ianstone
09-29-2010, 05:40 PM
Northern checkpoints a laboratory for Arab-Kurd relations
By Teri Weaver (http://www.stripes.com/reporters/Teri_Weaver?author=Teri_Weaver) Stars and Stripes
Published: September 29, 2010
http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.120048.1285775408!/image/3006602892.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_240/3006602892.jpg View Gallery (22 images) = Lightbox link
(http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.120048.1285775408!/image/3006602892.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_490/3006602892.jpg)Sgt. Michael Koch, 32, of Homer, Ala., is on his third tour in Iraq. Riding through Diyala last week, he said he finally believes he?ll be going home for good in another nine months, when the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team returns to Hawaii. Romssm, the Peshmerga lieutenant who harbors worries about the Iraqi forces, also knows that day is coming. ?We know the U.S. is leaving,? the Kurdish officer said. ?Our commanders will solve the problems between the IA and Peshmerga. Our commanders are working on it.?
Teri Weaver/Stars and Stripes
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DIYALA, Iraq — During the celebration of Eid al-Fidr in early September, Arab and Kurdish soldiers manning checkpoints together in eastern Iraq began pulling out their cell phones and posing together for photos.
It was a first for the U.S. soldiers who have been working for the last two months alongside the two ethnic groups in Iraq, factions with recent and visceral memories of killings, land disputes and deep distrust inside the border towns separating the northern Kurdistan region from the rest of the country.
Healing those wounds — and settling land disputes over some of Iraq’s richest oil deposits near Kirkuk — will take more than the short-lived elation that comes at the end of Ramadan, Islam’s holy month of fasting and reflection, leaders of the three militaries know.
But those moments of camaraderie are just what U.S., Kurdish and Iraqi military officials counted on late last year when they drew a large circle around the disputed areas across three provinces. Inside those areas, all military operations now must include equal numbers from the Kurdish and Arab forces.
To punctuate the new rule — and to show local residents that Kurds and Arabs can work together without coming to blows — all three players set up 22 trilateral checkpoints inside the newly named Combined Security Area beginning this year.
“The Pesh and the IA, they hate each other’s guts,” Staff Sgt. Christopher Mason, 28, of Gilroy, Calif., said a few hours after watching the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army soldiers during the impromptu photo shoot at Checkpoint 3, a post in Diyala in the southernmost part of the security area.
“We’re trying to get them to like each other.”
So far in Diyala, it’s working.
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Diyala’s five combined checkpoints line the Hamrin region, a desolate and hilly area that sits between the Hamrin mountain range and the Iranian border. Arab and Kurdish soldiers work side-by-side, with loaded weapons, at posts that often fly the Iraqi national flag.
“When you eat with someone, you get to know them pretty well,” said 1st Lt. Dallas Gilmore, 32, of Kayenta, Ariz., one of the U.S. platoon leaders with the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, part of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
Gilmore and other U.S. platoon leaders working with the Arabs and Kurds said they’ve seen no violence between the two groups since the Stryker brigade began serving in Diyala in mid-summer.
Despite the good working relations, suspicions linger, especially among the Kurds.
Second Lt. Romssm Mohammed Fith, a Peshmerga platoon leader at Checkpoint 3, lost two uncles in the 1980s during Saddam’s massive assaults against the Kurds. He’s worried former Baath Party members remain in the Iraqi army ranks.
“I’m not complaining, but I don’t like working with the IA because they are lazy-ass,” he said.
The platoon leaders on all sides acknowledge that individual personalities drive the work at the checkpoints.
Second Lt. Ali Hussein Rithey, an Iraqi officer, has been working at Checkpoint 3 for about three months. His Kurdish counterpart, Romssm, had been there only three days.
Lt. Col. James Isenhower, commander of the cavalry squadron, understands that deep-held stereotypes often color perceptions on both sides, especially when the power goes out or when insurgents move into an area.
He’s persuaded his counterparts — Col. Ibrahim Salah Abdul Ruhman with the Kurdish 3rd Regional Guard Brigade and Brig. Gen. Munam Hasim al-Fahad with the 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division — to talk about it. Twice now they’ve done a live talk radio show from Khaniqin, taking callers’ questions about what all three militaries are doing in Diyala.
During Tuesday’s show at FM 90.0, none of the callers complained about local services, despite a protest Sept. 8 just outside the town about power outages. Instead, many callers simply rang in to thank the military leaders for going on air.
Many questions were for Isenhower. Callers wanted to know who will protect the Kurds once the U.S. military leaves next year. Isenhower said the U.S. troop reductions, now below 50,000, show both the Iraqi and Kurdish forces can protect the areas.
Another caller questioned the Iraqi army general, doubting whether the Kurds and Arabs are really working the checkpoints amicably. Munam called the Kurdish soldiers his brothers, saying they are training and conducting operations together. He asked the citizens of the area to be more cooperative as well, and he offered to meet with local residents each Friday to hear from them in person.
“The population is still suspect,” Isenhower said over dinner earlier in the week. “I told them, ‘Come out and see.’ ”
weavert@pstripes.osd.mil (http://javascript<b></b>:void(location.href='mailto:'+String.fromCharCode( 119,101,97,118,101,114,116,64,112,115,116,114,105, 112,101,115,46,111,115,100,46,109,105,108)+'?'))
