Afghanistan

A German woman was kidnapped in broad daylight from a Kabul bakery popular with foreigners. Her male expatriate colleague was not taken.

Canadian Prime Minister Harper continue to trumpet his armed forces 'humanitarian' work in Afghanistan to his electorate in an attempt to maintain public support for the deployment. Germany is not ruling out further troop contributions for Afghanistan, despite sharing similar Canadian reticence to go down the road of combat deployments.

Great piece entitled, 'Professors on the Battlefield', showcasing the deployment of social scientists with US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan as cultural advisors to Brigade Commanders. If it isn't enough that humanitarians denounce the blurring of lines between military and humanitarian action, the American Anthropological Association recalls the irreparable damage done to academia by 'militarization of the social sciences' that affected their profession in the 60's and 70's. The article captures the worrying comparison to that which humanitarian organizations face in speaking with donors, diplomats and armed forces:

'In recent years, the annual meetings of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Anthropological Association have been dominated by discussion about what ethical responsibilities scholars have in relation to war, terrorism and torture. At such events, Ms. McFate and her rare sympathizers often sound like a lone voice in the wilderness.'

Finally, it seems that PRTs are in season again: a DefenseLink 'good news' piece on PRTs in Afghanistan.

PRTs in Iraq | MountainRunner

MountainRunner has a comprehensive post that includes the best overview of PRTs (Provincial Reconstruction Teams) of the US armed forces in Iraq that we have seen thus far.

Iraq- Video: Inside the Surge

The Guardian's Sean Smith has a good short film on the surge in Iraq. Part II can be found here.

US Civil Affairs- Peace Through Puppets

One article lead us to dig deeper into this phenomenon: Peace Through Puppets.



'The reaction was immediate when Army 1st Sgt. Bruce L. Reges strode into the classroom in the Baghdad suburb of Baqubah, in the volatile Diyala province.

At 6-foot-5 and wearing full body armor, Reges, 57, looked fearsome to the schoolchildren. Outside, two Stryker armored vehicles blocked the street. A heavily armed security detail was checking out the roof and other classrooms.

Reges is assigned to an Army civil affairs unit out of Fort Bragg, N.C., working to reconstruct and support schools, irrigation projects and honey farms in Diyala. The team was visiting the school to assess what could be done to help, but the young students were terrified.

"Two of the girls started to cry and escape somehow, and the teacher had to calm them down and tell them that we were there to help them, not to hurt them," Reges recalled. "It was emotionally tough for me to see a child so traumatized by U.S. soldiers that they reacted that way."'

You can guess at the rest of the article- an email to his mom, the inevitable shipment of handpuppets assembled by concerned mothers in Reston, Louisiana and now Civl Affairs soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq are not to be found without a 'puppet in their pocket', so to speak. As with the best things in life, you can donoate money via PayPal on the website (20 USD = 12 soft puppets), in addition to enjoying photos of thoroughly softened US troops in body armor, wrap-around sunglasses and hand puppets... Other armed forces can seemingly request their own puppets with a simple mail to peacethrupuppets@aol.com.

Civil Affairs- YouTube

Credit where credit is due- Small Wars Journal had a selection of YouTube clips on Civil Affairs in action in the field. If you look under the 'Related' tab on the YouTube site, you can find a substantial amount of other similar videos.

IraqSlogger: Fighting an Insurgency With F-16s

IraqSlogger has a great post entitled 'Fighting an Insurgency with F-16s: Need to Minimize Collateral Damage Leads to Tough Choices'. It gives some real insight on how limiting collateral damages and respecting IHL can in fact 'complicate' war-fighting. Have copied out the text from Michael Yon's observatino of watching an F-16 and a Shadow circling a house where an insurgent ran after shooting a gun at US forces:

'The F-16 and Shadow both beamed down live images of the house where the terrorists had hidden after firing on US forces. Now was option time. Which weapon to use? There were so many choices: mortars, missiles, and cannons of various sorts, among others. With the enemy hiding in the building, an F-16 and a Shadow orbiting in the black above, both peering down on thermal mode, the Battle Captain asked the Air Force experts,(the JTACs) what weapons the F-16 was carrying. As a JTAC started ticking off a long list, I was thinking, “How in the world to do those little jets carry all that?” In fact, I believe they were reading down the list for two jets flying in the same package. They carry a mixture of weapons cross loaded between the jets so that they will have the black magic needed for a likely situation.
In addition to the F-16’s bombs of various sorts, there was the MLRS rocket system dozens of miles away that had been precisely punching rockets through Baqubah rooftops for days. The MLRS had been flattening buildings that were rigged as giant bombs. There were the 155mm cannons on this base that can hit and flatten anything in Baqubah and beyond. The Apache helicopters could spin up with their rockets and cannons. Infantrymen could just roll in. Or tanks. Or Bradleys. Or Strykers. Even Humvees. The idea was to use just the amount of force to kill the enemy fighters, but leave everyone in the surrounds unscathed, if possible. If that was not possible, often they would simply not fire, but other times they would. Judgment call.

