Actors of the Iraqi Security Forces

Abstract

Twenty-one years ago, a multinational coalition led by the United States invaded Iraq. On March 20, 2003, a large multinational coalition force attacked Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Baghdad fell, and with it the regime of Saddam Hussein. Soon after, the Iraqi army was disbanded. The collapse of the Iraqi government and armed forces led to the deterioration of security and internal clashes throughout the country. Building and mentoring the local military
and police has become a key mission for the military as a whole. The strategy used by US
government forces in Iraq, shifts the emphasis from a threat-based strategy to a population-based counterinsurgency strategy, which requires the integration of advisory teams at the tactical level into Iraqi military and police units. Iraq’s national security architecture remains complex: weak capability, fragmentation, and foreign influence are further complicated by mutual mistrust and the underrepresentation of the Sunni population. Today, the main defence forces of different sizes and capabilities have been formed of: the Counter Terrorism Service, the Iraqi Army, the Popular Mobilization Forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, as well as the federal police under the Ministry of Interior. Nevertheless, the creation of a Shia-Sunni balance within the armed forces, as well as the integration of Iraqi militias into the Iraqi forces, is still an issue on the agenda.