Gordon notes how the Iraqi and U.S. military scrambled to replace the recalcitrant unit, and he mentions how other Iraqi units held, he states they “fought hard.” The import of these minor comments are lost in the bombast of his key point.
This episode was a blow to the American effort to push the Iraqis into the lead in the struggle to wrest control of parts of Sadr City from the Mahdi Army militia and what Americans and Iraqis say are Iranian-backed groups.
Although one company broke, the remainder of the Iraqi Army fought well. But Gordon fails to relate that the broken unit is less experienced and is likely a young brigade from the 11th Division. The 44th Brigade of the 11th Division, which is in Sadr City, went through what is called “Unit Set Fielding”--where a unit is formed and receives its equipment--in December of 2007. The 43rd Brigade went through the training in January of this year. The 11th Division was commissioned to form in November 2007.
Bill Roggio of the stellar Long War Journal points out that we can know which unit broke from the meticulous tracking from the Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle, updated monthly at The Long War Journal. If the Journal can do it, can't the prestigious and seemingly limitless resources of the Times do the same?
The big picture is lost to readers of the Times. What was unthinkable and impossible for Iraqi units to perform in 2006 - 2008, in just three weeks in 2008 when the Iraqi security forces took on the Mahdi Army in Basra, which sparked fighting in Baghdad, the Iraqi Army is 1/3 of the way into Sadr City.
The story of a major accomplishment by the burgeoning Iraqi security forces is missed by readers of the Times. The Times is not telling the truth.
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