SF Trained Iraqi Unit

[Seth]

By Edmund Sanders(c) 2004, Los Angeles Times

NAJAF, Iraq - If the time ever comes to oust Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr from the gold-domed Imam Ali Mosque, Lt. Hassan will be riding
the first wave of the assault.

A 34-year-old Iraqi living at a barren U.S. military camp north of
Najaf, Hassan is part of an elite, U.S.-trained military unit -
modeled on the Army's Special Forces - that arrived here a week ago
to help put an Iraqi face on efforts to quash al-Sadr's militia.

Hassan is also a Shiite Muslim. As he's trained in 115-degree
desert heat and blistering sandstorms for a mission that may never
occur, Hassan - who didn't want his full name used - has been
grappling with whether he can participate in an attack on a mosque
that his religion considers one of its holiest places.

Ultimately, he decided his first duty was as a soldier.

"Sadr has stolen the mosque, and we must take it back," the
lieutenant said. "I respect the mosque. I don't want to damage it.
But if somebody shoots at me, I will shoot at them, even if they fire
from behind the wall of the mosque. If they order me to go into the
mosque, there's no question I will go."

As the conflict with al-Sadr's Al Mahdi militia has grown, one
question has been whether Iraqi security forces were up to the task.
In recent days, hundreds of Iraqi army and national guard troops have
been pouring into the Najaf area from all over the country.

Facing his biggest challenge, Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad
Allawi, has gambled that the nation would accept an attack on the
mosque as long as Iraqi forces led it.

But the reputation and performance of Iraq's fledgling forces have
been spotty at best.

Hundreds refused to fight with the United States in Fallujah in
April. In Najaf last week, efforts to conduct joint raids with Marines
and the Iraqi guard had to be canceled when guard troops failed to
show up. The Iraqi commander in Najaf complains that he still lacks
sufficient supplies: He has about 80 flak jackets for more than 600
people.

It's no wonder the Iraqi government is pinning its hopes on
Hassan's unit, formerly called the 36th Battalion of the Iraqi Civil
Defense Corps and now known as the Iraqi Commando Unit.

The unit is described as a rare success story in the U.S. effort to
rebuild Iraq's security forces. When other Iraqi troops fled Fallujah,
the Commando Unit stayed and fought, even when one of its leaders was
killed.

Trained by about three dozen Special Forces advisers, it has
completed dozens of raids and covert missions around the country,
specializing in mosques, prisons and other sensitive sites where
foreigners stand out.

"These guys are battle-tested," said one U.S. military adviser,
who did not want to be identified. "They're not training anymore.
They are actually doing the tricks. If anybody can do this, these guys
can."

The unit was cobbled together eight months ago using the best
soldiers from various private militias, particularly the Kurdish
"peshmerga," and Iraqi security forces.

After screening for physical fitness, mental aptitude and past ties
to the Baathist Party or Saddam Hussein, the troops were based at a
U.S. camp in Baghdad and now travel around the country as needed.

Many of the unit's leaders are ethnic Kurds who cut their teeth
fighting Saddam and Ansar al Islam, a terrorist group in northern
Iraq.

"That's the reason they're so good," said Maj. Bob Pizzitola,
executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. "After
all the things they went through under Saddam, they take this stuff
personally."

The heavy Kurdish makeup of the force has stirred controversy and
ignited ethnic tensions. In Fallujah, Sunni Muslim residents bristled
last spring when Kurdish fighters arrived to restore calm.

U.S. officials insist that the force is now ethnically and
religiously diverse, with Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

Faced with their toughest assignment yet, officers of the unit,
which totals about 450, expressed confidence that they could take on
al-Sadr's militia, which they dismissed as "a gang." Iraqis have
played a role in devising a possible attack of the mosque, they said,
though they declined to discuss specifics.

"If they can't solve this problem in the political way, we'll
solve it in a military way," said Capt. Masood Salih, 24.

Since arriving in the desert camp, the unit has been training and
drilling daily in urban warfare tactics, using tents as stand-ins for
city buildings and practicing how to quickly launch - and halt - an
aggressive raid.

Last week, the unit conducted a dress rehearsal of sorts when it
raided a small mosque in Kufa where al-Sadr militants had been storing
weapons.

Several dozen Iraqi commandos stormed the Saleh Mosque in a small
fleet of white Land Rover Defenders. A subsequent gun battle killed 12
militants and led to the capture of another 12. There were no other
casualties.