Review Nicholas Schlosser, U.S. Marines in Battle, Al-Qaim, September 2005-March 2006, Marine Corps University, 2014

Schlosser, Nicholas, U.S. Marines in Battle, Al-Qaim, September 2005-March 2006, Marine Corps University, 2014

 

U.S. Marines in Battle, Al-Qaim, September 2005-March 2006 is one of the better volumes in the Marine history of the Iraq War series. That’s because it includes both background and the aftermath to the Marine deployment to western Iraq. It’s main argument is that how the Marines stayed in cities while working with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and local tribes starting in 2005 created a new dynamic that would dramatically change the security situation in Anbar province in the following years.

 

The book covers the Marines’ 3^rd Battalion while they were deployed to the Qaim district from September 2005-March 20006. The district stretches along the northern border of Anbar governorate and Syria. It was an important battlefield because Al Qaeda in Iraq used it to bring in foreign fighters, material and money from Syria.

 

The author notes that there was no unified strategy in Iraq at that time leaving individual commanders to come up with their own. Starting in 2004 the Marines wanted to focus upon protecting the population and dividing them from the insurgents. They never had the opportunity to do that because they were ordered to attack Fallujah twice that year leading to all their focus upon clearing and holding that city. It’s important to bring up the lack of any overall plan for Iraq because the Bush administration was always pushing victory in the war but it had no strategy on how to achieve it.

 

Not only that but there were not enough troops to secure all of Anbar. Qaim is roughly the size of the state of South Carolina but there was only one battalion for the entire area. In the early years of the occupation all the Marines could do was clear out one town of militants and then move onto the next allowing the insurgents to infiltrate back in later on. This was criticized as a whack a mole strategy. It was also a fatal flaw of the occupation from the start as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wanted as few troops in the invasion force as possible and then wanted out of Iraq as soon as it was over.

 

Most of the book is about when the 3^rd Battalion arrived in Qaim in late 2005 and how they attempted a new policy. First, it conducted house to house clearing operations in some of the major towns in the district to force out the insurgents. The Marines then set up outposts inside the towns to give them a permanent presence. They partnered up with the local Iraqi army and police units to conduct joint operations with them. This helped with intelligence but also proved a problem as almost all the soldiers were Shiites and were resented by the Sunnis of Qaim. Finally, the 3^rd Battalion exploited a rift that had developed between some tribes and Al Qaeda in Iraq. They got the tribes to join the security forces greatly expanding their number and how much territory they could cover. The combination of all these factors meant that the militants could no longer operate in the towns and cities in the district with the freedom that they had before and lost many of their allies.

 

What sets Al-Qaim apart from others in the Marine series on Iraq is that it covers the history and consequences of 3rd Battalion’s time in Anbar. For instance it talks about how tribes were empowered by Saddam after the Gulf War and became a power onto themselves which was then disrupted after the 2003 invasion. More importantly the author discusses how the Marine action in Qaim set the stage for turning around security in all of Anbar. In 2006 Marines in Ramadi used the model set in Qaim to start working with sheikhs which led to the Anbar Awakening. This eventually forced Al Qaeda out of the most of the urbanized areas of the province. Other books in the series are just military histories talking about specific battles and deployments and has little to no context on why it was important or how they shaped the larger war.

 

U.S. Marines in Battle, Al-Qaim, September 2005-March 2006 covers a turning point in the Iraq War that is usually missed. There are plenty of books about the Anbar Awakening but few talk about how the events in Qaim set the stage for it. Schlosser does a good job explaining what Anbar was like before the Americans occupied Iraq and how things were changed after 2003. This set the stage for the 6^th Battalion’s time in the district. Just as important the authors talks about why this period was important for the larger war and how it began the process of securing Anbar province.

 

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