By about 0400, the Battle Captain had decided to use 120mm mortars. As a reference, if a 120mm were to land on a car, the car would be obliterated, but a 120mm would not be enough to flatten a decent house. The first round was shot, and the explosion left a black-hot thermal cloud on the two video screens. The impact looked hundreds of yards off target. Successive shots did not hone it, but got worse. It was starting to look like a turkey shoot, so the Battle Captain ordered the mortars to cease fire and refused to consider using the mortars again for that mission.

They discussed dropping a JDAM (a special type of bomb from one of the jets), but were worried about CD (collateral damage). The idea of a strafe run came up but that would likely cause even more CD, and so that idea was also nixed. Things sure look different from the comfort and safety of the TOC, even though the TOC is still so close to the battlefield that often the explosions can be felt from there. Still it’s like being a thousand miles away by comparison to being with the infantry in the dark and danger. (TOCs do get hit by rockets or mortars sometimes.)

The MLRS rockets and JDAMs were good enough to actually hit buried IEDs, and could easily take the house. The F-16 was carrying at least one concrete bomb—literally, just a bomb made from concrete, like throwing boulders at people—but a JTAC said, “We are not dropping a concrete bomb.” For some reason he didn’t want to just throw a rock. Personally, I don’t like to see bombs explode because it means we are still at war. But a strange feeling came over me: I wanted to see the F-16 drop a boulder on the people that shot at our guys. I knew if the rock hit them, the neighbors would be fine.

While they were discussing how best to kill the guys, the F-16 was running low on fuel. The jets flew low in a show of force and rumbled away. I walked to breakfast at 0515 while they were still plotting. I have no idea if they killed them and if they did, what method they finally settled on. But I know that when there is that kind of careful deliberation in the TOC, combined with excellent combat soldiers on the streets, (the low number of civilian casualties) that otherwise would seem unbelievable are believable.'

Iraq- PRTs Help Iraqis with Rule of Law and Connecting With Central Government

Good glimpse of how the PRT concept has evolved in Iraq- whether it's evolved in theory or reality is difficult to ascertain. The notions are interesting, particularly the concept that PRTs have become a 'bridge-builder' that accompanies provincial authorities in improving rule of law activities.

'About 70 percent of the $506 million Iraqi reconstruction relief fund budget has been spent to build or renovate courthouses, corrections facilities, police and fire stations and training academies, a witness protection facility, and other related structures, Wolf said.'

The article also includes a video of a press conference on the subject, link is found in the text.

A second press release applauds the 25 PRTs as showing local authorities how to work more effectively with the central government.

'There is at least one PRT in each of Iraq’s 18 provinces, Reeker said, noting that Baghdad has several PRTs. Many PRT specialists come from the National Guard or reserves. These organizations help establish stability in Iraq by building capacity in areas such as government, economics, rule of law, services, infrastructure and public diplomacy.

The 25 PRTs in Iraq have more than doubled in number from the 10 that existed in April, as part of the president’s new way-forward strategy, Reeker said. The PRT effort is a joint coalition endeavor, he pointed out, noting that British-, Italian- and Korean-led PRTs also are working in Iraq.'

Interesting to see the evolution of the civil-military link of the Coalition surge in Iraq, months ago it remained merely vague concepts of how the civilian branch would complement the military aspect.

Training Coaching US troops on Iraqi culture

As part of their pre-deployment training, US armed forces are enjoying increasingly sophisticated immersion exercises. BBC has a great article on "Mojave Viper", a new pre-deployment cultural training course established to prepare US forces for "irregular warfare" in Iraq. We've posted on these elaborate training exercises in an earlier post, with particular focus on the difficulties in finding appropriate role players.

'Barack Salmoni, deputy director of the centre, says the focus reflects a 2006 military assessment that "developing broader linguistic capability and cultural understanding is critical to prevail in the long war and to meet 21st century challenges".

