Marines try to capture hearts of locals in quest to keep peace

NAJAF, IRAQ ---- For the 2,000-some Marines of Camp Pendleton's 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the time is drawing near to return home from war. But not before they complete perhaps their most critical mission.

Just two weeks before they go home after more than seven months in Iraq, the unit's final mission is to maintain order during Iraq's first post-invasion election in Najaf and Karbala ---- two cities destined to become the center of power in Iraq if the Shiite majority wins big at the polls.

For weeks now, the Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit ---- or 11th MEU ---- have been reinforcing local polling sites, equipping local Iraqi police and other security forces, and working with the provincial governor and Iraqi commanders to coordinate responses to attacks in the Shiite holy cities.

The threat that Sunni insurgents might attack voters is very real, Marines here say.

Whatever happens during the election will end a grueling deployment that has included some of the heaviest combat of the war. It also has included perhaps the longest stretch of peace and most rapid and comprehensive postwar reconstruction in the country since the war began.

Most important, Marines say, is protecting their legacy of peace and prosperity here.

"If there are two success stories in Iraq, it's Karbala and Najaf," Col. Anthony Haslam, the unit's gregarious and confident commander, said last week as he toured dozens of schools, markets, police stations and other public buildings that the Marines have helped build during their time in Najaf.

"But if we're not careful, it can all go away, just like that," he warned, snapping his fingers. "We don't want that."

Najaf, some 100 miles southwest of Baghdad, is stable compared to other regions of Iraq.

Women in black robes and men in red-checkered headscarves fill markets and engage in business as usual.

Children dart around playfully, kicking soccer balls across empty dirt lots. And thousands of religious pilgrims stream into the city for prayers at the Imam Ali Mosque, one of the holiest sites in all Islam.

At almost any time of day, Marines drive through this city of some 600,000 residents with little fear of being fired upon or bombed. They regularly get out among the people to hear their concerns and lend a hand.

Skeptics see Najaf's situation as a misleading anomaly: peace here is dependent on local Shiite clerics who can turn on the insurgency as quickly as they have turned it off, they say.

Others, in the glass-half-full camp, say Najaf and Karbala represent what other parts of Iraq could be like if the United States continues its mission and proves to average Iraqis that the Americans are the good guys.

Col. Haslam said the recipe is a bit of nature and nurture. But the longer the Marines maintain the status quo, he said, the deeper the roots of peace will grow, and the harder it will be for militants to find common ground with locals.

"It wasn't always this way," said Haslam, as he walked fearlessly through a busy market Friday in the neighborhood where Marines and soldiers fought local militants street by street just last August.

After the fighting, the Marines quickly paid contractors to rebuild the market stalls. They went door to door in the surrounding 23 city blocks, handing out cash to residents whose property was damaged by the fighting, he said.

For the 11th MEU, "working it" began on May 28, when it embarked from San Diego a month earlier than planned aboard the USS Belleau Wood, USS Denver and USS Comstock bound for uncertain duty in Iraq.

After arriving in Kuwait in early July, the troops worked their way toward an assignment in Najaf, where they took over for U.S. Army soldiers July 31.

"We got in a fight almost as soon as we got here," Haslam said, recounting how a small patrol of Marines happened into a firefight with militants loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr near one of the cleric's Najaf homes Aug. 2.

On Friday ----- nearly five months since the last shots were fired ---- Haslam cruised in his command Humvee through the city, pointing out the window at where an American helicopter fell the first night of the battle. He pointed at the spot where several Marines died fighting in the massive Valley of Peace cemetery in the dense Old City sector during the August battle for Najaf.

Recounting the escalation of violence, Haslam said it eventually took the help of two Army battalions to finally crush most of al-Sadr's Najaf militia by the end of August.

He said about 1,500 Iraqi fighters were killed. The last 200 were surrounded in the central Imam Ali Shrine when the leading Shiite leader brokered an emergency peace deal and U.S.-trained Iraqi commandos were called off their final assault.

That's when the Marines had to switch instantly from warriors to humanitarians and civil administrators, maintaining the same tempo and devoting as much energy to their new role as builders and peacemakers as they did to war.

Haslam said their first move after the fighting ended was to hire about 100 local workers to clean up the debris, move smashed vehicles and clear bodies from the streets. The Marines spent $43,000 in two weeks on that project, which paved the way for the rest.

The initial reconstruction put locals back to work and spread some money around town.

"We just turned on the spigot with civil affairs," Haslam said, rattling off many of the more than 300 projects on which the unit has spent more than $15 million since September.

An additional $5 million was given to residents to compensate them for damaged or destroyed property and for the deaths or injuries of loved ones during the fighting, he said.

