BLACKFIVE: The Stories They Could Tell...

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The Stories They Could Tell...

Posted By Mr Wolf

...and are beginning to. This post starts what I hope is a good series of stories provided by others out there. This set, set in and around the CPIC in the 2003/2004 timeframe, involves the observations of this author, whom I'll call 'Top'' (since he took the trouble of changing names in his book). I'll reveal more about him later, including his site, but first I want to introduce you to his story.

While everyone thought the American military had forced Sadr into a truce, what happened behind the scenes really shows how many different organizations had a hand in the inner workings of daily workings of what was happening in Baghdad. It was an alphabet soup including the FBI, CID, DEA and, of course, the OGA, which really was the CIA.

It turns out the truce with Sadr had nothing to do with the military at all, but only a select few leaders knew the real story of what went on in an office right above the CPIC at the Convention Center.

More after the jump- I guarantee you are going to like this. Drop a note into comments, or send me an email. ''Top'' has a very open way of writing, so if you are not of that mindset, please be careful.

Just to set the stage, the CPIC was the Coalition Press Information Center, located in the former Baghdad Convention center. This was one of the largest non-Bathist facilities in Baghdad, and served as a conference center, media briefing center, and now serves as a location for the new Iraqi government (its one of the few buildings large enough AND secure enough to do it). ''TOP'' was the senior NCO for the MPAD (mobile public affairs detachment) that ran the facility during this time. Experienced, tough, and very smart, ''Top'' knew what needed to be done and did what it took to GET it done. I'll forgive him for being a Boston fan, for now.

Some of the playa's include: (then) LTC Boylan, BG Kimmitt, Dan Senor, and a host of others. Names in this series have been changed, but the learned will recognize them pretty readily.

If you're a publisher, we need to talk...

Now on to the show!

Act 16: SADR Comes Alive

Things were starting to come together for the 287th. SFC Smith and CPT Lucien returned from
Kuwait with the good news that our equipment had finally arrived from the United States and was due to be shipped up to Baghdad within a couple of weeks. The 1st anniversary of the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom also crept on us, and that meant a bunch of VIP’s in Baghdad, which translated into more press briefings and conferences.

One dignitary that I really looked forward to meeting was former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and current Secretary of State Colin Powell. I thought the world of this man, and in my mind, I think he should have run for president because I truly believe he would have been the first African-American elected to the most powerful office in the world. He was simply one person whom I respected because of who he was and who he didn’t pretend to be. He was a general and a statesman, but he was too decent of a person to be a politician. To me he was the General.

Secretary Powell made his way into the Convention Center under heavy security, but instead of following everyone (including Ambassador Bremer) into Conference Room 3, he made a left turn and walked straight towards the military members lined up for a chance to meet the General. I stood next to LTC Donnello as the senior enlisted Soldier in the office. We had a Marine Lance Corporal call the room to attention and Sec. Powell made his way down the line shaking hands. I was the second person to shake his hand; it was something I’ll treasure for the rest of my life. He didn’t say much, but he did manage to thank me for what I was doing and that was plenty for me. Secretary Powell didn’t get a chance to greet everyone, but he shook as many hands as he could before he made his way to the press briefing.

Ambassador Bremer led the event off with a short statement and then introduced the Secretary of State; but this is where the excitement started.

Before Secretary Powell moved to the podium to address the media, a member of the Arabic press stood up to make a statement condemning the killing of an Al Arabiya television reporter at a U.S. checkpoint earlier in the week. The journalist read off his demands requesting a formal military investigation of the incident and then led the whole Arabic media contingent as they all stood and exited the press conference. Everyone in the room just stared at this spectacle with their mouths wide open because we couldn’t believe they would insult Secretary Powell in the manner they did.

However, Secretary Powell didn’t hesitate and proceeded to give his opening statement and then opened the room up for questions. The first question was obviously going to be about the media walkout, and Powell gave one of those answers that just sticks with you and made me respect him more than I already did. Here’s how it went.

Media Question: How do you feel about what just transpired Mr. Secretary?

Powell Answer: Well, they couldn’t do that when Saddam Hussein was in power, could they? Democracy provides the freedom that allowed the journalists to do what they did without fear of repercussion.

That just shut the media up, and the rest of the event went smoothly as I sat in one of the back rows and listened to someone who actually had the right message and delivered it like the professional that he was. I hope BG Averitt was taking notes, but I had a feeling the arrogant bastard probably thought that he could do better.

The month of April brought the major rise in the insurgency and the coming out of a young rebel Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr.

