Last of the surge troops leave Iraq

How much can Maliki's Army handle?
July 14, 2008
How much can Maliki's Army handle?
Posted by Nancy Youssef
McClatchy Blog

The staff here in Baghdad was debating that very question when I walked into the lounge for breakfast. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Army have made a tremendous transformation in a matter of weeks. The prime minister launched an offensive in the southern port of city of Basra last spring against the coterie of militias to the surprise of everyone, including the Americans. And with the help of the U.S. military, the Iraqi Army achieved an accidental victory. The militias were diluted, and government forces took control. It seems the Army itself was surprised by its success and soon afterward Maliki announced similar offensives in the southern city of Amara and the famed Baghdad slum of Sadr City. In both cases, the militias disappeared, and the military prevailed, all with little to no firepower.

Maliki has announced that he will launch the next offensive in one of Iraq's most restive provinces, Diyala, which sits northeast of Baghdad. And this created great angst amongst the staff. Why does he keep announcing the offensives beforehand? Isn't he just giving the militias, insurgents and other armed factions time to either plan a counter attack or hide?

Three of the staff felt the Iraqi Army should move in and show its might in a surprise attack. They should take the armed groups on, not give them time to flee. There should be a fight, and the armed groups should be unequivocally crushed. One of the drivers was the lone opponent. That they can announce it beforehand and still win shows the government forces are in charge, he argued. That is, they don't have to sneak in because they are in charge.

I thought it was an interesting discussion and emblematic of the kind of debate happening across Iraq and within the U.S. military. Just how strong is the Iraqi Army? And how strong of an attack can they handle? U.S. military leaders are basing thier drawdown plan on the answers to those very questions. And Maliki is basing his political power on the strength of the Iraqi Army. For now, nobody has enough information to know for sure.

Baghdad at night
July 17, 2008
Baghdad at night
Posted by Nancy Youssef
McClatchy Blog

Greetings from Baghdad. Before I am became McClatchy's Pentagon correspondent and honored member of the Nukes and Spooks trifecta, I was our Baghdad bureau chief. I was here at the height of the violence, when we woke up everyday to bombings, when we didn't bat an eye at 70 bodies in the street, when a good week meant that none of our friends or sources had been killed.

It was an exhausting experience; everyday felt like a roll of the dice. And yet it came to define normal for us. Would the staff survive the illegal checkpoints, the ethnic cleansing of their streets or an unannounced raid by police forces with inscrutable motives? Everyday, I mentally prepared myself for news that one of our staffers had been killed on the way to work or out on a story. By the end of my tenure, I could not bring myself to send them anywhere, frightened to push the odds.

Once, after a particularly violent day, I thought to myself, "One day, I will look back at this time and think how crazy we all are to stay here."

Today, that day came.

It happened as we drove around Baghdad to see how things changed. We went to neighborhoods I never thought I would see again, let alone at night. Street lights illuminated the shopping districts and bustling customers. People were hanging out of their cars to celebrate weddings. Couples were enjoying dinner, sitting next to windows, without the fear of a car bomb. It was so ordinary and yet almost magical.

Now, I don't want to overstate where things are. Most of the city is silent and dark again by 9 p.m. and throughout there were blast walls and barriers to keep people from parking. And no one is sure how long this will last. But for the first time in years, Baghdad felt almost like a normal city to me.

Everywhere we went, I drove by places where two years ago, we had just missed an IED or car bomb or some other unspeakable violence, places where I almost didn't make it. I saw the madness we were once living under. Why did I stay? What was I thinking?

I think back then it was inconceivable that there would ever be any other reality. Had I know then that things could be like this, maybe I would have seen the insanity of what we were living more clearly.