"I think we've done very well," he said. "You just can't give them enough. There is so much need out there. But they know we're giving out more than Band-Aids, and are better than the bad guys. They know we're here to help."

Haslam said that while it was unfortunate that much of the Old City had to be damaged or destroyed and that so many people died in the fighting, it was necessary to set the conditions for the rapid modernization that has been done since.

"Six months ago, we could not stand here," he said, walking through the trash-strewn Judaida neighborhood ---- a slum of crooked one-story brick houses framed by dirt roads and alleys.

"It would have been impossible to do what we've done with those guys around. They were bad. So when we got the green light ... we went full throttle," Haslam added. "It really had to happen."

Now that he's not leading his men in battle, the 49-year-old from Brooklyn walks or drives the streets of Najaf every day, making surprise visits to check on police garrisons and construction projects and to sniff out trouble for himself ---- a process he calls "getting the atmospherics" of the city.

On a visit Friday, he moved easily through the market, asking owners of recently rebuilt stalls how they like their new digs, how business was going, and if they were going to vote Jan. 30.

At a new school in the Nisan neighborhood, he talked like a project superintendent, patting contractor Ali al Fatalay on the back for racing ahead of another nearby project with his brick work and for working on a holiday.

At each site, Haslam knew the floor plan, remembered the guard's name, and could cite the cost and estimated date of completion.

His wanderings weren't all business, however. His personal touch tugged at heart strings as well as purse strings.

During his check of the city, he came upon a dusty lot where two men were charging children about a nickel to swing on a seat strung between two date palm trunks or twirl on a rickety merry-go-round. Haslam found children mostly standing around enviously, eyeing the few youngsters who could afford to frolic on the equipment.

The children went wild, converging on the rides once they saw the proprietors take off with the cash. Adults watching from afar seemed to take note of the tall, generous man in camouflage.

At another stop, Haslam brought a wheelchair to a young Iraqi woman whose leg was amputated by a U.S. shell during the fighting. He told her she was strong, and that he would make sure she got a prosthetic leg from the top specialist in Baghdad.

"I spend 9-10 hours a day out in the 'ville,'" Haslam said, though his staff says it's more like 12 or 13. "That's the only way to do it; make sure and see that it's all getting done."

Marines close to Haslam said much of the magic of their mission has been due to his easy way with the locals.

Still, there are some things that even the top Marine and honorary mayor of Najaf cannot solve.

Lack of fuel and timely pay for the local police are still major sticking points with locals, he said. He can do little about either, except to personally reassure people that someone is working on it and share in their hope that "insha'allah" ---- God willing ----- their problems will get fixed in time.

"Insha'allah" and a shrug are how many complaints and requests end in the streets of Najaf.

One thing Haslam said the Marines and Iraqis can't leave to chance or prayer, however, is security for the upcoming election. An eruption of sectarian violence in the city could undo many of the Marines' hard-won gains.

On Friday, Haslam poked his head into police stations and polling places all across the city to ask local police if they were ready, what they needed, and what their game plan was for the big day.

When one officer sadly pointed out that he only had one bullet for his brand-new pistol, Haslam promised more ammunition.

When another said officers at his polling place needed more AK-47 rifles, he said those were on the way.

Marines at the two nearby bases have increased patrols in trouble areas in the city and have drilled with the Iraqi forces on how to react to a catastrophic event, such as a suicide bombing, on election day.

"We've got to get everybody tuned up, ready to go," he said to a local police commander before jumping back in his vehicle bound for yet another stop before dark.

Although their departure is just weeks away, the Marines of the 11th MEU show no signs of winding down or playing it safe at the end of their tour.

More patrols than ever will continue reaching into the heart of the city through the election and beyond, Haslam said.

For his part, he seems to be counting on the Iraqi police to ensure the hard-earned peace in Najaf will last.

"Yeah, yeah, but I don't have a week," said Haslam, puffing as he set his phone down after hearing that new police radios for Iraqi policemen may not arrive until after the election.

I just love this image:

Haslam reached into his pocket and handed each of the ride owners $5.

"These kids can ride all day for free," he told the men.

The children went wild, converging on the rides once they saw the proprietors take off with the cash. Adults watching from afar seemed to take note of the tall, generous man in camouflage.

If anyone remembers this writer, Darrin Mortenson, he wrote some good stories when he was embedded with the Marines in Fallujah during the April assault last year. He just arrived back in Iraq and is with the Marines in Najaf. Go here for the latest stories. Also there are a few good videos here

The return of the Marine's 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit to Camp Pendleton was in our local paper. I did a search for Camp Pendleton and found your earlier post. Thanks for the links. Alot of good writing has come out of Iraq; Mortenson included.

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