Nouri al-Maliki finishes the job Colin Powell couldn’t

In essence, Operation Together Forward, announced this week by newly elected Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is now necessary because the 4th Infantry Division’s (ID) invasion from the North never occurred. In the weeks leading up to war with Iraq, Collin Powell, (then) Secretary of State negotiated with Ankara’s parliament for permission to use Turkish territory to launch 62,000 US troops against Iraq. Despite being authorized to deliver millions in US aid, Powell failed to secure a “northern front” for the Coalition forces. This left the most advanced division in the U.S. Army stuck in Texas and over 14,000 pieces of equipment, including the latest M1-A2 Abrams battle tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Apache attack helicopters on ships in the Mediterranean Sea. Additionally, this division boasted the Army’s most sophisticated computer systems, allowing for the first time in actual battle, the linking of all vehicles, tracking both each other and the enemy on the battlefield.
It wasn’t until almost a month later that the 4th ID finally joined the war effort after having been re-routed through Kuwait, arriving too late to be part of the initial attack. With the advance of American troops into the Sunni Triangle and the last vestiges of Iraqi resistance thought to be crumbling, it was not clear whether the 4th would see any action or take more of a stabilization role. The 4th ID had initially been a key part of the American war plan, to invade Iraq from the north through Turkey as the 3rd Infantry Division invaded south from Kuwait.
It is now understood that many troops loyal to Saddam abandoned their posts and uniforms and took up as insurgents when the Coalition forces reached the outskirts of Baghdad. Had there been a simultaneous push down from the North, as originally planned, it is altogether possible that many of those who are perpetrating terror today would have been captured or killed at that time.
Three years and 2,500 US fatalities later, the newly-elected Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki’s plan to crack down on security in the capital may finally bring those former Saddamists, along with many others who’ve joined them, to justice. The announcement of a combined military and police action called Operation Together Forward, involving 75,000 troops, to secure roads, stage raids, seize weapons and enforce a curfew is intended to restore order for Baghdad’s 6 million residents, who have suffered the most from suicidal killers, roadside bombs and sectarian death squads.
While the extent of al-Maliki’s military success is not yet known, it can be said with a fair amount of certainty that, had Collin Powell succeeded diplomatically with the Turks, a lot of Americans and Iraqis would be alive today.