Pop Smoke

In our AO (Area of Operations) there is a police station smack in the middle of a Sunni neighborhood that is a hotbed of AQI (al Qaeda in Iraq). It is common knowledge that Iraqi police are dominantly Shia, and extremely vulnerable to corruption and infiltration by various factions of the illegal Shia militias. At best, the police operating out of this station were ineffective. They were ill-equipped to actually do any patrolling, and essentially were too fearful of AQI to venture beyond the walls of the compound. At worst, some of the top supervisors were thought to be corrupt, even to the point of collaborating with AQI in attacks against coalition forces. This was a situation that could not be allowed to continue. So, with the consent of the Ministry of the Interior, we moved on the police station with the intent of replacing the local police with the relatively better trained and less corrupt National Police.

It was an operation that required some finesse. After all, it would not be difficult in such a situation to inadvertently create more enemies out of disenchanted or embarrassed former police. Special emphasis was placed on treating everybody with dignity and respect as we attempted to separate the wheat from the chaff during the course of the operation. At one point I found myself in the position of standing guard over a small group of recently-relieved Iraqi police. One of the former police indicated to me that he need to go back to his "office" to retrieve some personal items before the trucks moved everybody safely out of the neighborhood. I found another soldier to take my place, and I escorted the gentleman to his "office" which turned out to be an outbuilding on the compound that was actually the kitchen. The man rooted through the cupboards and refrigerator (thoughtfully offering me a very refreshing ice cold Sprite), and filled a large plastic sack with dozens of cartons of cigarettes. I honestly think that the kitchen was stocked with nothing more than cigarettes and my one can of Sprite!

Less than a mile away is another Sunni neighborhood virtually free of AQI. The Iraqi Army has a very good reputation in the neighborhood, and on our last patrol it was not uncommon for people to honk and wave at us as they drove past. Time will tell if we can replicate these conditions in the other area. For now, however, it is enough that an operation of such delicacy went off without a hitch. No shots were fired, no IED's went off, no mortars impacted, and nobody was hurt. So, no violence means another uneventful day that did not attract any headlines.