As officer in charge of the 101st Airborne Division Main in Iraq from March to May 2003, Major Susan Arnold - a JAG officer - was involved with targeting and rules of engagement issues during the major combat phase of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. After sharing her firsthand insights into the murderous pre-invasion grenade attack perpetrated against 101st officers, she discusses her responsibilities during the drive north and how they changed dramatically once the division arrived in Mosul. Indeed, from May until August, Arnold served as the 101st's liaison officer initially to the northern Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA-North), which then became a branch of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA-North). From here, she had remarkable visibility on the disorganization that characterized the coalition's early reconstruction efforts - the details of which she shares quite fully and candidly. Involved with Kurdish-Arab land disputes, the wheat harvest, propane availability and judicial assessments among many other post-invasion issues, Arnold relates how inadequate funding, severe personnel and equipment shortages, communication problems and an over-centralization that “put its thumb down on every good idea we had” resulted in a rocky transition into stability and support operations, causing her frustration level to be “very high.” “Arabs are very relationship driven people,” Arnold explained, “and when you get a rapport going and then get the rug pulled out from under you to some extent, that’s not helpful. In fact, that was a complaint I heard. Under Saddam, it used to be that everything had to go through Baghdad. And so when we got up and running in the north and then Baghdad starts vetoing things we’re doing, it seems like the old way of doing business – and that’s not helpful either.”

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited