NATO Mission Iraq trains and advises Iraqi armed forces and government security agencies on a wide array of tasks against a number of terrorist threats. The evolution of NATO’s training mission in Iraq underlines its continuing need; NATO should consider exporting this model to other fragile states like Syria and Lebanon
Throughout the period from 2004-2011, NATO conducted a small but significant effort to train, mentor, and assist Iraqi security forces. This NATO training mission operated from four locations: the Union III Forward Operating Base in the international zone of Baghdad; Camp Dublin at Baghdad International Airport; Rustamiyah Forward Operating Base south of Baghdad; and the Taji Airbase north of Baghdad. When American forces ended their combat mission and withdrew nearly all of its forces in 2011, the NATO training mission also stopped on December 31, 2011.
In June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) took Mosul and large parts of northern Iraq after the Iraqi army withdrew. In response, the United States launched Operation Inherent Resolve with a surge of US troops to confront and eradicate ISIS in its stronghold of northern Iraq.
In 2015, the Iraqi government reached out to NATO for support once again. At first NATO conducted training for Iraqi security forces outside of Iraq. At its Warsaw Summit in 2016, NATO agreed to deploy a core team of trainers to Baghdad. This evolved into a new NATO Mission Iraq that fell under my jurisdiction as Commander, Allied Joint Force Command Naples in 2018. Major General Danny Fortin, Canadian Forces, was the first commander of NATO Mission Iraq, succeeded by Major General Jennie Carignan, Canadian Forces, in November 2019. General Carignan is the current Canadian Chief of Defense and the first woman ever to assume this position. Her appointment is a great credit to her performance as a combat engineer with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.
Getting the mission off the ground from the small core team in Baghdad to a full-blown NATO Mission was no easy task. NATO Mission Iraq established a presence in three principal locations:
In Baghdad, it focused on strengthening the institutions responsible for training uniformed and civilian leaders in the Iraqi security forces at the Iraqi National Defense University; the associated language school offered several languages of instruction, most importantly English.
At the Beshmaya base, NATO trained Iraqi “explosive ordnance disposal” teams, whose job it was to find and neutralize tons of munitions that had been dropped on the Iraqi countryside during prior combat operations. Reconstruction in the city of Mosul alone was hampered by thousands of pounds of unexploded ordnance above and below ground.
At Taji airfield, NATO trainers helped Iraqi security forces establish a transportation school to train drivers and maintain land lines of communication and logistics hubs all over the country.
During my battlefield circulation of these three sites, I was met with gratitude and enthusiasm from our Iraqi hosts. They wanted to expand NATO training and capacity building to new areas. At the same time, the NATO mission was threatened by Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi’ite paramilitary militia forces (known in Arabic as “the Hashd”) in and around Baghdad.
The mission was proceeding quite smoothly until January 3, 2020, when American forces conducted a precision drone strike outside the Baghdad Airport on the convoy of General Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Over the years, many American and allied soldiers had been killed or maimed as a result of IRGC activity under Soleimani. Most significantly, the IRGC had introduced in Iraq the explosively formed penetrator, a copper-jacketed armored piercing round propelled by a high explosive warhead that easily penetrated armored vehicles with molten metal at hypervelocity and eviscerated anyone on the inside.
The killing of Qasem Soleimani was intended to send a strong message to Iran and degrade Quds Force activity over the long term. But the immediate reaction of the Iraqi Shi’ite militias was to attack US bases, including the compounds where NATO and American soldiers shared facilities. As a result, NATO trainers with limited defensive capabilities were placed at significant risk. General Tod Wolters, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and I, in consultation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, decided to pause, but not terminate, the NATO mission in Iraq and temporarily evacuate our NATO trainers to a safe haven in neighboring Kuwait. In the meantime, I conferred with Major General Carignan and we agreed that she and a modest command element would remain on the ground in Baghdad to sustain the mission.
After a long cooling off period, NATO trainers returned to Baghdad, Beshmaya and Taji. Major General Carignan deserves much of the credit for the return, a result of her charismatic and honest approach to doing business with the Iraqi commanders and minister of defense. Since her departure, a series of commanders have continued to lead the mission from Denmark, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and now France.
After another request by the Iraqi government in 2021, NATO Ministers approved an expansion of the mission to offer training and capacity building for the Ministry of the Interior and Federal Police Command with an emphasis on ethical conduct, establishment of the rule of law, instruction in the use of force and the elimination of corruption. Likewise the mission supports the protection of civilians and children in armed conflict, and mirrors the NATO Women, Peace and Security agenda.
Today NATO Mission Iraq should be viewed as a model for other security forces in the Middle East, like those of Lebanon and Syria, as America reduces its military footprint and concentrates more on tensions in the Western Pacific. We can ill afford to allow terrorist networks to establish themselves in ungoverned spaces as al-Qa’ida did in Afghanistan before September 11, 2001. Training local security forces to implement the rule of law is a relatively small price to pay for a big return on investment.
