Golden Division - the army that washed away the stain from the fight against IS

The fight against IS in Iraq has seen recent major victories thanks to the contribution of an elite counter-terrorism unit called the Golden Division.

Soldiers from Iraq's elite counter-terrorism force the Golden Division gather before taking part in the operation to retake the city of Fallujah in May. Photo: AP

Iraq’s counterterrorism unit known as the Golden Division was once so stigmatized that it was nicknamed the Dirty Division. After being accused of running secret prisons and killing people, some lawmakers have called for the force to be disbanded, according to the Washington Post.

But it is the fight against the Islamic State (IS) that has restored their reputation. The Golden Division is now at the forefront of most of the anti-IS operations in Iraq. The commanders who lead the division have become stars on the battlefield. A series of new songs have been released praising their bravery.

Observers say the 10,000-strong force is a rare bright spot in the US effort to restructure the Iraqi military over the past 13 years. US officials say the Golden Division is their most reliable partner on the ground against IS, as the Iraqi military struggles with corruption and mismanagement.

Glorious achievements

Golden Division vehicles enter Fallujah last month. Photo: AP

As IS ramped up attacks to seize control of Iraq's largest oil refinery in the city of Baiji, north of the capital Baghdad, the Golden Division was present, resisting fiercely and still standing firm against hundreds of enemy suicide bombings.

Last year, they led the campaign to retake the city of Ramadi, crushing IS militants from east to west, despite the fact that the Iraqi federal police had previously encountered many difficulties in attacking.

The Golden Division also made many achievements on the battlefields of Hit and Rutbah, successfully holding a series of villages along the Euphrates River.

Most recently, the Golden Division broke through the IS defenses in Fallujah. With fire support from US air force fighter jets, the Golden Division’s armored vehicles drove through areas planted with IS bombs, destroying the network of tunnels the militants had built under the city.

“They are the shock troops,” said Captain Mick Bednarek, who headed the Iraqi training program from 2013 to 2015.

Clearing up bad reputation

The Golden Division counterterrorism force was created in 2003. US officials realized they needed a force to fight alongside them against insurgent movements. The Iraqi counterterrorism force was modeled after US special forces and recruited from a variety of religious and ethnic groups, including Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

When it was first established, the Golden Division caused much skepticism because it was directly under the prime minister's office, not the defense or interior ministries. Then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki was accused of using the force to purge political opponents.

Those accusations sparked outrage in Iraq, leading to calls for the force to be disbanded. After Maliki stepped down, the accusations that they were acting as henchmen for the prime minister ended.

"People used to hate us,"Colonel Arkan Fadhil, one of the senior commanders of theGolden Division,spoke about the force's "stain" before the fight against IS. "But now they respect us much more."

Late last year, as one of the vehicles carrying the Golden Division drove through a Sunni neighborhood on the outskirts of Ramadi just as the city was liberated, children gave them candy and surrounded them for photos. Two years ago, residents would have closed their doors and hidden in their homes, not so excitedly, according to a local Sunni official.

“The transformation of the Golden Division over the past two years has been remarkable,” said a retired US Army colonel who once advised Iraq’s counterterrorism forces. “They have gone from the brink of disbandment to becoming the shining stars of Iraq.”

Experts say the fact that the Golden Division was separated from Iraq's traditional security structure is part of the reason for its success today. It has managed to distance itself from the corruption that plagues the Iraqi military system.

The Golden Division remained united even as IS plunged Iraq into a deep crisis in 2014. Today, the Golden Division is “the most professional and skilled unit in all of Iraq,” Bednarek commented.

Heavy responsibility

Golden Division soldiers gather in the Al Haykil area southeast of Fallujah. Photo: Washington Post

“We have done missions against selective, high-value targets or small-group operations,” Fadhil said. “We have never done a large-scale operation that involved three or four battalions.”

The pressure of conducting a large-scale ground war is weighing on the Golden Division, according to the Washington Post. Even as its fighters are focused on the Fallujah campaign, some are being sent back to Ramadi to retake the suburbs they took from IS months ago, as police and local tribes have lost control there again.

"The weakness of the army and other forces put pressure on us," said Brigadier General Haider Al Obeidi, the front-line commander of the Golden Division. "When we attacked, we had to ignore many targets. We did not have time to search every house, every tunnel. We should have had a support team following us."

Shiite militias also came to Fallujah to help the Golden Division. However, using Shiite forces in a predominantly Sunni area was a sensitive issue. The Iraqi military later asked them to withdraw, leaving only a few Golden Division members to defend the city.

Previously, the soldiers of the Golden Division usually worked 7 days, trained 7 days, and had 7 days off. Now, the schedule has changed to 14 days of work and 7 days off. However, due to the fierceness of the war, this schedule cannot always be maintained.

"We don't give them a break. They have to get used to it," said Colonel Fadhil. Fadhil was the first Iraqi to graduate from the US Army Ranger School, and hehad to fight for 118 consecutive days in Ramadi.

Being on the front lines against IS has also taken its toll on the Golden Division. The unit Fadhil commanded in December 2013 had 240 men. Now it has just 190.

According to Mr. Fadhil, replacing these soldiers is extremely difficult because "you cannot produce large numbers of such skilled and professional gunmen".

According to VNE