Government Documents for You

"Measuring Security and Stability in Iraq" are quarterly reports to Congress include: updates on the political stability, government reform, economic activity and budget execution, indicators by economic activity, the security environment, the Iraqi security forces - their training and performance.

Useful charts and graphs include:

Oil Production and Export
Average Daily Oil Export and Cumulative Revenue
Average Electricity Demand and Production
Overall Weekly Security Incident Trends
Civilian Deaths
ISF and U.S. Deaths in Iraq
High Profile Attacks
Ethno-Sectarian Deaths
Weapons Caches Found by Coalition and Iraqi Forces
Average Daily Executed Attacks by Province
Neighbor stability
Government Security Efforts
Provincial Iraqi Control map
Iraqi Ministry of Interiorl National Police Forces Operational Readiness

These reports are available at the following website: http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Iraq_Reports/index.html

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) is an independent, non-partisan policy research institute established to promote innovative thinking and debate about national security strategy and investment options. CSBA’s goal is to enable policymakers to make informed decisions in matters of strategy, security policy and resource allocation.

The CSBA released a report entitled "Cost of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other Military Operations Through 2008 and Beyond." In this report, CSBA offers a comprehensive picture of the direct budgetary costs of US military operations conducted since 2001. The report also discusses the means used to budget for and finance these operations, and includes projections of how much more these operations might cost over the coming decade.

In their report "Impact of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the US Military’s Plans, Programs, and Budgets," the CSBA assesses the effect that the operations in these two theaters have had on the plans, programs, and budgets of the US military, specifically those of the US Army. It makes projections for the future costs of the operations in these two theaters.

To see these reports, click on the following links or go to CSBA's publications page: http://www.csbaonline.org/2006-1/3.Publications/Publications_List.shtml?

Cost of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other Military Operations Through 2008 and Beyond
Impact of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the US Military’s Plans, Programs, and Budgets

Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience is a publication of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), a temporary federal agency serving the American public as a watchdog for fraud, waste, and abuse of funds intended for Iraq reconstruction programs.

The description below was taken from the SIGIR website.

Since the March 2003 invasion, the Congress appropriated about $50 billion in taxpayer dollars for Iraq's relief and reconstruction. This generous provision funded a continuously evolving rebuilding program that sought, among other things, to restore Iraq's essential services, establish new security forces, create a free-market economy, and put the country on the path to achieving an effective democracy. Some of the initiatives succeeded but others did not. Hard Lessons, the first comprehensive account of the Iraqi reconstruction effort, reviews in detail the United States' rebuilding program, shedding light on why certain programs worked while others fell short of goals.

Beginning with the prewar planning process, Hard Lessons traces the development of reconstruction policy from its modest initial scope to is rapid expansion during the summer of 2003 under the Coalition Provisional Authority's aegis. The report chronicles the difficult challenges that confronted the reconstruction program as Iraq slipped into the grip of a deadly insurgency during 2005 and 2006. Reconstruction officials responded by moving large sums of money into security programs, which ultimately consumed over half of the $50 billion in U.S. appropriations. Increasing conflict in Iraq required a new military strategy - counterinsurgency - and a new plan - the surge - the success of which, seen in 2007, brought violence down to levels not seen since the March 2003 invasion. This salutary development finally allowed reconstruction projects to proceed relatively unimpeded. But by 2008, most of the $50 billion was spent. U.S. efforts now focused on helping Iraq better expend its own resources on the country's continuing national recovery. Hard Lessons concludes with 13 lessons draw from 6 difficult years of Iraq reconstruction.

Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience can be found at the following website: http://www.sigir.mil/hardlessons/pdfs/Hard_Lessons_Report.pdf

Wright, Donald P. and Timothy R. Reese. On Point II Transition to the New Campaign: The United States Army in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM May 2003 - January 2005. Fort Leavenworth: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2008. SUDOC: D 110.2:OP 2/2

This is a history of the United States Army’s operation in Iraq from May 2003 – January 2005, the time following the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime to the start of the insurgency and Iraqi elections. The discussion focuses on the US Army’s transition from conventional combat to full spectrum operations in support of building a new, free Iraq. The book, intended for soldiers and other military personnel, promotes understanding for the lessons learned by the Army’s experience during this period. The research and appendices are exhaustive in their detail, giving the reader a nuanced understanding of the Army’s activities during this crucial and challenging period.

The full-text of this document is available online at:
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CSI/LongWarOpHistorySeries.asp#title

The previous edition in this series, On Point: The United States Army in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM Through May 2003, is available online at: http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/OnPointI.pdf

The House Armed Services Committee - Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations has posted its report "Joint Improvised Explosive Device Organization: DOD's Fight Against IEDs Today and Tomorrow."

