A Crucial Date for Iraq Approaches
The ready smile was gone from Iraqi Army Corporal Gassem Mohammed’s freckled face, replaced with an intensity of purpose. Three of his fellow soldiers lined up behind him against the wall. A voice bellowed from the catwalk above and the four men moved in unison inside a small room and squeezed the triggers of their Kalishnikov rifles. Gunfire echoed from the room only to be drowned by the gusting winds whipping over the Iraqi desert.
Mounted on the walls, two cardboard silhouettes are dotted with bullet holes.
An American with a greying goatee and dark sunglasses walked briskly into the room. Special Operations Advisor Rober Wise wore a camouflage shirt with the words “Army” over his right breast pocket and “Contractor” over his left. A native of Alabama, Wise has 20 years of Special Forces experience and he’s using it as a civilian instructor to mold these young Iraqi soldiers. He looked at Mohammed and said in an even tone, “You don’t stop there. You make your way further into the room.”
The stern look evaporated from Mohammed’s face, replaced by the face of an attentive student wanting to please his teacher. It’s time to do the exercise again.
The clock is ticking. Not just on America and it’s allies, but on the Iraqi military as well. Late last year the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) was signed by Iraq and the U.S. and earlier this year the words were echoed by President Barack Obama. The U.S. military will leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
However, there is another major deadline looming. U.S. and Coalition forces must be out of Iraq’s major urban centers by June 30, 2009. In a matter of weeks, the Iraqi military must be ready to hold fast if a renewed insurgency and/or Al Qaeda attempts to take advantage of the military drawdown.
The U.S. will not leave Iraq’s soldiers unprepared. Aboard Al Asad Air Base in Iraq’s Al Anbar Province, Marines, often with the help of contractors like Wise, are training segments of the Iraqi Army to stand on its own and protect its citizens.
Recently members of the 1st Company, Commando Battalion of the 7th Iraqi Army Division found themselves face-to-face with U.S. Marines and following their every lead. The American military uses teams for their training. A Military Transition Team is known by it’s acronym MiTT. Iraqi police are also trained by Police Transition Teams, or PTTs. Iraqi border guards are trained by BTTs, Border Transition Teams. There are even POETTs, Port-of-Entry Training Teams.
Corporal Muhammed and his team were almost ready to repeat the room-clearing technique. His commando battalion is training to capture or kill insurgents, room by room, at their new Close Quarters Battle Course just outside Al Asad. It’s also known as a “shoot house.” The course is a metal house without a roof. Where a roof would be is a steel catwalk where Iraqi officers stare down at their men or bark orders. Gradually, Robert Wise speaks less and less to the Iraqi soldiers. He wants the Iraqi officers to pick up the instruction and lead their own men. It’s all part of the process of leaving Iraq. Hand over authority, hand over towns, hand over training, hand over cities, day by day, to the Iraqis. 
The nation’s sovereignty is written on paper and respected by the U.S. military, but sovereignty also means the Iraqis must assume every facet of their country’s security.
Close Quarters fighting can be intimidating to learn, much less perform. Marine Lt. Col. John Van Messel, team leader of MiTT 7, stood on the catwalk next to the Iraqi officers and watched. ““I’ll tell you it’s no different than young Marines going into a shoot house in the United States,” Van Messel explained. “The first time they do live fire in close quarters there’s a bit of trepidation.”
This is where Mohammed had to be corrected by the instructor. He listened intently, nodding as the interpretor, or the “terp” as they’re called here, translated the instructor’s words from English to Arabic.
Next, they lined up outside and ran into the room again. This time, each of the four are in the proper formation: two men against one wall, two on another. Bullets slam through the cardboard silhouettes and the wood behind them. The shoot house’s thick, steel, exterior walls forbid the rounds from leaving the building.
Wise and his interpretor tell the four they did a good job. Mohammed and his men leave, quickly replaced by four more Iraqi commandos ready to fire their first bullets into a small room.
On the catwalk, the Iraqi commanding officer, 1st Lt. Amir Mwafic, is satisfied with what he’s observed. “This training improves the abilities of our soldiers,” he said. “We, as officers, are more confident with our soldiers after the training.”
Outside the shoot house, Corporal Gassem Mohammed is more relaxed and his comfortable smile has returned. “The Marines have increased our experience.” he said with a nod, “and we are becoming faster than before.”
At the end of the day, the battalion of Iraqi Commandos march away from the shoot house, climb into the back of several waiting pickups, and drive off to their camp on the opposite side of the Al Asad Air Base.
Tomorrow is another day of training and tomorrow doesn’t wait. The June 30th deadline for these Iraqis to be on their own, without the U.S. military watching over their collective shoulders, also will not wait. Ready or not, the date is fast approaching.
