Iraqi army still needs US assistance, commanders say

BAQUBAH, Iraq - Ances Najim hovered anxiously as Iraqi soldiers peered into the trunk of his car and clambered up a wall to see what was stashed in a neighbor's courtyard.

When an officer informed him the search was done, the lawyer broke into a wide grin and readily signed a form confirming that nothing was taken from his home.

"It's the first time that the Iraqi army has come in here and nobody hit me, nobody broke anything," Najim, a Sunni Arab, said incredulously. "This will make the area more secure, and the terrorists will be finished."

The Shi'ite Muslim-led soldiers and police officers waging a massive crackdown in troubled Diyala province are not the ramshackle, sectarian-driven forces of two years ago. The troops are more disciplined, their operations more carefully planned, and they rattle off the current counterinsurgency doctrine with an ease that would impress its author, US Army General David H. Petraeus.

But these are some of the elite units of the Iraqi security forces, and the ongoing crackdown has so far posed few major challenges. When bombs explode and mortar rounds rain down, the Iraqis turn to US-led forces for help.

"We can do small operations without the Americans," said an Iraqi sergeant named Ali who is with the brigade that searched Najim's house. "But . . . should they leave the country? No."

How long American troops should remain in Iraq has become a central issue in the US presidential campaign and has dominated discussions on future relations between the countries.

Buoyed by recent military successes, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded a withdrawal timetable. Provided security continues to improve, US negotiators are willing to pull combat troops out of Iraqi cities by June and the rest of the country by 2011.

But commanders warn that Iraqi troops will continue to need US intelligence, air support, firepower, and other backup.

"Our assistance may change in organization and size over the coming months or years, but some form of partnership and assistance consistent with strategic objectives is still necessary," Army Lieutenant General James Dubik, former head of the US training effort in Iraq, told the House Armed Services Committee in July.

Despite having directed major campaigns like the one in Diyala, the Iraqi military faces leadership shortcomings. Soldiers say that fresh thinking and efficiency are discouraged in a system where advancement depends as much on money and connections as on ability.

The army's deficiencies were brought into sharp relief when Maliki launched the first of a string of crackdowns in the spring, provoking a fierce backlash from militants loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern oil hub of Basra and parts of Baghdad.

Maliki's subsequent operations have appeared more carefully planned. His commanders say they are willing to take US advice but do not want Americans telling them what to do.

The Iraqi Ground Forces Command did not share details of its plans in Diyala until July 29, the day the command launched a province-wide operation.

At a meeting that afternoon, the command chief, Lieutenant General Ali Gaidan Majid, ran through his battle plan as an aide with a laser pointer identified troop positions on a giant, three-dimensional map.

The Americans were impressed.

"The fact that the Iraqis briefed their plan right at the beginning and basically took charge of the meeting shows how far they have come," said Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Sims of the US Army's 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, which is also conducting operations in Diyala.