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Progression of Iraqi Army units ‘in the lead’ as of December 2006. Map courtesy of MNF-Iraq. Click map to view. |
The Fourth Rail is pleased to publish the first release of the Iraqi Security Forces Order Of Battle. The ISF OOB is based on open source information. We believe this document is a good representation of the structure of the Iraqi Security Forces. The OOB will be updated and published on a monthly basis.
The Iraqi Security Forces Order Of Battle was compiled and written by DJ Elliott, who retired after 22 years as an Intelligence Specialist in the U.S. Navy [IS1 (SW)]; and CJ Radin, who has has a long time interest in military and international political affairs, and has been a war-gamer since 1976.
CLICK HERE to view the Iraqi Security Forces Order Of Battle main page.
33 Comments
Guys,
Wow , I have only looked at a bit as yet. Great work. Thanks for the time and work.
Bill, do you think you might be sharing a little too much information here? If I were an enemy, I would be printing this and distributing it to everyone in my organization.
prototype
Two words from the preface: OPEN SOURCE.
If the powers that be wish to review the policy on what they release and to whom, then I say GOOD.
About (deleted) time.
I would recommend starting by removing the press acreditation and access of AP, Reuters, NYT, LAT and CNN.
Their actions are more in keeping with enemy spies and propagandists.
There is no law requiring the USG/GoI give them access or allow them in country.
They are also not exempt from being charged as accessories after the fact to a felony (knowing and willing compromise of classified information is a felony)…
Good job with that, you also might find this interesting
“The spokesman of the ministry Mohammed al-Askari said, “The army is going to receive new weapons and equipment from the US and South Africa this March and he pointed out that units that received orders to redeploy to Baghdad from other provinces have been replaced by other units from elsewhere but he didn’t elaborate.”
ECH
Thanks but, seen it already.
I have been trying to find details on that and the Azzman report on 4000 more armored vehicles being delivered.
– My guess is the South African contract is for more Reva APCs to further motorize the INP.
– The US portion is either/and/or these orders arriving:
http://www.dsca.osd.mil/PressReleases/36-b/2006/Iraq_06-69.pdf
http://www.dsca.osd.mil/PressReleases/36-b/2007/Iraq_07-09.pdf
Great ! When are we going to see some serious impact from those troops ?
DG
Drazen Gemic
Five of the 10 active IA Divs are under Iraqi Chain of Command. One more chops to IGFC this month (5th). When that happens, IA outside of Baghdad and Anbar Provinces will be under Iraqi. US is just Trainers, support and QRF in those areas, IA is the teeth.
Without those forces we would require 2-3x as many US/coalition forces to cover those areas as we have acting as backup QRF/trainers/support and that would require full reserve call up…
If Baghdad was not in the mess it is in since the Samarra Bombing, then we would be down to 10-12 US Bdes vice ramping up to 20 Bdes from 15…
Thank you, Elliott. That means Iraqi Army will not operate in troubled Sunni and partly Sunni areas. (Anbar, Baghdad). Is it out of fear that they would commit artrocities ?
DG
No.
It means they have insufficient forces in those areas.
There are four IA Divisions and two INP Divisions in those areas.
– Anbar is 40% of the area of Iraq and has one/sixth of the IA’s Brigades (most are understrength). Ar Rutbah has only DBE…
– Baghdad has a small area but, 25% of the population. Heavily urban. City fights tend to eat up large numbers of troops like a black hole. The entire INP is there except the Brigade in retraining. 30% of the IA is there or deploying there.
The planned increase by five Brigades (20 Bns) is to take up some of that missing troop strength.
During 2008 is when they will add the artl, etc to deal with foreign invaders (i.e. Persia might want their mesopotainian provinces back.)
One other factor:
— The three most inmature Divisions in the ISF are in Baghdad and Anbar:
– 7th IAD – West Anbar (none of Bdes in-lead)
– 1st & 2nd INP Divs (9x Bdes) – Baghdad
(only one Bde is in-lead)
In other words, 50% of the Anbar/Baghdad based ISF is still too young and inexperienced.
That is why the deployments from the provinces are so significant: They are experienced and quallified troops.
The Iraq Army 1ID go to Baghdad or still stay in Anbar?
4th Bde, 1st IAD is in Baghdad. Refited and is now partnered with 8th INP Bde in SE Baghdad.
Rest of 1st IAD remains covering east Anbar:
1st Bde – Ramadi
2nd Bde – Falujah
3rd Bde – Habenayah
I think I have counted 11 divisions. I believe that the division is some 3000 – 4000 men. That means about some 40 000 combat Iraqi troops ? It does not seem a lot, considering some reports of
200 000 trained men (‘Strategy page’). I’ve read that Iraqi troops rely on US logistics and other kinds of support, so the most of their force should be combat troops. Some reports seem to be incorrect, right ?
