Iraqi Navy: Progress, Prospects, and Problems

Yesterday I had an interesting conference call with Royal Navy Captain Paul Abraham. He is the Director of Maritime Strategic Transition Team in Iraq. The call focused on the development of the Iraqi Navy (no, it’s not a joke. They DO have a Navy); specifically: ” his experiences working with Iraqi partners in building and developing the Iraqi Navy, which led to their recent operational success in seizing control of their own territorial port of Umm Qasr, protecting 90 percent of all of Iraq’s imports and exports.”

Currently, the Iraqi Navy consists of about a dozen hard-used small patrol boats (not unlike Senator Kerry’s back in Vietnam). Their current mission is to patrol the 50 miles of Iraqi coastline, protect the offshore oil facilities, protect the port of Umm Qasr, and to build up their strength BIGTIME.

Over the next year and a half, they’ll be receiving another 47 patrol boats of various sizes (21 will be large patrol boats). Now, for scale, Captain Abraham rightly pointed out that no navy anywhere in the world would think of adding 47 new ships in a year, and training up their people to use them, but that’s exactly what’s been asked of the Iraqis, what they’re expected to do, and what they’re doing. Moreover, they’re doing it under fire.

Apparently, the Iraqi sailors and Marines get recruited, get some training, and then get sent out on patrols for a few days. After a few days on patrol, they rotate out and get more advanced training that normally would be done before even thinking about sending someone out into combat. All the while of course, their training facilities, supply lines, their families, and their homes are under attack from terrorists, militias, etc. Other sources point out that a great deal of fire is lobbed into Umm Qasr from inside Iran (particularly targeting the detainee facility and the port.

Not long ago, these militias and terrorists tried to take the port, and for a while controlled a great deal of the facilities, but the Iraqis sent in barely trained troops who fought very well by and large, and who successfully thwarted the attack. Those forces were converted to Marines, are getting more training, and are expected to double in size by the end of 2010 (ALL of the timeline for planning and rebuilding the Iraqi Navy focuses on the end of 2010, and is on track). In the end, there will be about 3000-4000 Iraqi Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard personnel by the end of 2010.

A lot of people would read that number of people and scoff. Or they might look at the size and fatigue on the little patrol boats and snicker (often the same people who tauted Senator Kerry’s heroism in Vietnam will be the ones doing the snickering). However, what I learned in this conference call was surprising. The Iraqis are not the ARVN forces of a previous generation’s fubar, and the Iraqi Navy is not made up of the same caliber of fighting men that were first seen in at the onset of the UN-mandated occupation of Iraq back in 2004. No, these men are brave, competent, and eager. I was skeptical, but when the Captain talked about how the Iraqi Navy is already accomplishing its mission of protecting the port and waterways, I was impressed. Coalition forces still protect the oil platforms and offshore facilities, but even there the Iraqi Navy is present, well-equipped, and increasingly in the lead. Again, by the end of 2010 they are expected to not only patrol and control their own port and waterways, but also the offshore facilities. That’s the good news.

There is bad news (aside from the fact that, yeah, it’s a warzone). The downside is that the Iraqi Navy is only going to be able to perform these duties against asymetric threats-not conventional ones. Now, for those people playing the home game, an asymetric threat means ‘terrorists,’ ‘militias,’ etc. as mentioned earlier, and a conventional threat means-in this case-Iran. The current timeline for the Iraqi Navy to be able to protect Iraq from Iran is not until 2018. Until then, Coalition navies and the United States Navy will be protecting Iraq from Iran.

All in all I was extremely impressed with Captain Abraham’s presentation, his knowledge, his understanding, and his lack of fluff. There was no spin in the call-just a lot of military speak which was to be expected. In the wake of the discussion, I think people ought to know that there are small numbers of really REALLY good people out there who are doing incredible work, and giving everything they can in the effort to rebuild a nation that’s seen nothing but war for the past 28years. Just remember, there’s only about 500-1000 Iraqi Marines protecting the port of Umm Qasr, and a few hundred sailors protecting the waterways, but those people, and the Coalition members who support them, are guarding the entry/exit point for 90-95% of Iraq’s imports and exports. Good people indeed!