U.S. military, Iraqi forces build new relationship

NASIRIYAH, Iraq -- The awkward moment came after a round of icy 7UPs and musings on Hollywood movies. Iraqi army Capt. Abdullah al-Maliki smiled at the U.S. soldiers who were on a courtesy call to his checkpoint in this southern Iraqi city.

"History records everything about the invasion of 2003, and it will say that Baghdad fell because of airstrikes," al-Maliki said, speaking slowly so the interpreter wouldn't miss the implicit insult that the U.S. military had avoided hand-to-hand combat. The interpreter grimaced but did his job.

The Americans looked uneasy. One muttered, "Is he saying what I think he's saying?" The room grew quiet. Another soldier said, diplomatically, that things had changed since 2003.

"Yes, yes, we're friends now, and I'm proud to be your friend," al-Maliki said quickly. "It's not supposed to go on, this tension. We should remember the real enemy was Saddam Hussein."

That kind of frank repartee is considered progress by soldiers with the U.S. Army's 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division, out of Fort Bliss, Texas. They are at the vanguard of a shift in the U.S. military's approach to Iraq, from a combat-focused mission to a tenuous partnership with Iraqi forces -- many of them with ties to factions that have attacked Americans.

Advise-and-assist brigades are billed as the American future in Iraq. While only one other such brigade is currently operating in Iraq, in the western Sunni Muslim Arab province of Anbar, five more are expected to arrive by the spring. Most of the 4th Brigade's 4,000 soldiers based at Contingency Operating Base Adder, a massive desert garrison on the outskirts of Nasiriyah, are back in Iraq on their second or third deployments.

This time, however, the U.S.-Iraqi security pact that took effect June 30 bars them from conducting combat operations or rounding up Iraqis without coordination with Iraqi forces. While Iraqi leaders in other regions have chosen to keep U.S. troops confined to their bases and out of sight of a war-weary public, Americans are in Nasiriyah and other southern cities nearly every day -- only this time by invitation and with Iraqi escorts.

"The partnership right now that's required isn't the same as was required in 2007, when we were kicking down doors," Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, the commander of more than 120,000 U.S. ground forces in Iraq, said in an interview during his recent visit to COB Adder. "We're going to reduce, greatly, the number of infantrymen, tankers, Bradley gunners. We're going to reduce those numbers because that's not really the relationship that's required right now, or desired right now."

That's meant overcoming bitter feelings and suspicions -- on both sides. Iraqis haven't forgotten the devastating airstrikes, the open-ended detentions or the tens of thousands of civilian casualties. American forces remember the sniper fire, roadside bombs and rocket attacks that have killed thousands of service members. In the four months since their arrival, soldiers from a military transition team attached to the 4th Brigade have swapped their cloistered life on U.S. bases for living in close quarters with the Iraqis they train, working under their protection and soaking up a new kind of military culture. That means dealing with chain-smoking commanders, conducting business well past midnight, assuming Arabic nicknames and washing down grilled lamb with tea.

"At times it's frustrating because we're not in charge. It's a mindset change, but it's better than I thought it would be. They're a real army," said Maj. Janus Fraley of Hinesville, Ga., the head of the U.S. military transition team. "But when they bring out the sheep's head for dinner, it's like, whoa!"

American officers highlight the successes in the advise-and-assist template -- including an unprecedented amount of U.S.-Iraqi intelligence-sharing and a close working relationship with State Department reconstructions teams -- but they're still up against formidable obstacles.

"When we go into Suq al-Shuykh, the Iraqis have to clear the roads, escort us in, and we have to plan a week in advance because they don't like seeing us there," said Staff Sgt. George Alvear of Ocala, Fla., referring to a particularly volatile town in Dhi Qar province. "But so far the partnership with the battalion is good. We haven't had a single incident."