The latest estimate about enemy strength that I heard of was about 30 000 men. It is not clear are those full-time armed fighters only, or the various supporters and part-timers are also counted in ? It is a lot of men, so, at least some of them must be able to act like ordinary citizens, otherwise they will be exposed and destroyed. Those fighters were able to flee to the other area when defeated, in the past. It is reasonable to expect that ongoing US and IA operations are going to be successfull. Is there any place in Iraq where the terrorists can retreat to today ?
DG
DG
3-4000 men is a Brigade in the US Model.
Read the TO/E and do the math.
An IA Battalion at full strength is 750 men.
An average IA Brigade (3 Bns) is ~2500.
An IA Division (3-5 Bdes) is 10500-15500.
The new Iraqi Army is modeled on the US Army not the regimental system they had before. The only reason Iraqi formations are not at the same TO/E as USA is they have not formed Artillery Batterys/Battalions/Brigades yet. That is for 2008.
18 Brigades of ISF (IA/INP) are targeted on Baghdad (organized into two Divisions). ~50,000 including DivTroops just for the Baghdad area alone.
Current Division count is:
10x IA (3x new being formed by Apr07)
2x INP (plus the independent 1st INP Mech Bde)
5x DBE (Border guards)
Rest is local Police (IP)
Last personnel numbers I have seen reported are:
Iraqi AF: 900
Iraqi Navy: 1100 (incl Marine Bn)
Iraqi Army: 133,000
DBE: 29,000
INP: 24,000
Local Police: 135,000
Factor in 25% on leave at any given time.
Of the 133,000 current IA: 120,000 are combat troops and that is being increased by 12,000 by end-Mar. Plan is to bring the combat Battalions to 110% manning.
After they get IA manned up to 110%, the plan is to add 18,700 more personnel and form 20 new Bns, 5 Bde HQs and 3 more Div HQs plus an additional SOF Bn. That works out to ~16,000 combat and 2700 support. That is to be formed and basic trained by July 2007.
After that additional support and fires are next phase…
Thanks guys, for all the information. I’ll use it as background as I follow the news releases. As a non-military observer I must admit it is difficult for me to get a feel for what is going on with the Iraqi Army. Like the reporters I have to rely on news releases and second hand assessments of what is going on. How well the Iraqi Army performs in the coming months is important. They need to start coming into their own at this point. Can take control of Baghdad’s neighborhoods and slow the street fighting and bombings significantly? I don’t expect this to happen without a great many problems. The IA is still on the learning curve. I don’t expect fair assessments from much of the news media. They seem to be in a mood to take any sign of weakness in the Iraqi Army as abject failure.
Unfortunately, it is fairly difficult to stop terror bombings against civilian targets. I do believe that the IA is good enough to take over neighborhoods and make the militias stand down. I do hope they have enough good troops to get good coverage across Baghdad. The problem is, I don’t think the training level of the IA is anywhere near the high level it would need to be to effectively stop the bombings. I’m afraid that any amount of success short of absolute success will be judged as absolute failure.
I’m afraid that any amount of success short of absolute success will be judged as absolute failure.
– By that standard, no human endevor has ever succeeded.
DJ
“By that standard, no human endeavor has ever succeeded.”
Any news of Operation Baghdad ?
Bring back the Iraqi intelligence service, and set them loose on the religious militia, the mafia, Iranian spies and other trouble makers. Midnight arrests should become the norm. The whole might of the IA should be to support the intelligence service, which should be given free reign.
That is the only way to “govern” a semi-literate, force-as-culture, politically backward and unsophisticated country. The irony is that reactionary western leftists may agree with this approach, as they have always been in favor of totalitarian gov’ts (albeit anti-US gov’ts, mind you).
But then you need an ideology to drive this intelligence force. Baathism and Islamism are out of question. Some form of Ataturk/Franco old-style nationalism?
Maybe Bill or Neo-andertal can shed some light on this burning question.
hamidreza
Most of the sunni insergency problem that exists in Iraq is former “Iraqi intelligence service”
Terror is how Saddam ruled…
The day we do that, we have lost…
DJ Elliott, I disagree. The chaos and violence that you see in Iraq today is not a bunch of former intelligence officers that have developed a penchant for torture and kidnapping and wanting to indulge in terror. What you see today is an ideologically driven Islamism (Sunni and Shiite, which happen to also be in conflict with one another), allied with former ultra-nationalists of the Baath (better known as Islamofascism), who wish to capture power by the use of the massive amount of armament that they have inherited. There is nothing new about this movement.
I am not saying individual freedoms, such as a free press should be curtailed and Saddam be brought back. You have misunderstood.
I am saying that there is a new social contract in place in Iraq. This has to be enforced ruthlessly, to the point where terror is instilled in the mind of those who wish to ABUSE such contract. This is just an extreme form of law enforcement in a framework of a lawful society, that I am saying.
You have to answer fire with fire. If a terrorist is involved in a marketplace bombing or a kidnapping, then pick him up and bring him to the public square, and hang him, and destroy his home so his family, who are surely aware of his activities, suffers. This will be lesson by the heavy hand of the law.
