Multi-National Division-South

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Mullett

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq – The first Iraqi soldiers to attend intelligence training at Contingency Operating Base Basra graduated Nov. 5. Special Operations Soldiers from all over Multi-National Division-South attended the two week course designed to teach intelligence tasks and techniques.

Members of the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division's Intelligence and Operations sections combined efforts to coordinate the course to improve the performance of operations of to the Iraqi Security Forces. The training allows the Iraqis to better plan and coordinate their own security operations.

"The course is designed to teach the Iraqis intelligence gathering in a systematic way," said Sgt Maj. Cynthia Kallberg, 34th Inf. Div. intelligence sergeant major. "Normally, the ISF would operate by word of mouth."

Word of mouth is suspect when people point out others for personal reasons, resulting in wasted efforts.

The U.S.- Iraqi Security Forces Agreement played a part in the necessity of this type of training, with the goal of improving the independence of the Iraqi forces.

"This was the first time we were able to talk about the security agreement in a classroom environment," said Kallberg.

Iraqi citizens in local communities did not expect to see American Soldiers operating in their areas and would report it as a violation of the agreement, stated Kallberg. To address this, a judge advocate general representative assisted with the training.

One important reason for the course is to develop the ability of the Iraqi forces to share information and develop partnerships that allow for increased intelligence sharing with less reliance on U.S. forces.

This course graduated 40 Iraqi intelligence personnel who will pass much of their knowledge back to their ISF commands within MND-S. The next class is scheduled to begin in mid November.

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