During the six- to eight-week course, the marines learn about 200 basic words in Arabic - enough to allow them to deal with local people on the ground in Iraq...

But, Mr Salmoni says, the US military became aware of the need to give the troops' mission in Iraq "civil and cultural dimensions" when the Bush administration decided to establish a new Iraqi government.

The US military is trying to teach troops how to build trust with Iraqis.

"We noticed that we had the military tactics but lacked the knowledge of Iraqi laws and traditions so we needed to learn about them all. I am afraid we didn't anticipate all these bifurcations."

Since January, newly established PRTs (Provincial Reconstruction Teams) have increased their operations in Iraqi cities.

The military is becoming more involved in "civil affairs", which entails helping to build local infrastructure.'

Iraq- Pentagon tries to learn from Madison Ave. Washington Post - MSNBC.com

'In the advertising world, brand identity is everything. Volvo means safety. Colgate means clean. IPod means cool. But since the U.S. military invaded Iraq in 2003, its "show of force" brand has proved to have limited appeal to Iraqi consumers, according to a recent study commissioned by the U.S. military.'

This is the observation of a Rand Corp report commissioned by the US Joint Forces Command. There seems to be some dry humor in the report, we particularly liked the 'We will help you' brand- wasn't that the underlying rhetoric back in 2003?:

'Helmus and his co-authors concluded that the "force" brand, which the United States peddled for the first few years of the occupation, was doomed from the start and has lost ground to enemies' competing brands. While not abandoning the more aggressive elements of warfare, the report suggested, a more attractive brand for the Iraqi people might have been "We will help you." That is what President Bush's new Iraq strategy is striving for as it focuses on establishing a protective U.S. troop presence in Baghdad neighborhoods, training Iraq's security forces, and encouraging the central and local governments to take the lead in making things better.'

This video must be part of the 'show of force' brand that apparently hasn't worked....

Iraq- Danish army evacuates 200 Iraqis

BBC reports that the Danish military has secretly airlifted out 200 Iraqis who had been employed as aides and translators to Danish armed forces serving in Iraq. This is a pleasant surprise, to see armed forces at once rewarding the service of their national staff, while recognizing that such service could put same staff at mortal risk. One only assumes that the families of such staff were also evacuated. The Danish contingent will soon leave Iraq, ending Denmark's contribution to MNFI.

This action stands in stark contrast to the US and UK, who have been- to be polite- 'reluctant' to carry out similar protection of staff whose employment with their forces have put their lives at risk.

Update: a more recent article has the top US diplomat in Iraq proposing to grant immigrant visas to the US to all Iraqis working with the Americans.

Iraq - Engineers build new Female Training Police Station

Short piece on the Operation Iraqi Freedom website:

“The Corps of Engineers is building a new Female Training Police Station (FTPS) in An Najaf Province,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jan Carter, senior project manager, Gulf Region South (GRS), Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I). “It is a three-story facility with offices, jail cells, an armory, a communications room, guard towers, sleeping quarters and a courtyard for training new female police officers.”

“The objective for building the $134,000 female training police station is to help advise, organize and train Iraqi female officers on basic infantry tactics from squad to battalion level to further enhance the Iraqi police stations,” Carter said.

Border agents recruited for Iraq duty

In the same vein of outsourcing, a military contractor is actively recruiting Border agents for service in Iraq. DynCorp International already has 700 trainers in Iraq, but received a request from the State Department to augment this force. Not surprisingly, the salary is roughly triple what agents earn at home. DynCorp is not new in this business, its website includes provides further background on this service they provide.

UN Job creation schemes in Iraq economic plan

We posted earlier on a $1bn job creation plan in Iraq, as a parallel to the military surge announced in January.

The UN-brokered economic compact, signed this week, announces many of the same ambitions for Iraqis, aiming to create a liberal free market in Iraq.

'But, while the language echoes Washington’s dreams for transforming Iraq before the March 2003 invasion, officials on the ground admit that, in the short term, reviving state-owned industries to create jobs will take priority.

“At this stage in Iraq’s situation, I would argue very strongly that profitability is not the key aspect in assessing your state-owned enterprises,” a senior US official in Baghdad involved in economic policy said this week.'

Research- Smoke and Mirrors- PRTs and What the State Department is not accomplishing in Iraq

Robert Kaplan has an graet piece entitled, 'What the State Department is not accomplishing in Iraq' that digs in to what PRTs are- and mostly are not- accomplishing in reality.