A wishy-washy “we will be worse than our enemies” will not cut, DJ. There is no empirical basis to what you say. The debacle in Iraq can be traced to such a wishy-washy strategy implemented from day 1. Iraq is past the point of “good will” and “good intentions”. In fact secular and enlightened Iraqis are demanding a heavy hand of the law. I think the IA is now to the point of strength that such a strategy can be implemented.
hamidreza
You are assuming the wrong point.
– The Anti-Iraqi Government Insergency is heavily populated with former-IIS personnel.
– Saddam’s security and police was corrupt and brutal. They would kill you for not paying a bribe.
That is not security.
That is licensed extortion and murder.
I have no problem with hard core police enforcement and hanging murderors.
I do have a problem with the gangland criminal operations that Saddam’s Police and Intelligence service conducted and I do not want that incompetent and corrupt extortion racket to be re-started.
You are aware that citizens had to pay a bribe to get Saddam’s police to look into a crime? To file a report? They sat in the station and ignored criminal activity so long as they got their cut…
Saddam’s IIS and police were not security/law enforcement, they were the state/local mobsters…
DJ, the IIS’s task was to enforce the police state. Now if that beget corruption, it was a side effect. The police corrruption at the time of Saddam was not responsible for the security of the state. In fact it was detrimental to security.
There is no reason corruption would be entrenched in a new Iraqi intelligence service, because it is being overseen by the US and the Coalition. They will be well paid. Their job is to seek out and weed out anti-state terroristic and ideologic elements that want to grab power by guns and bombs.
There will never be perfect justice in Iraq for a while. We have to understand that Islamic and Iraqi society is politically backwards. Any sign of accomodation is construed as a sign of weakness and will generate more Islamic terrorism.
An Iraqi intelligence service must be empowered to pick up all the people around Sadr and even Sadr himself and get rid of them. Anyone who protests this state of affairs will be told either to participate in the parliamentary politics or will be picked up himself. This is classic heavy handed police state which was common during the cold war – except with the proviso that it will be an international force that will be ultimately in charge of Iraq, and can neutralize dens of corrupt when and if they appear.
Hamidreza
Work-in-progress.
The Internal Affairs section is one of the strongest sections in MoI and Iraqi Intel stand up (MoD/MoI) is in the FY2007 suplemental. Doesn’t have to be a blunt instriment. A scaple will do much better…
Also, you might want to look at OOB JFC page again. SOF troops do the type of takedowns you are thinking of and they are expanding…
DJ Elliot, have you not been reading Bill Roggio?
The MOI is infested with Sadr/Mahdi operatives. The IP put up posters of Sadr in their stations and vehicles and eliminate any competition. It is not a national unit. It is beholden to the Iraqi Hezbolla (Sadr).
I am sure you are not saying that the Iraqi intelligence service should be run by Sadrists at MOI? Does not make sense.
hamidreza,
Don’t put words in my mouth. I’ve never personally seen what you describe at any IP station, or at any IA barracks. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist elsewhere, but to intimate I’ve reported this in detail is just wrong.
DJ — I have the MP school at An Numaniyah. Is it there or Taji?
Uncle Buck
Taji for MPs. Would not be surprised to see additional schools established as they expand support training and Numaniyah would be a practical site. I have not seen confirmed reporting of a MP school there.
Numaniyah is mostly an MoI/INP training facility.
Plus an IA boot camp.
INP Bde Quicklook II “re-bluing” (purge, training, refit) is at Numaniyah.
Mahdi Army militiamen dressed in civilian clothes were out in force, with hundreds searching cars and frisking worshippers headed to the prayers. None openly carried weapons. At checkpoints into the entrance of Sadr City, militiamen in track suits and running shoes stood shoulder to shoulder with police commandos.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070210/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_al_sadr_s_strategy
Expand the quote:
“At Friday prayers, al-Sadr’s aides in Sadr City were not in their usual front row spots, and the handful who came swapped their clerical robes and turbans for casual wear.
Mahdi Army militiamen dressed in civilian clothes were out in force, with hundreds searching cars and frisking worshippers headed to the prayers. None openly carried weapons. At checkpoints into the entrance of Sadr City, militiamen in track suits and running shoes stood shoulder to shoulder with police commandos.”
– None openly carried weapons
– al-Sadr’s aides in Sadr City were not in their usual front row spots, and the handful who came swapped their clerical robes and turbans for casual wear.
– Aides are scared they might be picked up and the troops are not showing weapons.
– Sounds like they are trying to avoid a fight they cannot win.
– A civilian without weapons can stand where they will, not a threat. Kids walk with the US patrols and that does not make them US. Disarmed Mahdi Gang standing near INP does not make INP part of Mahdi Gang or vice-versa.
– Using the logic of that report, the reporter is also a member, just from proximity…
Also, I do not trust the press.
Repeat:
– I would recommend starting by removing the press acreditation and access of AP, Reuters, NYT, LAT and CNN.
– Their actions are more in keeping with enemy spies and propagandists.