U.S. Troops, Civilians to Become Less Protected on July 1 - washingtonpost.com

U.S. Troops, Civilians to Become Less Protected on July 1 - washingtonpost.com

BAGHDAD, June 25 -- U.S. military officials fear that the closure of inner-city bases and restrictive guidelines that go into effect next week will leave American troops and civilians in Iraq more vulnerable.



Of particular concern is a new rule that bars U.S. troops from using mine-resistant armored vehicles in urban areas during the day, officials said.

Also worrisome, they said, is the recent closure of a small outpost in eastern Baghdad that is adjacent to a site militiamen have used to launch deadly rocket attacks on the Green Zone.

Thousands of U.S. combat troops will remain at a handful of bases in Baghdad and on the outskirts of other restive cities, such as Mosul and Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, past the June 30 deadline. But U.S. troops say their ability to respond quickly to thwart attacks could erode significantly because Iraqi officials will have unprecedented authority over their mobility and missions in urban areas.

"We won't be providing the same level of security for ourselves and Iraqis," said 2nd Lt. Jason Henke, a military police platoon leader who will remain at one of the few inner-city bases in Baghdad. "With only a small window of time that we are allowed to operate in, it's going to be easier to target U.S. forces when we are outside the wire."

Henke's concerns were heightened this week by a string of powerful roadside bombings near his base, Joint Security Station Loyalty, in central Baghdad.

On Tuesday, one of his squadrons was attacked with an armor-piercing bomb that struck the passenger side of a mine-resistant armored vehicle, igniting the fuel line. His platoon lost another truck Thursday in a similar attack.

As other soldiers rushed to help their comrades out of the burning vehicle, insurgents opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles in the densely populated area.

The soldiers returned fire and escaped without injuries, said Henke, 29, of Newbury Park, Calif. But had they been in a Humvee, a smaller, less-fortified vehicle soldiers will use during daytime as of next month, "they would have all been killed -- all of them," Henke said.

Two other powerful roadside bombs that day were placed on the same route, not far from Iraqi National Police checkpoints, Henke said. One seriously wounded a soldier. Another that detonated nearby on Wednesday night killed an Iraqi police commander. The Pentagon spent billions of dollars in 2007 on the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles. They are believed to have contributed significantly to the decrease in American deaths in Iraq.

Ten U.S. soldiers were wounded in an ambush Thursday in Baghdad. A military spokesman provided no details about the incident. Nevertheless, attacks on U.S. troops remain low compared to other periods of the six-year war, but American commanders say they anticipate an increase in coming weeks as insurgents seek to make a statement after the first deadline of a security agreement that charts the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers.

In the past few days, several attacks in urban areas, including two that each killed more than 75 Iraqis, have heightened concern about the readiness of Iraq's security forces to operate with limited American assistance.

Brig. Gen. Stephen R. Lanza, the top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said U.S. troops would depend on their Iraqi counterparts more than ever to detect and respond to threats.

"We'll be relying a lot on the Iraqis for situational awareness," he told reporters Wednesday.

Several soldiers and officers said they doubt that Iraqi security forces will be willing or even able to stop the types of attacks faced primarily by U.S. soldiers. Those include strikes with armor-piercing grenades and armor-piercing roadside bombs.

"The vulnerability of our soldiers will increase when the Iraqi police and the Iraqi army come to the realization that they don't need to take suggestions from our soldiers," a top U.S. military official said on the condition of anonymity so as to speak candidly. "The only reason they listen to us is we give them equipment and money. Once we pull out, much of that stops."

The security agreement gives U.S. soldiers the right to self-defense. But U.S. commanders have struggled in recent months to clearly define how they will exercise that right after June 30. Any perceived overreaction or violation of the security agreement is bound to anger Iraqi leaders, many of whom have tied their political futures to the U.S. pullout and their ability to handle security with minimal help from the Americans.

Lanza declined to say how many soldiers will remain in urban areas or at how many facilities they will remain, saying the final details are still being worked out.

At least 10 facilities that house U.S. troops in Baghdad will remain open past the deadline, including two bases in the Green Zone, according to officials familiar with the list that the Iraqis agreed to.

In recent days, the Iraqi government declined to allow the Americans to keep a small outpost called Comanche on the edge of Sadr City, in eastern Baghdad, that was instrumental in stopping the barrage of rocket and mortar attacks that terrorized residents of the Green Zone in 2007 and 2008.

Kadhum Irboee al-Quraishi, a leader in Sadr City who has worked closely with the Americans, said residents are bracing for violence in coming days. A bombing Wednesday at a bird market that killed more than 75 people was the deadliest attack in the vast Shiite slum in more than a year.

"Sadr City is huge," Quraishi said. "It's not easy to control it. I'm pretty sure that roadside bombs and mortar attacks will be back just like before."