Two students share a secret Sunday while Col. Saad Abdul-Wahed, a battalion commander of the Iraqi National Police, checks in on a class at the Amina Bent Wahab School in Baghdad. The visit was the first time someone had contacted the school to see what it needed. (James Warden / S&S)
Two students share a secret Sunday while Col. Saad Abdul-Wahed, a battalion commander of the Iraqi National Police, checks in on a class at the Amina Bent Wahab School in Baghdad. The visit was the first time someone had contacted the school to see what it needed. (James Warden / S&S)
An Iraqi National Police officer watches students from Al-Ehsda School in Baghdad carry in a donated tabletop Sunday. Leaders in the unit arranged the tabletops to be delivered without American assistance, a hopeful sign as coalition forces try to hand over more responsibility to local forces. (James Warden / S&S)
Students at Amina Bent Wahab School in Baghdad inspect visitors to their classroom Sunday. ()
Abbas Fadil, headmaster of the Al-Ehsda School, discusses problems at the school Sunday with Col. Saad Abdul-Wahed, commander of Iraqi National Police Battalion 1-5-2, in the Shurta district of Baghdad. Abdul-Wahed visited the school with fellow INP soldiers to deliver desks and other pieces of furniture that the school needed. (James Warden / S&S)
BAGHDAD — Like most of his fellow Americans on Sunday, Staff Sgt. Vinse Edwards was stuck away from the action when a joint Iraqi-American patrol rolled up to the Al-Ehsda School in the Shurta neighborhood of Baghdad.
Iraqi students rushed into the school with donated desktops held head-high while Iraqi National Police looked on or spoke with teachers about other problems at the school. Except for a handful of Americans, it was an entirely Iraqi affair.
But pulling security was just fine with Edwards. The 26-year-old squad leader and his fellow soldiers with 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment have spent a lot of time helping this Iraqi National Police battalion get to this point. Watching them do this type of mission on their own told Edwards that his own hard work was paying off.
“It kind of symbolizes what we need to be doing in this country,” said Edwards, who was deployed to Tikrit between 2005 and 2006.
Sunday’s delivery was the first of its kind that this Iraqi National Police battalion has done on its own initiative, a bright omen at a time when American soldiers are trying to turn over ever more responsibility to Iraqi forces.
In the past, the U.S. soldiers might have gathered the items to be donated, planned the patrol to deliver those items and only then invited the Iraqis along, said Capt. Mike Berriman, Company C commander for 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment. Edwards added that his fellow soldiers have previously had to go so far as to position the Iraqis exactly where they wanted them to stand.
On Sunday, though, the INP unit turned that formula on its head: The Iraqis did all the usual planning on their own and brought the Americans on board after they were ready.
“Of course it pleases us because they are our sons, our brothers,” Muzin Mohammad Ali, a teacher at the school, said through an interpreter.
Berriman explained that the local INP battalion commander, Col. Saad Abdul-Wahed, is the link between the people and their government. His visits are an opportunity to speak to a government official about their problems, something they did freely Sunday.
“I cannot tell you our needs; we need many things,” said Sanah Ali, headmistress of the Amina Bent Wahab school, when Abdul-Wahed asked her to list the school’s needs.
By listening to complaints like these, Abdul-Wahed shows that the government cares about the community and that “the Iraqis have taken the lead,” Berriman said.
While the delivery is the first of its kind for Abdul-Wahed’s unit, Berriman said it is part of a trend toward independence that he’s seen while working with the battalion. For example, the unit runs its own checkpoints and conducts its own patrols without ever involving the Americans.
“There are things these battalions do that I never know about,” Berriman said.
The extent to which the Iraqis controlled Sunday’s operation was most obvious when Abdul-Wahed informed Berriman midmission that he wanted to detour to the Amina Bent Wahab school, which neither side had ever contacted.
“Today we’re just checking. Next time we’ll bring something good, inshallah,” he told a classroom full of girls at the school.
Abdul-Wahed used that same visit as an opportunity to press for more, not less, American involvement.
“I brought you here to see this,” he told Berriman while a crowd of teachers, soldiers and Iraqi police looked on. “Don’t talk to me about the Ministry [of Education]. Tell me how we can help them.”
Berriman suggested several options, including bringing water to the school, contacting a group responsible for rebuilding communities and bringing Iraqi media to tour the building.
“That’ll open up the Ministry of Education’s eyes to what’s happening down here,” he said.
He made it clear that it was the Iraqis’ responsibility to do this. Undeterred, the Iraqi commander asked the same question later in the conversation — and received essentially the same answer.
“I’ve been working with these guys a long time; I know their personalities,” Berriman said.
Still, Edwards is excited about the changes he’s seen since he was last deployed.
“We have come leaps and bounds compared to two years ago,” he said.
