Postmark Baghdad: On Patrol with the Iraqi National Police (Paperback)

In January 2007, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew K. Green journeys to Iraq to serve as the team chief of a national police transition team. It's a historic time, and America is pushing forth a radical plan meant to help the fledgling Iraqi government regain control of their country. Something must be done to rip away the power from insurgents and religious extremists. As part of this bold move, which becomes known as "the surge," the U.S. Army enlists the support of leaders such as LTC Green, who is just one of hundreds of team chiefs deployed with transition teams to live and fight with Iraqi units. Attached to the 5th Brigade Iraqi National Police, the lieutenant colonel joins a newly appointed Iraqi commander, Colonel Bahaa Noori Yassin Al Azawi. Together, the two train a brigade of troops, all while engaged in a complex counterinsurgency. Despite violence, cultural misunderstandings, and political squabbles, the two military leaders persevere, and so do those under their command. Take an insider's look at the complex culture behind the Iraq war; feel the hope and experience the fears that threaten to subdue an entire country in Postmark Baghdad.