Baghdad: Patrolling Yarmouk (part2)

Baghdad: Patrolling Yarmouk
Counterterrorism Blog
By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
May 25, 2007

The residents had a standard battery of complaints in both neighborhoods we visited. Trash wasn't being picked up; the residents weren't receiving electricity from the city and had to rely on private generators; the price of gasoline was skyrocketing (it was 5 cents a liter under Saddam Hussein, and is now up to 70 cents a liter). I asked one of the platoon's senior men what they would do about these complaints, and he said that they would probably contract out things like trash collection and other services. Consistent with their goal of growing the country's economy, their preference is to contract these jobs out to Iraqis wherever possible.

The soldiers were proud of the difference they had made in the areas they were patrolling. Sergeant Vince Passero said that if I had been here when they first arrived in February, I would see how pronounced the change was: when they first arrived, there were more IEDs, more attacks, and the areas were less safe.

That first day of patrol, of course, does not represent the full picture of Iraq. According to recent opinion polls, about 60% of Iraqis think it's okay to kill U.S. troops. The second day of patrol provided a bit more of a glimpse of that other side of Iraq, as we were targeted by small arms fire a couple of times. The shots were far off the mark the first time; the second time, hours later, a bullet fired at us near the JSS ricocheted off a concrete barrier about eight feet away from our Humvee.

The people we encountered on the second patrol were also more distressed than the Iraqis we ran into the first night. One man, a white-haired gentleman who looked to be in his mid-fifties, had just lost his brother. "Iraq has no government, no government," he said emphatically. "In two years we are all dead. Nobody will protect us." Others spoke of the deteriorating security situation -- a point that was underscored when the soldiers tried to get information about a recent mortar attack that seemingly originated nearby. Most of the residents could provide nothing useful, explaining with a shrug that they hear mortars fired all the time.

At one point that night, we heard the sudden crackle of gun shots a few blocks away. Heavy gunfire continued for a short time, at least 20 to 30 seconds. After a quick effort to assess whether we were being attacked, the soldiers quickly determined that it was the Iraqi army firing their guns. "If they see something they don't like, they usually just fire their guns straight up in the air, sometimes for a very long time," one of the soldiers told me. "We've tried to get them to do it differently, but they haven’t listened to our tactical advice."

In a briefing on Thursday, Ambassador John Bennett told me that while many larger factors will determine the future of Iraq, patrols occur at a granular level. Wednesday and Thursday were a chance for me to step back from the big picture and get a better look at that granular level.

Thanks to Public Multimedia Inc. for its assistance in organizing my embedded reporting from Iraq. You can support my embed and independent reporting through donations to the Counterterrorism Foundation.