Hey Steve,
The story that with went one of the questions on the last slide is an interesting one and one worth going over.

When I first got to Mosul the IA was really just starting to transition from junior partner to equal. The IA had primarily been in a MSR (Main Supply Route) security role and the IP were just starting get some organization that allowed it to do more then control their stations. Most of the detainees were not processed through the Iraqi system. Badush Prison just outside of Mosul on the road to Tal-Afar was just at that time mostly detainees that had been moved from somewhere else. As time progressed and the IA and IP got better, new challenges in the security sector were exposed as that sector was stressed by the increase in proficiency of the host nation forces.

Talking to a couple of folks that had worked DoJ corrections (one at Badush and one who'd been involved with Iraqi prisons since 2003)assistance I found out a couple of interesting things. We all know that pre-invasion Saddam had issued a legal pardon of all the incarcerated folks and pretty much disbanded the prison system - that made the news. What everyone does not consider is how difficult it has been to put that back together. One friend of mine said that when they got to the prison there was no cell doors or locks in most cases, and there certainly were no records. Under Saddam there was nothing like the prison system that comes to mind here. If inmates were to be fed - their families pretty much had to make it happen - remember we're talking about a regime that reportedly charged the families the cost of the rounds used in the execution. There were no rehab programs designed to rehabilitate and reintegrate reformed criminals back into the system - because the purpose of the system was not to reform, but strictly to punish those who the regime could not use or who stood against it. It was not used to punish in the way we think of as punish, it was used to isolate, remove and serve as an example of Rule by Dictator - more like a gulag in some respects. Hence cell doors and locks were not necessarily needed because if an inmate stepped across the line the response was to often to beat or shoot them. If they died as a result, then that was the price.

Our prisons go to great lengths to provide medical care, ensure prisoners have basic rights, and even to provide reform programs. Here we have some expectation that a convict will reenter society after serving all or some part of their sentence, it is not always so elsewhere. Under Saddam the prison system served a very different purpose.

Also true with the judiciary. By law we separate the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. In many places the judiciary works for the executive. Good or bad, this means the idea that the judiciary can come to an independent conclusion on sentencing or on other legal questions is invalid where there is no separation - the judiciary gets its marching orders from the executive.

Badush was evaluated as better then most other prisons in 2003. It does not mean it was a model, just that under the conditions it was better then the worst. As such many detainees from outside Ninewa Province were transferred to Badush. This created an interesting dynamic - for example we have multiple types of prisons here where we separate different types of convicts - we do this for a number of reasons such as ensuring the safety of the population, the amount of resources required to house particularly dangerous felons, the ability to reform those who have deviated from the norms of society too much, we separate by age, by gender, etc. If you mix types of inmate populations, we have found that you create new problems. However, we have a very developed (for the amount of resources we put toward it) prison and corrections system. In addition to infrastructure we have hiring standards, training standards, parole boards, parole officers, etc. that many systems don't. This not only reflects our values, but a system that is more able to handle the role its tasked to do, and as an institution its more able to sustain itself. This is true throughout the security sector be it the development of the judiciary, the prisons, the security services themselves or even the amount and diversity of competent litigators to represent suspects, assist with appeals or the host of other things lawyers do in our system.

So in Iraq you had a security sector that had been bent to serve a dictatorship, but you had a war in which the demands on that security sector were such that it could not be developed evenly across the board even if we'd had the resources because some things just take a minimal amount of time before there is sufficient progress.

So in Mosul you had a security sector that was trying to grow as fast as it could not only to meet the needs of its environment but had to also account for our domestic political concerns - e.g. one of the most visible sign of measurable progress our administration could point to was the number of IPs and IA units who had assumed "the lead" and were demonstratively doing those things which might demonstrate progress.

However as we started producing more capability and capacity in the IPs and IA we began to increase the burden on other parts of the security sector. TF 134 (and many JAG officers from the BCTs and DIVs had to work closely with the PRTs and Iraqi lawyers and judges to teach them how to build and process cases under Iraqi law. Throughout they ran into all kids of roadblocks from judges who were either intimidated or unduly influenced, to lawyers who had to get over apathy, to illiterate IPs or those impatient and ignorant of the system. These folks developed work-arounds such as bringing in judges from elsewhere to try cases until the provincial system could catch up, or the BCTs bringing in more resources to assist ministries that could not meet the needs of the IA or IP because they themselves were growing. This was all very ad-hoc in nature, and given the conditions perhaps there was not other way around it. However even as progress was made in the "visible" spectrum - there were challenges developing in other parts of the system.

Jails and Prisons were now exceeding the capacity they could deal with.
This was not just a matter of space, but also the number of qualified
personnel who could work corrections. As we've seen a real success story is developing in Bucca, but it has taken us awhile to understand the value of this. A friend of mine who was an advisor out at Badush had some real challenges just trying to get uniforms and training ammo back in 2006. The relationship between the prison guards and the Mosul IP and Mosul IA was strained both by inter-interoperability issues and service personalities. Soon there was bound to a breach in the system and in early 2007 a significant escape occurred from Badush.

Like I said there are other factors which drive the resources we apply , and all in all given the scope of the task I think our ad-hoc measures have been as effective as they could be. In some cases there were things that were as contingent on other parts of the sector be it political, economic - or the ability to produce literate human capital so regardless of the amount of energy we'd put into it - time was required. Getting back to full-spectrum planning though, what if we'd looked to understand the environment better - we might not have been able to fix everything, but at least we'd have been able to anticipate a few things better, recognize a few things better, and maybe avoid the more serious consequences of our actions and inactions. For the most part we don't go into a situation where we rebuild from the ground up - however even in this case understanding it and being able to articulate it can reduce the number of unknowns and manage fears and expectations better.

From a planner point of view it also allows me to better understand what the requirements are going to be, and what challenges I'm going to have in lining them up. While title law may say one thing, its not set in stone if the Congress can understand why we need an amendment or a change. So if the requirement to train host nation police clearly out paces the ability of the more appropriate titular authority, but the policy objective says it must be done beginning at a certain time, and with a certain amount of capacity by a certain time, then they may be willing to amend it so the agency with the capacity can make it happen. This way everybody goes in with a better understanding of what they are going to be required to do to meet the objective, vs. discovery learning.

Best, Rob