The Braveheart of Bayji
DANA PITTARD
Early October 2014
ISIS executed another western hostage, Alan Henning, on October 3 following their defeat in Kobani at the hands of the Syrian Kurd (YPG) forces assisted by coalition airstrikes from the special operations strike cell in northern Iraq.1
ISIS forces were now being fought on fifteen major battlefronts throughout Iraq and Syria, and they were beginning to feel the pressure from their numerous defeats.
By pushing the Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga to conduct offensive operations throughout all of Iraq while the YPG simultaneously attacked ISIS strongpoints in Syria, we knew that ISIS would have an extremely difficult time reacting. In Iraq, it was time to set the conditions to relieve the ISIS siege of the strategically important Bayji Oil Refinery, 130 miles north of Baghdad.
The Bayji Oil Refinery was the largest oil refinery in Iraq. It was being held by a small contingent of Iraqi Security Forces led by the elite Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service. The small Iraqi Army contingent had been surrounded and besieged by a larger ISIS force since June.2 They were holding on through sheer grit and will, but their force was getting weaker and we feared they might soon be forced to surrender.
We needed to break the ISIS siege and re-establish full control of the Bayji Oil Refinery. Although the Iraqi military leadership was gaining confidence from the recent offensive successes against ISIS, they were afraid to commit to relieving the siege of Bayji because it was so far away from their base of support in Baghdad.
Convincing the ISF leadership to commit to attacking ISIS around Bayji became a major undertaking. We had to press the Iraqi leadership hard, but they had finally committed by late September. Lieutenant General Abdul Amir kept his promise from our previous talks and allocated a brigade-sized Iraqi force—two federal police battalions and one infantry battalion—for the operation. We began planning the Bayji operation jointly with the Iraqi military leadership.
Then, out of nowhere, I got word from General Kenani that the Iraqi leadership had decided not to conduct the operation after all. I couldn’t believe it. I let General Kenani know how deeply disappointed I was with him and with the Iraqi decision to call off the Bayji offensive operation. I strongly urged him to simply set a new date for the attack.
I threatened to withdraw all air support from the Iraqi Army and move my headquarters from Baghdad to Erbil where I could support the Kurds, who appeared to still have the will to fight. I understood, though, that General Kenani was under a lot of pressure from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other senior Iraqi generals. He had said as much. Most of them wanted him to concentrate on protecting Baghdad only and to stop conducting offensive operations against ISIS.
To help General Kenani, I decided to accompany the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Stuart Jones (who I’d briefly worked with back in Jordan), to meet with Prime Minister al-Abadi. It was a good meeting. Abadi spoke perfect English, and with a distinct British accent since he’d spent decades in Great Britain. The prime minister told us that his priority was securing Baghdad. If I could convince him and his generals that the capital would remain secure, he would support an offensive operation in Bayji. I told him that Lieutenant General Abdul Amir felt confident he and his forces could secure Baghdad, and that he’d even agreed to give up some forces to support the Bayji operation.
Al-Abadi finally gave his permission for Bayji—but on the condition that I myself could convince his generals. I took the prime minister’s condition as a challenge.
General Kenani invited me to meet with him and thirty of his most senior generals from Iraq’s Army, Air Force, Federal Police Forces, and other entities in order to discuss the Bayji operation. I brought my staff to help brief the plan for the operation. I knew it was my time to personally attempt to instill the will to continue to fight and defeat ISIS into Iraq’s most senior military leadership.
We met at General Kenani’s CTS headquarters at the former Italian Embassy in Baghdad. With Italian architecture, marble floors, and winding staircases, it was the most stylish interior decorum I had seen in Iraq.
My staff and I drove up to the compound in three black, armored SUVs. As we entered the main building on the compound, one of General Kenani’s deputies met us and told me that the meeting was restricted to generals only. He signaled that the rest of my staff needed to stay put.
I put up my hand. “No way. We’re all coming in.”
General Kenani came out and greeted me. “General Pittard, it is very important that only you and Ali come into the session.” He saw my hesitation and added, “At least initially…please.” He had a grave look on his face.
Seeing the look, I conceded. “Okay, sadey, I will have my staff wait in the next room over.” My staff was crestfallen.
Ali and I made our way to the meeting room. As I walked in, it felt strange—like I was walking into a lion’s den. The room was set up like a typical Arab meeting room, with rugs and carpets on the floor and chairs and couches along the walls in a U-shaped configuration facing the center. There was a lot chattering, which ceased as General Kenani and I entered. Thirty Iraqi senior generals sat in the chairs lining the walls.
I said confidently, “Salaam Ahlakhum.”
“Alakhum Salaam,” most everyone in the room replied.
General Kenani sat down at a small table at the opening of the U-shape. I sat next to him. My trusted interpreter, Ali, sat to my right.
Kenani opened the meeting. “General Pittard has proposed that we attack to relieve the ISIS siege of the Bayji Oil Refinery….”
And so it went. I listened calmly for over an hour as Ali provided near-simultaneous translation. General after general stood up and talked about why they felt the Bayji operation was a bad idea. Even the Salah ad-Din operations commander, newly promoted Lieutenant General Wahab—who had previously been picked by Kenani himself to lead the Bayji operation—stood and recommended against it!
I thought to myself, my goodness, do these people not want to defeat ISIS and get their country back?
In the end, all the senior Iraqi generals in attendance recommended the operation be cancelled or postponed. They each had various reasons to justify it—that Baghdad must be protected, that they needed more troops, more equipment, more training, and on and on.
I was deeply disappointed, but I refused to show it. I felt strongly that the Iraqi military had enough troops and enough useable equipment and weaponry, and that the Iraqi soldiers were trained at least as well as the average ISIS fighter. What the Iraqi military needed was the will to keep fighting!
At the end of their long discussion, General Kenani turned to me. He asked if I wanted to address the thirty generals and give my opinion before he cancelled the operation.
I solemnly nodded and replied sharply, “Yes, sadey.”
I stood up slowly to my full height. I could feel the tension in the room. A couple of Iraqi generals said in Arabic, “What the hell can HE tell us?”
I scanned the room. I placed my hand over my heart and bowed my head slightly in the common gesture of friendship and respect. Some put their heads down, others glared at me.
“Many of you in this room have known me and so many other American soldiers and Marines like me over the past eleven years,” I began, as Ali interpreted next to me. “We were together in Iraq as brothers-in-arms before we left in 2011. Now, three years later, my soldiers and I have returned. We have left our homes and our families in America to come here to this war and support you, support your families, and to support the great nation of Iraq against ISIS. This is why I am here—why we are all here far from our loved ones with you today. No other reason.”
I raised my hands up, palms inward. “The world says, ‘The Iraqi Army will not fight!’ I ask you…is that true? Is that true?”
Many of the leaders groaned. Some shouted, “No!”
I continued before they got too loud. “But you—all of you here—can show the world that Iraq can determine its own fate and destiny! You can show the world that ISIS can be defeated! Right now, you have unstoppable momentum. With the collective leadership in this room and your brave soldiers and our airstrikes, ISIS has been on the run for the last two months.”
I paused for effect, then raised my voice. “It is time! It is time for you to take back all the territory ISIS has stolen from Iraq. You must do this! The brave troops who have been holding on to the Bayji Oil Refinery are surrounded by ISIS. They cannot hold on much longer. Together, let us attack ISIS and take back Bayji before it is too late!”
My voice elevated even more. “If you are all to sit here and tell me Iraq no longer has the will to fight, then maybe it is time for my soldiers and I to go home. Or, perhaps we will assist the Kurds—because I know for a fact that they want to fight and destroy ISIS.”
Some appeared angry, others looked around the room at one another. Still others seemed thoughtful and listened to my words intently.
“I do not want to do that,” I continued. “I’m not ready to go home. I have come to love the Iraqi people. They deserve to be free of the grip of ISIS, to be free of terror. It is time, generals…it is time to attack!”
I looked around the room again. “I don’t know about you, but I have no fear. I will lead the attack on Bayji myself, if I must. By the grace of Allah, ISIS will be beaten, and everyone in this room has a duty and a role to play in the defeat of our enemy!”
Several of the generals grunted and nodded in approval.
I closed my discourse with one final sentiment. “The relief of the siege of Bayji could be Iraq’s finest hour of 2014, but you must have the will to fight and win and take your country back from ISIS. I personally say shame on you if you cannot step up and fight for Iraq and our brave Iraqi soldiers holding on for dear life in Bayji…. Shame on anyone who shirks this fight for freedom. Because together, I know we can crush ISIS once and for all!”
I sat down, knowing that I had just given the best impromptu speech of my life. The room was eerily quiet, but my pulse was loud in my ears. I had fired myself up and I was ready to go. General Kenani initially looked down and appeared to be praying. He thanked me in low tones for my impassioned words.
Kenani looked around the room at all thirty generals. Most of them were shaking their heads or murmuring amongst themselves. I noticed a couple of them looking to the ceiling, fingering their Arabic prayer beads (sometimes referred to as “worry beads”).
After a long pause, General Kenani sighed and stood.
“Okay, listen!” He addressed the room, putting up his hands to get their attention. “I think we all know General Pittard is right. The Americans and the coalition are here to help us, but we must take our own country back from Daesh! It is time for us to lift the siege of Bayji. No one can do this but us. Our country is depending on us.”
A long silence followed. Suddenly, a couple of the generals voiced agreement. A few more joined in. Then, almost all of them began shouting warrior slogans of support for General Kenani—and for me! The group of Iraqi generals, who just moments before had been glowering at me, suddenly made an unbelievable turnaround. I sat back in my chair and smiled at Ali, who smiled in return. It was all quite strange, but the senior Iraqi military leadership was once again committed to the liberation of Bayji.
1 “ISIS Releases Video Showing Beheading of Alan Henning,” NBC News, October 3, 2014, accessed October 31, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-uncovered/isis-releases-video-showing-beheading-alan-henning-n208816.
2 Mark Tran, “Isis insurgents attack Iraq’s biggest oil refinery,” The Guardian, June 18, 2014, accessed January 28, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/18/isis-fighters-iraq-oil-refinery-baiji.