Page 234 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

736 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

In addition to its security mission, the squadron oversaw reconstruction and other civil-
military operations, including restoring critical services like water, power, medical services,
and the school system. Civil Affairs teams “managed over $4 million in projects designed to
restore life to the city and address the long-term grievances of the population.” Within the
castle, the squadron also established a civil-military operations center for handling civilian
claims for damages, bidding on construction projects, searching for missing relatives, and
an employment center. A government support team, also manned by Civil Affairs Soldiers,
leant a hand to Tall ‘Afar’s city council as it established procedures for daily affairs and the
functioning of firefighting and rescue, power, and communications. To hasten the city’s
economic recovery, the squadron disbursed compensatory funds to people whose property
had been damaged. A few weeks later, the Iraqi government authorized paying 150,000
dinars, roughly $100, per family as compensation for damage resulting from Operation
RESTORING RIGHTS. In the end, Iraqi army and police disbursed roughly 4.5 billion
dinars. 56
With the 15 October referendum approaching, the squadron, like other US and Coalition
units, created election sites. Security was provided by the 3d Iraqi Division’s 1st Brigade as
2d Squadron stood back and provided a quick reaction force should trouble develop. Security
procedures, preparations, troop dispositions, screening sites, voter and crowd control, and the
management of the 11 polling stations was left to the Iraqi government and security forces.
In the days approaching the referendum, insurgents launched attacks against the people in an
attempt to dissuade them from voting; two of the attacks were directed at police recruits. In
each of these cases, Iraqi forces had secured the sites and taken control of the situation before
cavalry troopers arrived. 57
On the day of the referendum, an estimated 17,000 people voted in Tall ‘Afar, a 1,700
percent increase from the 1,000 or so who had voted in the January 2005 elections. US
and Iraqi forces had disrupted the insurgency, but they had not completely ended insurgent
activity. On 16 October, Company H uncovered the second-largest cache discovered during
the squadron’s deployment. In Muhalibiya the tankers discovered more than 30 120-mm
mortar rounds, 95 155-mm artillery rounds, 50 120-mm warheads, and numerous other
munitions. On 20 October, F Troop discovered a suicide car bomb in the final stages of
construction, with “detonating cord running into the hood and hasty wiring in the seat.” 58
To extend its control in the city, Hickey’s squadron threw up barriers to regulate movement
and limit the insurgents’ freedom to maneuver. It limited access to secondary roads by
establishing TCPs at major intersections, “blocking lateral routes throughout the area,” and
along suspected insurgent avenues of approach. Second Squadron integrated these static
measures within an active plan that established a fuller depth of observation throughout
the city. In June, insurgent attacks had averaged six per day, by the end of October they
had decreased to just over two per day, and in November averaged less than one attack per
day. 59

56 Simmering, 2/3 ACR Actions, 42–43.
57 Ibid., 43–44.
58 Ibid., 44–45.
59 ibid., 46.