According to Time Magazine, Brigadier General Ali Jassim Mohammed Hassen al-Frejee could be the best officer the fledgling Iraqi Army has to offer. Assigned to the insurgent rat nest that was the Baghdad suburb of Lutufiyah in 2004, al-Frejee quickly gained the respect of both Iraqi and Coalition forces for his gladiatorial leadership style. The results speak for themselves.
…after nearly four years of continuous fighting, [Lutufiyah] is now one of the safest in the country as a result of increasingly sophisticated counterinsurgency techniques and close cooperation between the Iraqi and American armies. The success here may be a model for Iraqi-U.S. Army cooperation in the future, and many American commanders in the region attribute a large part of the success to “General Ali’s” skill as a professional soldier. “He has been here from the beginning,” says Lieutenant Colonel William Zemp, the U.S. commander of a unit that works daily with General Ali’s men. “The pacification of this area is his struggle, it is his story.”
General Ali adapted a strategy that has served Generals well over the course of history. “My tactics are simple,” he says. “Whenever we see the enemy, we go after them.” Even in the largely non-kinetic world of COIN operations, Patton-esqe aggressiveness works wonders. H/T Danger Room