Available on the Internet:
http://armedservices.house.gov/pdfs/Reports/JIEDDOReport111908.pdf

**Press Release from Sub-Committee, November 19, 2008**

“We have to keep asking how we’re doing in this fight against IEDs,” Subcommittee Chairman Vic Snyder (D-AR) said. “We’ve made a huge investment in countering and defeating IEDs, but we still can’t say that the effort has been successful. We owe it to the men and women facing this threat everyday to provide them the best tools and training to keep them safe and defeat IEDs.”

"The Joint IED Defeat Organization has played an important role in helping our troops fight back against insurgents using IED's to terrorize civilians and military alike in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Subcommittee Ranking Member Todd Akin (R-MO). “JIEDDO was created as an agile and temporary organization to fight an emerging threat. The question now before us is where JIEDDO as an organization should go next. This report will hopefully help move that conversation forward thoughtfully."

Press Release: http://www.house.gov/list/press/armedsvc_dem/SnyderAkinPR111908.shtml

Post on GovDoc-L from: Greta E. Marlatt, Information Services Manager & Homeland Security Digital Library Content Manager, Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School

The General Accountability Office (GAO) has launched a new transition website intended to help make the transition an informed and smooth one.

The website can be found at http://www.gao.gov/transition_2009/

The 13 urgent issues they identified are as follows and are in alphabetic order not priority order:

* Caring for Service Members
* Defense Readiness
* Defense Spending
* Food Safety
* Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan
* Oversight of Financial Institutions and Markets
* Preparing for Large-Scale Health Emergencies
* Protecting the Homeland
* Public Diplomacy and International Broadcasting
* Retirement of the Space Shuttle
* Surface Transportation
* The 2010 Census
* Transition to Digital TV

The website also includes sections on:
* Agency-by-Agency Issues
* Major Cost-Saving Opportunities
* Management Challenges Across the Government
* Long-Term Fiscal Outlook
* Examples of Upcoming GAO reports on Major National Issues


Post on GovDoc-L from: Greta E. Marlatt, Information Services Manager & Homeland Security Digital Library Content Manager, Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School

The latest Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Quarterly Report to the United States Congress (October 30, 2008) has been released and is available at
http://www.sigir.mil/reports/quarterlyreports/Oct08/pdf/Report_-_October_2008.pdf

Their website blurb says "This penultimate quarter of the Year of Transfer witnessed the emergence of nascent normalcy in Iraq. As U.S. reconstruction assistance continued to target civil and military capacity building, Iraq achieved progress on the security, political, and economic fronts. Violent incidents dropped to their lowest levels since 2004; the long-awaited Provincial Election Law finally passed; and commercial activity, spurred by Iraq's oil-revenue windfall, continued to increase. But, as General Ray Odierno, the new Commanding General,
Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I), recently noted, Iraq "was a failed state [in 2006]. In 2008, it's a fragile state. We've got to move it to a stable state." To sustain progress in this direction, Iraq must improve its provision of security and essential services, such as electricity, potable water, sewage systems, and health care services."

Previous reports can be found at
http://www.sigir.mil/reports/quarterlyreports/default.aspx

Post on GovDoc-L from: Greta E. Marlatt, Information Services Manager & Homeland Security Digital Library Content Manager, Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School

The Department of Defense released their latest quarterly report on the situation in Iraq. The September 2008 version of the "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq" report is now available at:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20080930iraq.pdf

The report includes various useful graphs and charts including: the production and export of oil; oil revenue; average electricity demand and production; average daily hours of electrical power by Province; weekly security incident trends; civilian deaths; ISF and US Military deaths; ethno-sectarian deaths; high profile attacks (explosions); Iraqi Security Forces numbers and more

These reports to Congress are issued in accordance with the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2008 (Section 9010, Public Law 109-289; Section 9204, Public Law 110-252)

Previous editions of the report can be found at:
http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Iraq_Reports/index.html

Post on GovDoc-L from: Greta E. Marlatt, Information Services Manager & Homeland Security Digital Library Content Manager, Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School

In Contact!: Case Studies from the Long War. William G. Robertson, General Editor. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2006.
SUDOC: A 13.36/2-6:R 8-RG-238/2008

This new periodical from the historians at the Combat Studies Institute (CSI) provides case studies of both lethal and nonlethal missions performed by Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The events chronicled span the spectrum of participants from officers to noncommissioned officers and from combat units to support personnel. The information comes from unclassified material and interviews with many of the key participants in each of the events.

Available on the Internet: http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS88531

Reynolds,Nicholas E. U.S. Marines in Iraq, 2003: Basrah, Baghdad and Beyond. Washington, D.C.: History Division, U.S. Marine Corps, 2007.
SUDOC: D 214.13:IR 1/2

This book is about Marines during the first stage of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). It spans the period from 11 September 2001 to March and April 2003, when the Coalition removed Saddam Hussein from power, and concludes in November 2003 when the Marines left Kuwait to return to their home bases in the United States. The primary focus of the book is I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) – the run-up to the war in 2002 and early 2003, especially the development of “the plan,” with its many changes, the exhaustive rehearsals, and other preparations, and then the conduct of decisive combat operations and the immediate postwar period, mostly under the control of the U.S. Central Command’s Coalition Forces Land Component Command. The book also touches upon other Marine activities in the Military Coordination and Liaison Command in northern Iraq and with the British in the south. Finally, the book is a beginning to the examination of the early phases of the war in Iraq, a foundation for future scholarship and discussion.