In response to the killing and mutilation to the bodies of four Blackwater employees in Fallujah, the Marines of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Forces initiated offensive operations to capture the individuals responsible and any others in the region who may be involved in insurgency or terrorist activities. The newly formed Iraqi National Guard was supposed to fight right beside the Marines in the operation, but they chickened out and ran away.

The U.S. ended up aborting its attempt to regain control of Fallujah, not because they couldn’t just wipe out the whole city and turn it into a parking lot, but because they stopped offensive operations due to heavy political pressure by the Iraqi Governing Council.

On April 10, the U.S.military declared a unilateral truce to allow for humanitarian supplies to enter Fallujah. U.S. troops pulled back to the outskirts of the city; local leaders reciprocated the ceasefire, although lower-level intense fighting on both sides continued. Iraqi negotiators had made their way into the city to broker a truce between the U.S. and local leaders, but had not been successful. Meanwhile, the insurgents capitalized on this 'ceasefire' to conduct their most intense offensive operations, while numerous weapons were found hidden in the humanitarian supply trucks that were attempting to enter the city.

The Fallujah ceasefire followed a wave of insurgency across southern Iraq, including An Najaf and Baghdad, which included kidnapping of military members and the execution of several civilian workers.

Coalition forces sought to negotiate a truce but clearly stated that it would restart offensive operations to retake the city if one was not reached. The main goal of the military commanders was to capture those responsible for the numerous deaths of American and Iraqi security personnel, and as the negotiations continued, insurgents continued to conduct hit-and-run attacks on U.S. Marine positions.

If Fallujah wasn’t enough, fighting also broke out in Najaf between U.S. forces and the al-Mahdi Army of al-Sadr, which launched a coordinated uprising across central and southern Iraq in an apparent attempt to seize control of the country ahead of the June 30, 2004 handover of power to a new Iraqi government.

At the end of March 2004, the CPA shut the doors of Sadr's newspaper, Al Hawza, on charges of inciting violence that including printing detailed instructions on how to kill Coalition forces.

Sadr responded by mobilizing tens of thousands of Shia followers to demonstrations protesting the closure of the newspaper; the demonstrations escalated throughout the week in number and militancy. One of the major demonstrations was held right outside Checkpoint 3 and the Convention Center. I climbed to the roof of the building and looked past the checkpoint and couldn’t believe what I saw. The main street leading up to the checkpoint was a major roadway, and it was filled with the most demonstrators I had ever seen with my own eyes. There had to be between 50,000 and 100,000 Shiites all chanting in cadence and waving the green flags showing their support for Sadr.

Fighting broke out in Najaf, Sadr City, and Basra as Sadr's al-Mahdi Army took over several points and attacked coalition Soldiers, killing dozens and taking many casualties of its own in the process. Sadr finally realized that he couldn’t win a military fight against the Coalition, so he came to his senses and brokered a truce that would eventually de-arm his militia while keeping the cleric himself out of jail.

Muqtada al-Sadr was a force to reckoned with even if the CPA and the Coalition didn’t want to admit it publicly. We all knew that this would not be the end of him, but we also knew that we could knock this fucker off any time we wanted.

While everyone thought the American military had forced Sadr into a truce, what happened behind the scenes really shows how many different organizations had a hand in the inner workings of daily workings of what was happening in Baghdad. It was an alphabet soup including the FBI, CID, DEA and, of course, the OGA, which really was the CIA.

It turns out the truce with Sadr had nothing to do with the military at all, but only a select few leaders knew the real story of what went on in an office right above the CPIC at the Convention Center.

Whenever we had maintenance problems at the Convention Center, we’d go up to the third floor and talk to the building co-managers, Jerry and Miguel. They were two normal-looking middle aged men who took care of virtually everything that we asked them besides getting us air conditioning during the summer months. They seemed to know everyone and walked around like they owned Baghdad. We all thought they were just civilian contractors doing a job for money, but they were orchestrating meetings and brokering peace agreements behind the scenes as a couple of the most senior CIA operatives in Baghdad. Jerry told me that he had retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marines after a 25-year career, but Miguel played things a little more closely to the vest and didn’t talk about his past. Jerry loved to brag about having face-to-face meetings with LTG Ricardo Sanchez and Ambassador Bremer, but we all thought that he was talking out of his ass. He was really a wise guy and immediately struck up a relationship with Kylie. I was friendly with him, but not on the level that Kylie was. People seemed comfortable around her, so they tended to be more open with her more than they might be with SFC Kardini or me. In fact, it was Kylie who told me what really happened behind the scenes concerning Sadr.

