Combined action on steroids

Baltimore Sun:

Tens of thousands of American troops are shifting from combat operations against insurgents to training, advising and supporting Iraqi security forces in what military officials say will require a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Rather than allowing American troops to withdraw to the sidelines, the new campaign will keep them directly in the violent middle ground between Iraq's warring factions, as increasing numbers of soldiers and Marines embed as combat advisers with Iraqi army and paramilitary police units. Already, some 6,000 Americans serve as advisers with Iraqi police units, for instance, in high-risk operations similar to those that have killed 4,000 Iraqi police officers over the past two years.

The latest strategic phase, which began this fall and will accelerate in the months ahead, may even require a short-term increase from the 141,000 U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq, senior commanders have said.

In addition to the advisers, thousands of other U.S. troops are directly supporting Iraq's security forces with communications, logistics and transportation expertise, running convoys and maintenance depots, and providing air support and other assistance the Iraqi units need to operate.

To protect all these American military personnel - the final numbers aren't yet determined - a sizable "force protection package" will be required in Iraq: quick-reaction combat forces, search and rescue teams, and attack and transport helicopters and strike fighters. These U.S. forces, in turn, will require their own maintenance, logistics, medical, administrative and other support.

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"I think we have to take the long view, that we are helping to coach an adaption of the culture," said Army Lt. Col. Eric J. Wesley, operations officer for the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan., which is training about 1,500 new advisers this winter.

"You're going to claim victory in increments," said Wesley, who has served two combat tours in Iraq.

Iraqi units with embedded American advisers "still need three to five years of continued American advisory presence to fully mature," said Kalev Sepp, a retired Army Special Forces officer who returned this week from Iraq, where he was assessing the program for Gen. George W. Casey, commander of all coalition forces in Iraq.

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"Look, this is a long, long fight," Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said recently about Iraq.

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It looks like the Democrats and Chuck Hagel are not willing to give the military the time needed to execute this strategy. If they are too get this time, the military needs to make the case to the American people that given the time it will result in success. That has been one of the failures of the military in Iraq that is probably bigger than any failures on the ground in that country. The enemy has been very effective in the media battle space while too often our military has at best been a reactionary observer.