MOSUL, Iraq ? The soldiers from the Iraqi Army?s 2nd Division gawked, posed for pictures, rubbed their hands on it, and then stood in crisp form when U.S. soldiers introduced them this week to their newest weapon.
There, in a two-story warehouse on the grounds of an old Iraqi ammunition storage site. stood a confidence-builder for the beleaguered Iraqi army, an M198 Howitzer cannon. For Iraqi soldiers yearning to just be respected, never mind feared, the arrival of American-made artillery was a big step toward gaining an essential quality of any effective army: pride.
?This is so much technology, powerful,?? said Ali Hadi, 42, a specialist in his division?s new artillery regiment. ?Things are going to get better.??
The new 155-millimeter guns are part of a broader, multibillion dollar effort to upgrade the Iraqi army ahead of the scheduled Dec. 31 withdrawal of the remaining U.S. forces. Among growing shipments American-made weapons now beginning to arrive are M1A1 Abrams tanks, M113 armored personnel carriers and patrol boats.
In a country where eager soldiers still believe a bigger weapon makes a bigger man, the fact that Iraq?s artillery capability was wiped out in the American-led invasion of 2003 has never sat well with Iraqi commanders. Until now, said Col. Alaa A. Abdalrida, of the 2nd Division, ?without the Americans I couldn?t defend the country.??
The new artillery, Abdalrida said, ?will ensure the Iraqi Army is no less than other armies.??
Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq had one of the largest artillery capabilities in the Middle East, forming the backbone of its army?s battle plan in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. In run-up to both the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and to the American-led invasion in 2003, U.S. military planners feared Hussein would arm his artillery with chemical or biological warheads, concerns later proven unfounded.
Ultimately, Hussein?s artillery was no match for American warplanes, tanks, and artillery, and much of it was destroyed in the 2003 attack. What remained was decommissioned, fell into disrepair or lacked ammunition for use by the new Iraqi army, according to U.S. and Iraqi military officials.
The post-Hussein Iraqi army has instead relied on short and medium range mortars. Since Iraq also still lacks warplane and missile capabilities, experts have expressed doubts that Iraq could repel an invasion without help from the U.S. military.
The first Howitzers arrived this spring, and soldiers from the U.S. Army?s 25th Infantry Division have already finished training Iraqi soldiers in Diyala, east of Baghdad, on how to operate them. The U.S. Army?s 1st Calvary Division?s Field Artillery Division, based in Fort Hood, Tex., began the training here in northern Iraq on Monday.
?They will now basically have what we have,?? said Lt. Rory R. Garcia, of the U.S. Army?s 1st Cavalry Division field artillery unit, which is training Hadi?s unit in how to operate and maintain the weapons at the Ghuzali Eagle Training Center.
U.S. military officials said the U.S. government withheld some features of the Howitzers considered classified. But they said the 42-foot-long, computer-guided weapons will cover a range of up to 13 miles, more than triple that of Iraq?s largest mortar.
The weapon has a ?kill zone? of 100 feet, and injuries from shrapnel will likely occur out to 500 feet, said Sgt. Bobby Brewster, also of the 1st Calvary Division?s artillery unit.
On the first and second day of training this week, the 40 Iraqi soldiers were broken into groups to learn how to target the weapons and to fire them. Like any good lesson plan, the basics came first.
?If one or both tires are missing, you cannot operate this system,? a U.S. soldier, speaking through an interpreter, told the Iraqi soldiers gathered around him.
One important lesson for the Iraqi Army, according to Garcia and Brewster, is that a well-trained soldier using a M198 Howitzer will be far more effective than Hussein?s army was in its use of artillery.
Although Hussein amassed as many as 3,000 artillery pieces, many from Russian, U.S. military officials say soldiers in the old Iraqi army lacked both the training and technical support needed to effectively use them.
?We would see a round go off far away,? recalled Brewster, who took part in artillery battles with Iraqi forces during the 2003 invasion, ?Then they would readjust and it would go off even farther away. We would counter fire once, and then hear no more.?
The goal, Brewster and Garcia said, is train Iraqi?s new army artillery units to deliver that same precision.
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