Operation Imposing Law
Operation Imposing Law, also known as Operation Law and Order, Operation Fardh al-Qanoon or Baghdad Security Plan, was a joint Coalition-Iraqi security plan conducted throughout Baghdad. Under the Surge plan developed in late 2006, Baghdad was to be divided into nine zones, with Iraqi and American soldiers working side by side to clear each sector of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents and establish Joint Security Stations so that reconstruction programs could begin in safety. The U.S. military commander in Iraq, David Petraeus, went so far as to say Iraq would be "doomed" if this plan failed. Numerous members of Congress stated the plan was a critical period for the U.S. presence in Iraq.
Background
In mid-October 2006, al-Qaeda announced the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq, replacing the Mujahideen Shura Council and its al-Qaeda in Iraq.On 10 February 2007, General David Petraeus replaced General Casey as the commander of Multi National Force-Iraq and Admiral William Fallon replaced General Abizaid as CENTCOM Commander on 16 March 2007.
The operation was led by Iraqi General Abboud Qanbar, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq and Gulf wars. General Qanbar was a compromise choice because General Mohan al-Furayji, the first choice of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to head the operation, was rejected by the U.S. Army.
On the first day of the operation new checkpoints were erected and increased vehicle inspections and foot patrols were reported in some neighborhoods. The operation was billed as a major neighborhood-to-neighborhood sweep to quell sectarian violence in the city of 6 million.
The Operation
In conducting the Baghdad Security Plan , coalition forces "erected security walls around public gathering spots like markets, rounded up weapons caches, and detained suspected Sunni insurgents and Shiite death squads" and set up "'joint security sites' and even smaller 'combat outposts'."Coalition military order of battle
Description of the plan
In a 16 February 2007, press conference, United States Major General Joseph Fil described the operationaldesign of the Baghdad Security Plan as follows:
"This new plan involves three basic parts: clear, control and retain. The first objective within each of the security districts in the Iraqi capital is to clear out extremist elements neighborhood by neighborhood in an effort to protect the population. And after an area is cleared, we're moving to what we call the control operation. Together with our Iraqi counterparts, we'll maintain a full-time presence on the streets, and we'll do this by building and maintaining joint security stations throughout the city. This effort to re-establish the joint security stations is well under way. The number of stations in each district will be determined by the commanders on the ground who control that area. An area moves into the retain phase when the Iraqi security forces are fully responsible for the day-to-day security mission. At this point, coalition forces begin to move out of the neighborhood and into locations where they can respond to requests for assistance as needed. During these three phrases, efforts will be ongoing to stimulate local economies by creating employment opportunities, initiating reconstruction projects and improving the infrastructure. These efforts will be spearheaded by neighborhood advisory councils, district advisory councils and the government of Iraq."
Security districts
The nine Baghdad security districts corresponded to Baghdad administrative districts and were named as follows: Adhamiyah, Karkh, Karadah, Kadhimyah, Mansour, Sadr City, Al Rashid, Rusafa and Tisa Nissan.Joint Security Stations
The Joint Security Sites were occupied by both the Iraqi Security Forces and Provincial Police. In some cases, Combat Outposts were enlarged to become JSS. On 12 April 2007, MG William Caldwell IV announced that fifty-four of the 75 outposts and stations were operating in the capital, and the number could rise to 102.JSS were set up in the following neighborhoods:
- Sadr City
- Al-Za'franiya JSS
- Hurriyah JSS
- Ghazaliya JSS—completed March 2007
- Khansa JSS—completed August 2007
- Mansour district
- * Joint Security Station Mansour in the Jamia neighborhood of the Mansour district
- Karkh Muthana JSS
- JSS Torch.
- Mushada JSS
- Yusufiyah JSS
- JSS "Arvanitis-Sigua" in Bayji 130 miles north of Baghdad, being completed May 2007.
February developments
On 17 February, Iraqi Army spokesman Qasim al-Musawi announced that attacks and killings in Baghdad had already declined by 80%. He also added that the Baghdad morgue usually received 40-50 bodies per day but had received only 20 in the past 48 hours.
