something is afoot

The pseudonymous Wretchard of the Belmont Club has been without doubt the single best source for analysis of the continuing Marine operations in Fallujah. Today, he dispels some of the confusion regarding the “pullout” of US forces from the front lines. Something called the Fallujah Protection Army is arriving to relieve the leathernecks, a development that some view with trepidation.

But this new Iraqi fighting force is not cut from the same cloth as the police and military units which earlier this month balked in the face of challenges from Sunni and Shia insurgents. As Wretchard notes:

The obvious question of where the Fallujah Protection Army came from is only slightly less interesting than how [Iraqi Major General Jassem Mohamed] Saleh came to head it. This article from the Egyptian Al Ahram describes the ongoing formation of the new Iraqi Army, made up quite literally, of a Kurd here, a Sunni there, and a Shi'ite in between. Many of the units they are to command are being trained in Jordan. More are being trained there and equipped by Australia. […]

One of the unresolved questions about the new Iraqi Army is not only its command structure, but its size, allowable weaponry and ethnic composition. Many have argued, quite plausibly, that a lightly armed 40,000 man army is far too small to secure a country as large and lawless as Iraq, which is surrounded by terrorist hotbeds on every side. However that may be, some Jordanian trained units have been fighting beside Americans in Fallujah for a while.

And fighting quite effectively, as this report makes clear.

This may well be a first look at the future of Iraq, or at least its new military: an integrated and meritocratic army which is not only better trained, but that also will be motivated to fight for the stability of the country. The way this struggle is won will be extremely important. US Marines killing or otherwise neutralizing insurgent thugs is good, but having it done by a strong and efficient Iraqi force could well prove invaluable in uniting the nation.

Watch Fallujah in the coming weeks. More is transpiring there than news reports might suggest.