An Iraqi soldier waits at a checkpoint Wednesday in Tarmiyah, Iraq, while another soldier searches a visitor to the Tarmiyah Reconstruction Expo. (James Warden / Stars and Stripes)
TARMIYAH, Iraq — Keeping enemy fighters away from a juicy target like the Tarmiyah Reconstruction Expo was a momentous effort, but it also gave the city a chance to showcase growing cooperation between a gamut of Iraqi security forces.
Groups like the "Sons of Iraq" and Iraqi army have a reputation for not getting along in many parts of Iraq, but Tarmiyah’s forces could be seen throughout the city manning checkpoints together during Wednesday’s event.
Such cooperation was essential to keep insurgents from infiltrating an area of about a square kilometer in a city that was once one of Iraq’s worst.
"I could not have imagined (Tarmiyah) doing this 10 months ago," said Col. Todd McCaffrey, commander of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, the American brigade responsible for the area.
The planning was so complex that representatives met at Joint Security Station Tarmiyah on Tuesday to walk through the security plan using a giant map made of cardboard cafeteria trays, 550 cord and Gatorade bottles.
Forces who watched over Tarmiyah’s expo included: five Iraqi army companies and several armored vehicles; 500 "Sons of Iraq" members; 200 Iraqi police, including Highway Police; five coalition forces platoons, including a Macedonian platoon.
An Iraqi soldier waits at a checkpoint Wednesday in Tarmiyah, Iraq, while another soldier searches a visitor to the Tarmiyah Reconstruction Expo. (James Warden / Stars and Stripes)
Spc. Bryan Austin of 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, searches a visitor to the Reconstruction Expo. (James Warden / Stars and Stripes)
Spc. William Coppeler of 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, walks past an armored personnel carrier Wednesday en route to a Reconstruction Expo. (James Warden / Stars and Stripes)
American soldiers review a “map” of Tarmiyah that is made of cardboard cafeteria trays, 550 cord and Gatorade bottles. The Americans met with Iraqi forces representatives to rehearse the security plan for Tarmiyah’s Reconstruction Expo. (James Warden / Stars and Stripes)