On 18 February, car bombings in a crowded market killed 63, which was the first major bombing since the security plan went in place. The insurgent counterattack continued the next day as bombs continued to go off in Baghdad and a U.S. post was destroyed by a bombing which killed two troops and wounded 29.
On 24 February, the Iraqi Prime Minister stated that 400 militants were killed in the operation which was contradictory to the statement given two days before by a senior Iraqi Brigadier, General Qassim Atta al-Mussawi, who said 42 militants were killed and 246 captured. On the same day the Prime Minister gave the statement, insurgents stormed a checkpoint near Baghdad International Airport, killing eight policemen. Also, two suicide bombers struck in Baghdad, one in the southern part killing one person and another outside the SCIRI compound killing three.
The next day a female bomber killed at least 41 and wounded 50 at Baghdad's Mustansiriyah University, while several Katyusha rockets simultaneously killed at least a dozen in a Shiite neighborhood and a bomb detonated near the Green Zone killing two and wounded a dozen civilians.
On 25 February, the Iraqi military announced that during heavy fighting in Baghdad, 13 Iraqi soldiers, including one officer, and 11 militants were killed and 219 militants were captured.
The next day a bomb under a podium where the Sunni Iraqi Vice President was making a speech exploded. The bombing happened in the Mansour district while Adil Abdul-Mahdi was talking to municipal officials. The bomb missed him by a minute as he had just finished the speech and left the podium. The explosion left Abdul-Mahdi injured and at least ten people dead.
March developments
On 3 March, insurgents captured Iraqi Lieutenant General Thamer Sultan. Sultan was working as an adviser to the Iraqi Defence Minister, and he himself was considered to take up that post in the coming months. Sultan, a Sunni, was a general during Saddam's era. He was rescued the next day when Iraqi agents stormed a house in western Baghdad where he was being held and four of his captors were arrested.On 4 March, U.S. and Iraqi forces entered Sadr City, the primary stronghold of the Mahdi Army.
On 5 March, a suicide bomber killed 38 and wounded 105 civilians at a Baghdad book market.
On 7 March, the Pentagon issued an order that an extra 2,200 military police be sent to Baghdad because of the growing number of captured insurgents. The same day a suicide bomber attacked a police checkpoint in southern Baghdad killing 12 police commandos and 10 civilians.
On 8 March, General David Petraeus stated that: "There is no military solution to a problem like that in Iraq, to the insurgency of Iraq." He went on to say that a political solution was necessary in addition to the enhanced security operation in Iraq, and that the process of establishing peace would take months.
On 15 March, the Iraqi military said that since the start of the operation 265 civilians were killed in Baghdad in comparison to 1,440 the month before the start of the operation. Also they stated that there was significant reduction in assassinations and kidnappings, and the mortar attacks were down by 50 percent but roadside and car bombings remain at a high level. The Iraqi military said that "the statistics are key indications that the security crackdown is bearing fruit".
By 17 March a total of 15 joint US-Iraqi security stations were set up in Baghdad. Another 15 were planned to be built. Of the 15 that were built one was almost destroyed in an insurgent attack in the first days of the operation and another three are besieged by insurgents. On 21 March the Washington Post reported on the precarious conditions of many of the new outposts. The subsequent day several artillery rounds were fired into Al Malaki's office nearly striking the prime minister and the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
On 23 March, the deputy prime minister Salam al-Zubaie was seriously injured in a mosque suicide bombing. It was thought to be an inside job, like the attempt on the Vice President the previous month.
On 24 March, a massive suicide truck bombing completely destroyed a police station killing 33 police officers and wounding 44 others, including 20 policemen, in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Doura. Heavy fighting continued the next day in the city with another 12 members of the Iraqi security forces killed and 26 more wounded, 6 insurgents were killed.
On 24 March, also, heavy mortar and rocket attacks opened up on the heavily fortified Green Zone. These attacks were some of the most sustained attacks on the Green Zone during the war. By 29 March, one American soldier and one American contractor were killed in the shelling and another 15 people were wounded, some seriously.