Focussing on a State Department officer called out of retirement to lead a PRT in Iraq, the article describes the diplomat's arrival:
'When she arrived in Baquba, Diyala’s regional capital, a year ago this month, Munshi’s PRT consisted of two Department of State employees, “an absolutely new and raw” Army civil affairs team, a few interpreters, and 18 guys from a private military company called Blackwater USA whose mission was primarily to protect her. There were six Internet connections for all these people, no desks or chairs, no operating funds, and no office supplies. “If it isn’t nailed down, take it,” she told them all.'

The short piece is a quick read, and in its brevity is fills the void of critical views on what PRTs have become over the last years. Beyond debates on 'which nation does the best PRTs', there are little first-hand accounts that provide any clear indication of whether the experiment has been successful, or even what success should look like. We posted earlier (and here) on the rise of PRTs in parallel to the surge in Iraq, but again, have heard little since.


On the same theme, Jane's has an in-depth look at the PRT debate, in an article entitled 'Blurring the line - Involving the military in humanitarian affairs'- it is unfortunately available to subscribers only.

Iraq - Humanitarian aid met with smiles

More good news from Iraq- US troops delivered a truckload of food, oils and sanitation supplies.

'At first, hesitant bystanders looked puzzled as the council members and MND-B Soldiers gathered near the rear of the truck. The more people realized what was happening, the more they gathered and gave a helping hand.'

PCR Project- The Danish Approach to State-Building

Our friends at the PCR Project posted on a recently published article on The Danish Approach to State-Building:

Anja Dalgaard-Nielsen, head of the Research Unit, Political Violence, Terrorism and Radicalization, at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), has just published her findings on the Danish military and its approach to state-building. Full report is available here.

The research findings are provocative- Dalgaard-Neilsen concludes that deployed Danish military units are evaluated as conducting good reconstruction support tasks, when measured against basic principles of good development work.

Exec summary:
'The Danish armed forces, together with the armed forces of other nations, have come under political pressure to accept a range of state-building tasks, including support for reconstruction. This is the case in areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan where few civilian and humanitarian organisations are willing to operate. This report analyses how the Danish armed forces have approached and prioritised reconstruction support and asks how their performance might be improved. It is based on empirical evidence collected over a period of five months of “embedded” research, during which the author took part in the daily activities of deployed Danish units in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. It points out how the Danish units assigned reconstruction support tasks are neglected in a number of ways by their own organisation and show how they nevertheless perform well as measured against basic principles of good development work. It draws on Edgar H. Schein’s theory of organisational culture to explain this pattern and shows how civil tasks, while clashing with some aspects of the culture of Danish armed forces – notions about mission and means to fulfi l the mission – are compatible with other parts – notions about human beings and human relations. The report closes with a discussion of which political, organisation, and educational initiatives would enhance the current performance of reconstruction support tasks.'

Multi-National Force - Iraq - Iraqi, U.S. Soldiers outfit schools

Iraqi and US soldiers conducted a good-will mission to help school children receive some life-saving school supplies.

The humanitarian assistance operation included distribution of chocolate chip cookies made by a stateside mother-in-law and invitations to return for future visits- “We have no problems with the Iraqi or U.S. Soldiers coming – please feel free to come anytime."

It was a busy weekend of providing assistance, another post had Iraqi and US soldiers providing humanitarian aid to Tal'Afar- nice pictures, as well.

Iraqi insurgents blow up car with children inside | Iraq | Guardian Unlimited

The Guardian reports that US forces in Iraq were investigating a potentially new tactic on the part of insurgent in Iraq. In a recent incident, a car with children was allowed to pass an American checkpoint, before being detonated with the children still inside. It is thought to be the first incident where children have been used as 'decoys' to facilitate passage of a car bomb. Apparently the adults who would have driven the car fled before the detonation.

Iraqi Police Commercial

Interesting Iraqi effort to improve the profile of their police.

Iraqis Seek Role in Rebuilding Their Nation

'When Rahim al-Daraji looks at the dusty lots just east of Sadr City where scores of bodies have been dumped in the past year, he sees a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, coffee shops and restaurants... “The plan is not only about security,” said Naeem al-Kabbi, Baghdad’s deputy mayor in charge of municipal services. “It’s about security, services and reconstruction.”'

This article brings together the many forces at play in Iraq, as the Iraqis are increasingly using the Coalition's vocabulary of reconstruction. Given that the Iraqi government has pledged $10 billion US for reconstruction in this year's budget, authorities are finding themselves facing crowds of 'volunteers' to help direct their spending...