Between Iraq and a hard place

Between Iraq and a hard place

By Mark Devenport
BBC Northern Ireland political editor

Troops have applied lessons they learned on Northern Ireland streets

On the face of it, there can be few conflicts more dissimilar than the high-tech, high intensity war in Iraq, and the low intensity Troubles of Northern Ireland.

However, with British and US forces preparing to fight in the streets of cities like Basra and Baghdad, both commentators and individual soldiers have been making comparisons between elements of the Iraqi campaign and the British army's experiences in Northern Ireland.

Some parallels became clear when Iraqi forces abandoned their uniforms and started launching sniper attacks on coalition forces.

As in Northern Ireland, the army faced an unpredictable enemy who could melt in and out of the civilian population.

The soldiers' training on street patrols in Belfast immediately became relevant.

They move in so-called "bricks", carefully surveying the buildings around them, with each soldier covering the other's tail.

Familiar sight

The sight of soldiers stopping vehicles and searching for arms will also be familiar to anyone who drove around Northern Ireland in the years before the paramilitary ceasefires.

An Irish Guardsman has described such search activity as "our bread and butter".

Soldiers giving out chocolate to children in southern Iraq recall the "honeymoon" period back in 1969 in NI when British soldiers were welcomed with cups of tea

However, the parallels should not be pushed too far.

Even at its height in the early 1970s, Northern Ireland saw nothing like the severity of the fighting which faces the coalition forces in Iraq.

The IRA were masters of the hit-and-run ambush.

However, at no point did they battle for Belfast or Londonderry on a street-by-street basis.

The heavy arms in use in Iraq mean that military tactics and the "acceptable level" of casualties - to use a controversial term from the Troubles - bear no comparison with Northern Ireland.

Indeed, parallels with the challenges facing the US and Russian armies in Somalia, Vietnam, or Chechnya appear rather more apposite.

If victory is secured and Iraq is placed under coalition or UN administration, Northern Ireland techniques may again come into their own.

In Kosovo, police officers from Northern Ireland served as part of the UN police.

Lessons

Practices such as the joint police and army patrol became an example for others to follow as they sought to enforce law and order in areas on the edge of anarchy.

The broader and more political lesson which Northern Ireland may teach is the need to win not only territory, but also the battle for "hearts and minds".

Reports of soldiers giving out chocolate bars to children in southern Iraq recall the "honeymoon" period back in 1969 when British soldiers were welcomed in parts of Northern Ireland with cups of tea.

But the understandable alienation caused by the civilian casualties suffered during coalition bombings, coupled with the complex political geography of Iraq, makes winning the battle for Iraqi hearts and minds far from easy.

Moreover, if Western politicians are to apply the lessons of building a peace process, they will have to consider attitudes across the wider Middle East.

Road map

After all, an al-Qaeda recruit may be drawn as easily from the streets of Cairo or Beirut as from the streets of Baghdad.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's awareness of this explains his desire to see the "road map" towards a Palestinian state published as soon as possible.

Just as the peace process in Northern Ireland attempted to address Irish republicans' grievances, the prime minister hopes the "road map" will help convince Arabs that London and Washington are not applying double standards when it comes to Iraq and Israel.

Translating this approach into action will take perseverance, especially given the strong pro-Israel sentiment in the United States.

At this stage, many Arabs may be tempted to dismiss the "road map" initiative as no more than window dressing for the invasion.

Ultimately, the most lasting lesson of Northern Ireland for the coalition may be that everything is always more difficult, more complex and more time consuming than you ever imagined it would be.

For the soldier carrying out a search, Iraq might seem strangely familiar territory.

But it seems certain that on both the military and political fronts, the current conflict will pose its own unique and painful dilemmas.