Cleveland was the commanding officer of the 10th SFG, which had the responsibility for supplying SOF personnel and services to EUCOM (whose area of responsibility includes Turkey and all of NATO). Since the end of Desert Storm in 1991, this has also included dealing with the Kurdish problem in northern Iraq, as 10th SFG has the specific language skills needed for the area and indigenous populations. This had included a planned supporting role to III Corps units that had been scheduled to attack into Iraq from Turkey. However, when the Turkish Parliament decided to unilaterally change Franks’ OIF war plan, Cleveland suddenly had his responsibilities increased. These would include:

•  defend the Kurdish populations north of the Green Line, along with the oil production areas near Kirkuk;

•  demonstrate enough presence to fix the 11 regular Iraqi Army divisions north of Tikrit, so that they would not be able to support the defense of Baghdad against V Corps and I MEF;

•  not allow the Kurdish and Peshmerga insurgents such great operational latitude and success that they would cause Turkish military forces to intervene into northern Iraq;

•  support a planned attack on an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist camp suspected of manufacturing WMDs; and

•  attempt, when and where possible, to conduct offensive UW operations against Iraqi forces, with an emphasis on searching for WMDs and high-value leadership targets (HVLTs).

If this sounds like a lot for an SF colonel to do, where previously a three-star lieutenant general corps commander and his staff would have operated, you would be correct. However, the conduct of the Afghanistan campaign and Rumsfeld’s January 2003 announcement had changed the rules for SOF operations, and Cleveland’s Joint Special Operations Task Force-North (JSOTF-N) would be one of the primary beneficiaries. This would be important, since all Cleveland had initially assigned was two lightly armed 10th SFG battalions mounted on Land Rovers.

By the time Baghdad had fallen, Kirkuk (and the oilfields), Mosul, and the other northern population centers were in allied hands. Most of the 11 Iraqi divisions, having tasted the high-tech firepower the SOF units could deliver, surrendered or retreated toward Tikrit. In just over a month of operations, JSOTF-N had conducted one of the greatest UW campaigns in the history of warfare.

Seeing that JSOTF-N was going to need some muscle and mass, SOCOM arranged for the 3/3rd SFG to be airlifted into northern Iraq. The 3/3rd had originally been scheduled to hunt SCUDs for Mulholland in western Iraq, was heavily armed, and mounted on heavy Desert/Ground Mobility Vehicles (D/GMVs). Added to the 3/3rd was the famous 173rd Airborne Brigade out of Italy, which dropped into northern Iraq, along with M1A1 Abrams tanks from the 1st Armored Division in Germany flown in by C-17 Globemasters. JSOTF-N was also assigned an AFSOC detachment of helicopters and tanker/transports, along with the services of two Navy carrier battle groups and a Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Mediterranean Sea. Cleveland’s forces could also count on the support of B-1 and B-52 heavy bombers out of RAF Fairford, making JSOTF-N a very capable force.

While it took a few days to get all these forces into northern Iraq, by late March, JSOTF-N was ready to go on the offensive. Leading bands of Kurdish and Peshmerga insurgent fighters, Cleveland’s forces turned the Iraqi positions on the Green Line and swept east toward Kirkuk. There were a number of sharp battles, won by a combination of airpower, maneuver, and the new Javelin missiles in the hands of the SF teams. By the time Baghdad had fallen, Kirkuk (and the oilfields), Mosul, and the other northern population centers were in allied hands. Most of the 11 Iraqi divisions, having tasted the high-tech firepower the SOF units could deliver, surrendered or retreated toward Tikrit. In just over a month of operations, JSOTF-N had conducted one of the greatest UW campaigns in the history of warfare.

 

OIF SOF in Retrospect

While the counterinsurgency fight against al Qaeda and the supporters of Saddam Hussein would continue for years, the initial OIF SOF campaign could be considered a classic of military operational art. The largest SOF campaign in the history of warfare (the reported number of more than 10,000 SOCOM personnel was understated), OIF Phase 1 was in many ways more complex than either Operation Overlord or Vietnam. Much like OEF-A, OIF SOF operations quickly became the key enabling actions of the war, allowing the conventional forces of V Corps, I MEF, and the British to complete major combat operations in just six frenetic weeks of fighting. In this time, SOF units won their own victories, liberating more than half the landmass of Iraq on their own. By any standard of military achievement, the soldiers, sailors, and airmen provided by SOCOM for OIF were extraordinary warriors with an indefatigable drive for success. Furthermore, their use of advanced “brilliant” weapons systems, networked communications, specialized mobility platforms, and transformed command relationships illuminated the way toward the forces of the next decade and beyond.

This article was first published in The Year in Special Operations: 2013-2014 Edition.