Jerry was pulling all the strings right from his office on the third floor. He had recruited a member of the IMET, Mohammed, to act as a messenger between himself and Muqtada al-Sadr himself. This was an extremely important job, but an even more dangerous task for anyone, especially for an Iraqi working for the Coalition. Mohammed was acting as a human carrier pigeon between Jerry and Sadr , and his work would ultimately lead to a face to face meeting between Sadr, Ambassador Bremer, and the country’s foremost Shia holy man, the Grand Ayatollah Al Sistani. Everyone in Iraq knew the only way to really quiet Sadr was to have Ayatollah Sistani tell him to stand down and join the future of Iraq. The tough part was getting the three men together in a safe environment, and this is where Jerry came in, and what he pulled of was simply brilliant.

Jerry actually recruited Mohammed before he started at the CPIC and only placed him there so he’d have direct access to him during all times of the day. Mohammed was one of the more intelligent IMET members and was doing an outstanding job working with the Arabic media. He had earned a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, but that career fell through after Sadaam was overthrown. He spoke very good English and was one of the first Iraqis hired in the CPIC. Jerry knew that he had picked the right guy and immediately put Mohammed to work delivering messages directly to Sadr’s Baghdad headquarters in the Sadr City section of the city. Mohammed easily could have been killed performing these duties, but I give him credit for putting his life on the line all for the future of a democratic Iraq. I only found out nearly two years after I returned home that Mohammed actually started work as a CIA contractor with Jerry and was then placed into the CPIC so he was easily accessible to Jerry and Miguel.

I couldn’t believe what Jerry actually pulled off, but that’s because I would never imagine that he was capable of putting together what he actually did. Jerry’s task was to put the senior-most American diplomat, the country’s most senior religious figure, and the most wanted insurgent leader in the country, face to face in a meeting to hammer out an agreement that would allow Sadr to stay out of jail while also forcing his armed militia of thugs to lay their arms down and let the Coalition enforce security in Najaf and the Sadr City section of Baghdad.

I think Jerry was updating Kylie on a regular basis on his plans, but she couldn’t tell anyone because of the delicate situation at hand. One thing I do remember is that Jerry showed up at our house one evening in search of a bottle of hot sauce. He said that he was meeting with Al Sistani and the Grand Ayatollah loved American hot sauce. SFC Kardini, our resident chef, found a bottle of Texas’ best, “The Devil’s Hotsauce,” and sent the OGA man on his way.

Jerry came back the next day and told us that Al Sistani loved the hot sauce and thought the name was great; but he didn’t tell us (except for Kylie) about the meeting.

Here is what I heard went on at the meeting, which was held in Ambassador Paul Bremer’s conference room at the Convention Center. I don’t know the details of how he did it, but Jerry smuggled both Al Sistani and Sadr into the GZ and organized the much needed face-to-face meeting between the parties. I thought that this was simply brilliant; here we have the most wanted man in Iraq being smuggled into a location where the U.S. diplomatic headquarters and thousands of armed military members were hoping to get the bastard in their cross hairs. Sadr’s militia was responsible for killing dozens of Coalition forces in Najaf and Baghdad, while civilian drivers for KBR were also killed on Airport Road on a daily basis, and this was the guy who was inside the GZ to negotiate a truce? I just couldn’t stop shaking my head at this fact because I, along with the rest of the world, thought the military had forced Sadr and his militia to lay down their arms and get involved into the political process forming in Iraq.

Jerry said that Sadr broke down in tears as he met with Al Sistani. The Grand Ayatollah was really the driving force of the truce as soon after the meeting, Sadr and his followers agreed to stop their terrorist activities and allow the Coalition forces to start numerous construction projects in Sadr City as part of the agreement. This section of the city was a slum for its one million residents. There was trash and sewage everywhere, and the Coalition wanted to prove their lives would improve dramatically if they worked with the Coalition and not against it. Even though Airport Road remained one of the most dangerous areas in the country after this uprising. Sadr City was now one of the safest as Sadr called a halt to the killing of American forces as military and civilian construction personnel began $10 million of construction projects aimed at providing what I called the staples of life.

Sadr had changed the whole landscape in Iraq and made life very difficult for Americans and Iraqis alike. Hell, Airport Road got so bad during his uprising that we started eating MREs at the Al Rasheed chow hall. You can call what Jerry did a success, but I still believed that Sadr was a ruthless, vicious man who should have either been whacked or sent to jail. He had American blood on his hands and that’s enough for me to whack him. Maybe that’s why I was just an Army first sergeant and not a diplomat used to kissing people’s asses all the time.

Much more to come.... Wolf