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Posted on 11/02/2007 7:10:57 PM PDT by SandRat
BAGHDAD — Coalition forces saw a possible glimpse of the future in Hawr Rajab recently, when they observed Concerned Local Citizens (CLC) at a checkpoint come under attack from insurgents, defend themselves, and then receive reinforcements from Iraqi Army troops, Oct. 31. Paratroopers of Troop A, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska, currently attached to 2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div., Fort Stewart, Ga., observed the event from a rooftop.
Everything kicked off with a bang.
Paratroopers were en route to the concerned citizens’ southern-most checkpoint just outside of Hawr Rajab, when their casual conversations were shattered by the thunderous sound of a mortar landing nearby. The Paratroopers moved into a building to avoid any potential threats. From inside, Paratroopers began to hear bursts of small arms fire coming from the south. “Get to the roof, go, go,” one Paratrooper shouted.
In a flurry of movement, they ascended the stairs to the second floor and in seconds they were on top of the action, weapons drawn and at the ready. The momentary confusion of the gunfight cleared up as soon as communication was established with the checkpoint.
Initial reports from concerned citizens indicated the insurgents were attacking from a position behind a canal, approximately 400 meters from the checkpoint.
As 1-40th Cav. Regt. troops saw the events unfold, 1st Lt. Daniel L. Doverspike, a platoon leader for Troop A, contacted the Iraqi Army (IA) troop commanders in the area. He asked IA commanders to move the tanks belonging to the newly arrived IA mechanized company into position and assist the concerned citizens at the checkpoint.
When the tanks arrived, they engaged the enemy forces, alongside their concerned citizen counterparts.
Soon an Apache attack helicopter air weapons team from 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, arrived on site and was scouring the nearby canals for enemy forces.
The insurgents retreated after a 45-minute ‘cat and mouse’ game with IA and concerned citizens, which resulted in no injuries.
The determination and team work of the IA and concerned citizens showed Paratroopers that both groups could work together effectively.
Spc. Charley Stetson, an infantryman with 1-40th Cav. Regt. said he felt his unit had done a good job of rooting out insurgents in the area around Entry Control Point 20, but the addition of concerned citizens and now the IA has helped the security situation.
Their actions during the insurgent attack gave insight into the growing relationship between the two groups.
Stetson, a native of Falmouth, Maine, said the IA’s resources add much to the concerned citizens’ capabilities and the concerned citizens add much to the IA’s knowledge of the area.
“It’s like the best of both worlds,” he said.
Capt. Frederick B. Giles, effects coordinator for the military transition team assigned to the 5th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division said the concerned citizens were happy about the Iraqi troops moving into the area and assisting with security.
“I haven’t sensed any tension between the CLC leadership and the IA leadership,” said Giles, a native of Honolulu.
The good relationships developing between the concerned citizens, the IA and Coalition forces in the urban farming community of Hawr Rajab may signal the beginning of a community with a secure future.
FR WAR NEWS! thanks, bfl
Kinda like Neighborhood Watch . . . but with more serious stuff to watch for than punks stealing radios . ..
and with more serious stuff to defend their neighborhood with too. All without worrying about the ACLU.
More good news SandRat. An America friendly Iraq will be the envy of the middle east in time.
Regards
Are “Concerned Local Citizens” defined as Sunni militias who six months ago were known as “Sunni insurgents”?
I love that!! Right on!!
They might be, but they decided that there’s a better future working for a free Iraq.
In only a few cases from what I’m told. These are the folks that then cowered before both and now thanks to the surge have decided they can take back their neighborhoods from the Terrorist Gangs of any stripe.
If only the Minutemen could get that much cooperation from the National Guard and border patrol. I kind of like the idea of the tanks, although if they engaged with their main guns, it could be kind of hard on the CLCs. Those things'll strip the hide right off ya if you are too close when they cut loose. But they probably engaged with the secondary armament, a heavy or medium machine gun most likely.
Ft Richardson troop ping!
ping
Hawr Rajab was where I pulled the last 6 months of my tour of duty in Iraq (A 1-10 Cav) and a nasty little place it is. Or was. I have followed the news from that area and watched with genuine admiration the success that A 1-40 Cav has achieved there. Hawr Rajab and Arab Jabour are just to the south of the Dora neighborhood in Baghdad and were insurgent hotbeds when we left. I’m glad to see that the locals are taking an active role in their own defence.
They’ll make all the difference; it’s over with their help for their future.
Apparently not.
From another thread (from Armed Forces Press Service):
Concerned local citizens groups, similar to Neighborhood Watch programs in the United States, have sprung up all around Iraq. So far, more than 67,000 Iraqi citizens have volunteered to protect their communities, the colonel said. Of those, 39,000 are paid to do so, he said. Many CLCs, as they are known, are Sunni, Stanton said, but increasing numbers of Shiites also are joining.
The concerned-citizen movement was initially sparked in Anbar province, where Sunni sheiks sick of insurgent violence urged villagers to stand up to terrorists, many of them home-grown, egged-on and handsomely financed by al Qaeda operatives. Recently, Shiite sheiks, sometimes working in concert with their Sunni counterparts, have urged their followers to do the same, the colonel said.
I salute all you who have put your hides on the line in order to bring one of the most dangerous cities in the world to a point where hardly no one is being killed.
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