Word: johnson
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Captain Chris Johnson is ready to roll. He is sitting in his armored humvee at the gate of a U.S. military compound in Baghdad, preparing to head out onto Haifa Street, a haven for insurgents and one of the most dangerous districts in Baghdad. Johnson isn't fully certain where he's heading, so he reaches for a handheld radio slung from his body armor and clicks the hand mike. "Colonel, is everybody going to Gator Base?" A voice crackles back: "Yes." It's a routine exchange, save for one thing: the voice of Johnson's convoy commander belongs...
...last week. "We have a victory strategy." But behind the scenes, military planners in Iraq are putting in place a program that provides a glimpse of the future of the counterinsurgency. As the bulk of U.S. troops retreats from the front lines, small groups of military advisers--like Captain Johnson's 12-man team--will form partnerships with Iraqi units fresh out of boot camp, sharing their barracks and accompanying them on missions but allowing the Iraqis to command themselves...
...adviser program, just look at the base of the new Iraqi army's 303rd Battalion, in western Baghdad. Outside the gates of the compound is a repurposed Taco Bell sign that reads THE ALAMO. The 1,100 Iraqi soldiers live in a strip of two-story concrete barracks. Johnson and his men sleep in a separate part of the compound where they keep an independent operations room, but spend the rest of their time living and working side by side with the Iraqis, helping Raouf with logistics and communications and making sure the Iraqis' operations are coordinated with U.S. forces...
...lives of the advisers bear similarities to those of Green Berets. While conventional units cannot leave U.S. bases with fewer than three armored humvees, Johnson's team heads out in only two vehicles for nighttime missions accompanying pickups filled with Raouf's soldiers. The Americans are passengers, with the Iraqi officer selecting the route and determining when it's time to return to base. Raouf says his U.S. advisers are the "same as my family. But I'm the father," a description Johnson doesn't dispute...
...bodyguards move through the middle. Raouf, in dark wraparound sunglasses, a pistol strapped to his thigh and a snubby machine gun dangling from his waist, waves at men sipping tea at sidewalk cafés and barks orders to soldiers as they scan the alleyways and rooftops for snipers. Johnson hangs back, surveying the street and occasionally radioing the humvees behind him. When Raouf stops to talk to a crying woman whose son has been arrested, Johnson listens in, cocking his head to the side as a translator relays the conversation. "I think he is a bad man," Raouf tells Johnson...