By Teri Weaver (http://www.stripes.com/reporters/Teri_Weaver?author=Teri_Weaver) Stars and Stripes
Published: September 29, 2010
http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.120048.1285775408!/image/3006602892.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_240/3006602892.jpg View Gallery (22 images) = Lightbox link
(http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.120048.1285775408!/image/3006602892.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_490/3006602892.jpg)Sgt. Michael Koch, 32, of Homer, Ala., is on his third tour in Iraq. Riding through Diyala last week, he said he finally believes he?ll be going home for good in another nine months, when the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team returns to Hawaii. Romssm, the Peshmerga lieutenant who harbors worries about the Iraqi forces, also knows that day is coming. ?We know the U.S. is leaving,? the Kurdish officer said. ?Our commanders will solve the problems between the IA and Peshmerga. Our commanders are working on it.?
Teri Weaver/Stars and Stripes
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DIYALA, Iraq — During the celebration of Eid al-Fidr in early September, Arab and Kurdish soldiers manning checkpoints together in eastern Iraq began pulling out their cell phones and posing together for photos.
It was a first for the U.S. soldiers who have been working for the last two months alongside the two ethnic groups in Iraq, factions with recent and visceral memories of killings, land disputes and deep distrust inside the border towns separating the northern Kurdistan region from the rest of the country.
Healing those wounds — and settling land disputes over some of Iraq’s richest oil deposits near Kirkuk — will take more than the short-lived elation that comes at the end of Ramadan, Islam’s holy month of fasting and reflection, leaders of the three militaries know.
But those moments of camaraderie are just what U.S., Kurdish and Iraqi military officials counted on late last year when they drew a large circle around the disputed areas across three provinces. Inside those areas, all military operations now must include equal numbers from the Kurdish and Arab forces.
To punctuate the new rule — and to show local residents that Kurds and Arabs can work together without coming to blows — all three players set up 22 trilateral checkpoints inside the newly named Combined Security Area beginning this year.
“The Pesh and the IA, they hate each other’s guts,” Staff Sgt. Christopher Mason, 28, of Gilroy, Calif., said a few hours after watching the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army soldiers during the impromptu photo shoot at Checkpoint 3, a post in Diyala in the southernmost part of the security area.
“We’re trying to get them to like each other.”
So far in Diyala, it’s working.
Advertisement
Diyala’s five combined checkpoints line the Hamrin region, a desolate and hilly area that sits between the Hamrin mountain range and the Iranian border. Arab and Kurdish soldiers work side-by-side, with loaded weapons, at posts that often fly the Iraqi national flag.
“When you eat with someone, you get to know them pretty well,” said 1st Lt. Dallas Gilmore, 32, of Kayenta, Ariz., one of the U.S. platoon leaders with the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, part of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
Gilmore and other U.S. platoon leaders working with the Arabs and Kurds said they’ve seen no violence between the two groups since the Stryker brigade began serving in Diyala in mid-summer.
Despite the good working relations, suspicions linger, especially among the Kurds.
Second Lt. Romssm Mohammed Fith, a Peshmerga platoon leader at Checkpoint 3, lost two uncles in the 1980s during Saddam’s massive assaults against the Kurds. He’s worried former Baath Party members remain in the Iraqi army ranks.
“I’m not complaining, but I don’t like working with the IA because they are lazy-ass,” he said.
The platoon leaders on all sides acknowledge that individual personalities drive the work at the checkpoints.
Second Lt. Ali Hussein Rithey, an Iraqi officer, has been working at Checkpoint 3 for about three months. His Kurdish counterpart, Romssm, had been there only three days.
Lt. Col. James Isenhower, commander of the cavalry squadron, understands that deep-held stereotypes often color perceptions on both sides, especially when the power goes out or when insurgents move into an area.
He’s persuaded his counterparts — Col. Ibrahim Salah Abdul Ruhman with the Kurdish 3rd Regional Guard Brigade and Brig. Gen. Munam Hasim al-Fahad with the 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division — to talk about it. Twice now they’ve done a live talk radio show from Khaniqin, taking callers’ questions about what all three militaries are doing in Diyala.
During Tuesday’s show at FM 90.0, none of the callers complained about local services, despite a protest Sept. 8 just outside the town about power outages. Instead, many callers simply rang in to thank the military leaders for going on air.
Many questions were for Isenhower. Callers wanted to know who will protect the Kurds once the U.S. military leaves next year. Isenhower said the U.S. troop reductions, now below 50,000, show both the Iraqi and Kurdish forces can protect the areas.
Another caller questioned the Iraqi army general, doubting whether the Kurds and Arabs are really working the checkpoints amicably. Munam called the Kurdish soldiers his brothers, saying they are training and conducting operations together. He asked the citizens of the area to be more cooperative as well, and he offered to meet with local residents each Friday to hear from them in person.
“The population is still suspect,” Isenhower said over dinner earlier in the week. “I told them, ‘Come out and see.’ ”
weavert@pstripes.osd.mil (http://javascript<b></b>:void(location.href='mailto:'+String.fromCharCode( 119,101,97,118,101,114,116,64,112,115,116,114,105, 112,101,115,46,111,115,100,46,109,105,108)+'?'))