MikeF pointed out one of the biggest problems in our discordant geographic assignment of battlespaces without relation to the civilian governance structure.

Salah ad Din Province was divided into four brigades---one at Speicher, one at Q West, one at Warhorse, and one at Balad--and, essentially, three PRTs. Salah ad Din had three satellites (Tuz, Balad, Bayji). Tuz was actually dependent on Warhorse, and the district primarily dependent on Kirkuk (roads, water, electricity, etc...). Shirqat province was managed out of Ninewa PRT.

Somehow or another, all of this was supposed to come together to reinforce and build local governance, but I never figured out how. Good thing that Salah ad Din, at the time, only had an interim Kurdish gov structure until the 2008 provincial election. Now, it is just turmoil. Who build that capacity????

That was an issue in last year's Iraq troop redeployment. How do you re-align to follow civilian government structures when, in fact, the US map sets didn't even have accurate provincial/district boundaries---just speculative junk from the early 1980s.

So, you take the Iraqi census data, which is very neatly and carefully arranged into census blocks and block maps in a hierarchy from nahia to qadda to province. But if you don;t use the same census maps and provincial governance arrangement, the population information contained therein is useless.

How to align meaningful data to accomplish a mission grounded in building the capacity of local and provincial governance without aligning forces to civilian structures?

I just don't get it.

Steve