*EPF116 03/17/2003
Minimal Uprooting of Iraqis Is Goal of Army Civil Affairs Unit
(Fort Bragg-based command plans aid program for Iraqi civilians) (1290)

By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer

Fort Bragg, North Carolina -- Minimizing the displacement of Iraqi civilian populations and facilitating humanitarian relief will be primary concerns of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command now being deployed to the Persian Gulf region should the United States decide to take military action, according to a command officer.

The Army's "humanitarian mapping program" includes relying primarily on aid agencies to provide relief and reconstruction when conditions are safe, a Bush administration official said recently.

One of the military's civil affairs guiding principles is to turn over humanitarian assistance operations to aid agencies and provide logistical support, said Army Major Jeff Ponkratz, one of several soldiers who spoke with a Washington File reporter recently at Fort Bragg -- one of the staging points for troops being deployed abroad. The civil affairs command is part of the Army's Special Operations Command.

After securing the safety of civilians and providing basics such as food, water and shelter, the civil affairs group would oversee the transition from a dictatorship to democracy after combat operations cease, said Ponkratz, who is director of the 432nd Civil Affairs Brigade's Military Operations Center.

That includes assisting in developing infrastructure and institutions and helping to conduct elections. "We want to give the people of Iraq the right to make their own decisions about their country," said Colonel John Black, the unit's public health team leader.

He said the civil military objective is to "head off a possible humanitarian catastrophe," but cut off military humanitarian aid quickly so the population doesn't become dependent on it and lose the incentive to be involved in its own transition to democracy.

Civil affairs is the military's main tool for communicating with civilians -- populations, civilian governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Ponkratz said.

Ninety-six percent of U.S. civil affairs personnel are Army Reservists who bring a variety of professional skills to their military jobs, said Ponkratz. The soon-to-be deployed 432nd -- approximately 150 people -- includes a police officer, oil company technician, physician, agricultural geneticist, golf course "greens-keeper," marketer, real estate specialist, federal government employee and computer programmer. Specialists are recruited from both the U.S. civilian and military populations, he said.

Ponkratz said the command has an excellent reputation for its work in post-conflict situations. His unit has operated in such places as Bosnia, Kosovo and Haiti, he said. Other civil affairs units are currently in Afghanistan working with NGOs to build schools, clinics and roads, he said.

"Ours is a value-added mission supplementing combat support," said Major Matthew Fellinger. The function has gone "from the bottom of the [military] totem pole to the top," Ponkratz added.

If there is conflict in Iraq, the military will first conduct an information campaign urging people to stay in their homes if safe to do so. "As soon as people become displaced they are very vulnerable in an already harsh environment," Black explained.

If people do begin to move beyond their home areas, civil affairs personnel will suggest civilian travel routes separate from military supply routes, Black said. Civil affairs units include language specialists who are ready for translation duties if needed, Ponkratz said.

Four-person civil affairs teams are prepared to advance directly behind combat troops to establish "displaced persons collection points" with emergency shelter, water and food, said enlisted Specialist Michelle Green, a dislocated civilian specialist. The teams also will collect and pass to the Civil Military Operations Center data on how many displaced persons there are at each point and other data that would be helpful in aiding other civilians such as who might have professional skills in health care, said Major Christopher Dantoin.

The teams then will determine how many pallets of emergency supplies would be needed at the collection points. One pallet can support 250 people for three days, Ponkratz said.

The teams would consist of a major, staff sergeant and two specialists. If additional personnel are available, they might also be accompanied by medical, security and administrative personnel, the specialists said.

If after a few days civil affairs specialists determine that it is still unsafe for civilians returning home, they would be transferred to an "assembly area" farther from combat areas.

"But once the fighting has moved forward we want to put them back into their towns as soon as possible," Ponkratz said.

The assembly areas are not meant to be long-term because "we don't want people to get to feel comfortable" and delay their return home where they could better transition to a post-conflict society, Ponkratz emphasized.

Further up the civil military affairs organizational structure are officers that would work at the ministerial level to help the government transition to democratic institutions, including helping them to hold elections, Ponkratz said.

Civil affairs units are also focusing on helping the 800,000 persons already displaced inside Iraq and 740,000 who have fled across the border because of Saddam Hussein's policies of targeting his own people, according to Elliot Abrams, special assistant to President Bush. He made this observation February 24 during a White House briefing.

Once it is safe to enter or re-enter Iraq, aid groups including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations agencies such as the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF (U.N. Children's Fund), CARE, the International Red Cross and Oxfam will be welcomed by civil affairs personnel, Ponkratz said. He added that these groups are already positioning longer-term humanitarian assistance supplies in the region.

USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios stressed the importance of interagency coordination when he addressed civil affairs troops at Fort Bragg March 10, said Ponkratz.

Coordinated planning between the military, aid agencies and non-governmental organizations has already been occurring, said Joseph Collins, undersecretary of defense for stability operations. He spoke recently at a Pentagon briefing on humanitarian relief planning for Iraq.

Because of civil affairs' role of assisting civilians, Ponkratz said: "We are soldiers first, but also ambassadors for the United States."

He described the categories of civil affairs operations:

1. Military support to civil administration:

-- Civil assistance such as maintaining order, providing potential life-sustaining services and controlling the flow of goods and services to civilians;

-- Civil administration which might include performing and supporting the functioning of local government;

-- Civil administration in an occupied territory which might involve helping to create an effective civil government.

2. Civil-military operations: Activities that establish, maintain or influence relations between military forces and the civilians and civil authorities in a friendly, neutral or hostile area;

-- Providing security for the general population, helping dislocated civilians and evacuating noncombatants;

-- Identifying, coordinating and acquiring resources from foreign nations;

-- Humanitarian assistance, including short-range programs to alleviate human suffering.

"It is a very rewarding mission," said Lieutenant Commander Cynthia Ernst, the 432's military executive officer, from Indiana. In civilian life Ernst, who holds a doctorate, works in agricultural science.

The Fort Bragg group the Washington File spoke to included Black, a physician from Minnesota; Major Dan Chuchakis, a detachment commander and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee from Illinois; Dantoin, a battalion assistance operations officer and real estate manager from Wisconsin; Fellinger, a teacher from Wisconsin; Green, a marketing specialist from Wisconsin; Fellinger, a civil affairs team leader and a teacher from Wisconsin; Staff Sergeant Mario Franco, a support noncommissioned officer in-charge and oil company technician from Wisconsin; Ponkratz, also a teacher from Wisconsin; and Captain Anthony Ross, a civil military operations officer and civilian police officer from Indiana.

The Green Bay, Wisconsin-based 432nd Brigade was called to active duty February 28.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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