**Text obtained from book’s forward.**

Available on the Internet: http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS99051

This just released Rand report has been in the news a lot today

How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa'ida

Abstract: All terrorist groups eventually end. But how do they end? The evidence since 1968 indicates that most groups have ended because (1)they joined the political process (43 percent) or (2) local police and intelligence agencies arrested or killed key members (40 percent). Military force has rarely been the primary reason for the end of terrorist groups, and few groups within this time frame have achieved victory. This has significant implications for dealing with al Qa'ida and suggests fundamentally rethinking post-9/11 U.S. counterterrorism strategy: Policymakers need to understand where to prioritize their efforts with limited resources and attention. The authors report that religious terrorist groups take longer to eliminate than other groups and rarely achieve their objectives. The largest groups achieve their goals more often and last longer than the smallest ones do. Finally,groups from upper-income countries are more likely to be left-wing or nationalist and less likely to have religion as their motivation. The authors conclude that policing and intelligence, rather than military force, should form the backbone of U.S. efforts against al Qa'ida. And U.S. policymakers should end the use of the phrase "war on terrorism" since there is no battlefield solution to defeating al Qa'ida.

PDF of report -- http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG741.pdf

News release -- http://www.rand.org/news/press/2008/07/29/

Congressional briefing --
http://www.rand.org/congress/activities/2008/07/29/

Research brief -- http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9351/

Post on GovDoc-L from: Greta E. Marlatt, Information Services Manager & Homeland Security Digital Library Content Manager, Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School

The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point is pleased to announce the release of its second report of al-Qa'ida's foreign fighters in Iraq: Bombers, Bank Accounts, and Bleedout: al-Qa`ida's Road in and Out of Iraq. The report expands on an analysis of al-Qa'ida in Iraq personnel records conducted by the CTC in December 2007. The report can be accessed at:

http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/pdf/Sinjar_2_July_23.pdf

New Raw Data

Bombers, Bank Accounts, and Bleedout not only expands on the analysis of the Sinjar Records conducted in the first report, it also introduces a host of new data, including:

*Statistics on the exact number and nationality of foreign fighters held by the US at Camp Bucca in Iraq.

*Contracts signed by AQI's foreign suicide bombers

*Contracts signed by AQI fighters entering and leaving Iraq

*Accounting sheets signed by various fighters that indicate funding sources and expenditures

*Several narratives describing AQI's network in Syria, personnel problems, and ties to Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon

*Weapons reports, etc.

Findings

The report has several major new findings:

*Foreign Fighters were an important source of funds for AQI;Saudi Fighters contributed far more money than any other nationality

*Far more Syrians and Egyptians are held at Camp Bucca than were listed in the Sinjar Records, which likely reflects the demographic shift away from those nationalities

*Approximately 75% of suicide bombings in Iraq between August 2006 and August 2007 can be attributed to fighters listed in the Sinjar Records.

*"Bleedout" of fighters from Iraq is occurring, but in relatively small numbers. Nonetheless, these individual fighters will likely be well-trained and very dangerous. The primary threat from these fighters is to Arab states, Af-Pak, and perhaps Somalia.

*Smuggling of all kinds across the Syrian/Iraqi border has long been linked to corruption in both Syria and Iraq, which limits both government's ability to crackdown.

*Fighters that contributed money to AQI were more likely to become suicide bombers.

Post on GovDoc-L from: Greta E. Marlatt, Information Services Manager & Homeland Security Digital Library Content Manager, Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School

**Book description by the Combat Studies Institute**

On Point II is the US Army's first historical study of its campaign in Iraq in the decisive eighteen months following the overthrow of the Baathist regime in April 2003. The book examines both the high-level decisions that shaped military operations after May 2003 as well as the effects of those decisions on units and Soldiers who became responsible for conducting those operations.

The authors, historians at the US Army's Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, based this account on hundreds of interviews with key participants and thousands of primary documents. Critical chapters in this book address the decision to disband the Iraqi Army, detainee operations (including the incidents at the Abu Ghraib prison), reconstruction efforts, and the Army's response to the growing insurgency.

At the core of On Point II is the dramatic story of how after May 2003, the US Army reinvented itself by transforming into an organization capable of conducting a broad array of diverse and complex "Full Spectrum" operations. This was the new campaign that confronted American Soldiers beginning in May 2003 as they strived to create stability in Iraq.

A review of this work by Christopher McKnight Nichols and R. Joseph Parrott is available from the History News Network at:

http://hnn.us/articles/52724.html