iraq like it is now, it would break my heart.
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