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The farming region of Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, is divided by one of Iraqs most turbulent fault lines of conflict, between the countrys Sunni and Shia tribes. A decade ago, this region of palm groves and irrigation canals was a violent al Qaeda stronghold known as the Triangle of Death. Yet for 2016, news reports and the United Nations accounting of nearly 7,000 or more civilian deaths across Iraq noted few attacks in this region, a reflection of its relative stability in recent years.

Ten years ago this month, the Armys 10th Mountain Division locked Mahmoudiya down with 3,500 troops running roadblocks and patrols. The divisions 2nd Brigade Combat Team had fought for months to loosen the grip of al-Qaeda and halt communal fighting. It lost 54 soldiers killed in 11 months of intensive operations.

Now, as Iraqi military forces fight in the city of Mosul to end the Islamic States last territorial hold in Iraq, the Mosul region and large swaths of Iraq face a similar threat of old communal conflicts flaring into another round of violence, intensified by the bloodshed during the extremist groups three years of brutal rule.

The United States urgently needs a strategy to secure the significant military gains against ISIS and prevent new cycles of violence that would further destabilize Iraq and potentially lead to the next generation of ISIS. No one wants to fight these battles a third time.

The good news is that a post-ISIS strategy need not be costly or led by U.S. forces. The relative stability of Mahmoudiya, and similar, recent successes by Iraqi peacemaking teams around the city of Tikrit and in other areas, shows that Iraqis, with time and some support, can solve their own conflicts at a local level. With this, they create greater resilience to conflicts fueled by national and regional divisions.

In Tikrit, mediators from an Iraqi non-governmental organization, Sanad for Peacebuilding, brokered a 2015 peace accord between Sunnis and Shia that averted revenge bloodshed following an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) massacre. That accord paved the way for markets and businesses to restart, schools and hospitals to reopen and ultimately, the return of more than 380,000 displaced Iraqis thus far. Sanad last year facilitated similar accords to avert violence in the cities of Yathrib and Hawija.

These local agreements take months of arduous mediation by civil society groups and Iraqs reconciliation authorities, and require continued dialogue and vigilance to maintain. They are by no means a panacea. One ISIS suicide attack last year struck a soccer game in the Mahmoudiya region, killing at least 26 people.

But Iraqi peacemakers have built a track record in helping Iraqis resolve their local conflicts and build a sustainable peace. They have capabilities that will be essential in the aftermath of ISIS, especially in the complex stew of Mosuls overlapping ethnic and religious communities Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Sunnis, Shias, Christians and Yezidis. Without reconciliation among Iraqis, all other investments in the countrys progress remain vulnerable to future conflict.

For the United States, promoting such an outcome requires no expensive surge of its resources, but rather a consistent policy of leading cost-effective, international investment in helping Iraqis build peace.

Amid war-torn Iraq, the continued, relative stability at Mahmoudiya underscores the cost-effectiveness of helping local people negotiate their own peace. After 31 tribal sheikhs signed their peace accord 10 years ago, 3,500 troops of the 10th Mountain Division were able to leave, replaced by a follow-on force of just 650 soldiers a reduction of 80 percent in the number of U.S. troops required. That represented a U.S. cost savings of $150 million per month, achieved by a peace accord that cost about $1.5 million to achieve.

The 10th Mountain Division faced the challenges of Mahmoudiya with courage and grit. They learned quickly how to fight with different approaches in a tough environment. More importantly, they understood the urgency of securing their gains. We owe it to our national security and to the brave members of our military to heed the lessons afforded by the Triangle of Death and invest in a partnership with Iraqi civil society and local leaders to sustain the peace from the ground up as an essential part of the way forward.

Nancy Lindborg is the president of the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

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To stabilize Iraq after ISIS, try a method that worked - The Hill (blog)

In the violent Middle East, Lebanon looks like a miracle. A mix of Christians and Sunni and Shiite Muslims who have fought a brutal civil war, and have weathered aggressive outside interference, Lebanon is still puttering along as a semifunctioning democracy. To encourage and strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces, the U.S. has given more than $1 billion over the last decade.

But looks are deceiving. In Lebanon, despite Americas help, Iran has won.

People watch Lebanons Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as he appears on a screen during a live broadcast to speak to his supporters at an event marking Resistance and Liberation Day in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, May 25, 2017. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah

Step back a few decades and remember the pitched battles of the Lebanese civil warSunni vs. Shiite vs. Christian. The kidnapping and killing of countless innocents; the murder of the CIA station chief in Beirut; and finally, the end of the civil war with the 1989 Taif Accords, a rare Arab-led initiative, which dictated terms that enabled weary Lebanese fighters to lay down their arms.

The full piece will be posted on Monday, July 3. To read the complete piece at WSJ.com, click here.If you are not a Wall Street Journal subscriber, you may access the full piece via WSJs Twitter profile here.

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Iran Won in Lebanon. What About Iraq? - American Enterprise Institute

A federal judge in Detroit on Monday put a temporary hold on the deportation of scores of Iraqi nationals swept up in immigration enforcement raids around the country in recent months.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith had already issued a 14-day stay of removal Thursday for at least 114 Iraqis most of them Chaldean Christians detained in the Detroit area, saying he needed time to weigh whether he has jurisdiction over the case.

On Monday, he granted a request from lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and other immigrant rights advocates to extend the order nationwide to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting people they said could face persecution, torture or death in Iraq.

Such harm far outweighs any interest the government may have in proceeding with the removals immediately, Goldsmith said in a written decision.

The order applies to more than 1,400 Iraqi immigrants who have been issued final orders of removal, either for overstaying a visa or because of a criminal conviction.

In many cases, those orders were issued years ago, the ACLU said in its petition. But Iraq refused to accept them, so the government eventually released them, often under supervision orders. Some have now lived in the U.S. for decades and have spouses or children who are citizens.

The roundups began after an agreement was reached with Iraq in March to take back its nationals, said Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for the ICE field office in Detroit. In addition to those immigrants detained in Detroit, at least 85 others have been taken into custody around the country since May, he said.

They include Ghassan Kassab, who was picked up at his Detroit home in late May.

Kassab was 5 years old when his family fled Saddam Husseins brutal government in Iraq. He has lived most of his life 47 years in the U.S. But he now faces the threat of being sent back to a country where he has no ties and where his family fears his Christian faith could get him killed.

He does not know how to read Arabic, and he does not remember anything from that country, said Kassabs niece, Marvit Bahoura, 38. Its like they are throwing him to his death sentence.

Because Kassabs parents didnt speak English, she said, the family never applied for U.S. citizenship. They found the process too confusing. So when Kassab was convicted on a marijuana possession charge more than a decade ago, he was issued a deportation order.

Bahoura said her uncle served three years in prison and had been reporting regularly to ICE ever since.

Hes worked at the same landscape company for 23 years, she said. Hes a hardworking man.

Detroit is home to more than 100,000 Chaldean Christians, one of the largest populations outside of Iraq. Many fled their war-torn homeland decades ago and fear persecution by extremist groups such as Islamic State if they return.

They thought they had found a haven in the U.S., but with the threat of deportation looming over hundreds of families, many are questioning their place in a country which no longer seems so welcoming.

The Iraqi Chaldean community is shocked and dont understand why this is happening, said Wisam Naoum, an attorney and Chaldean community leader in Detroit. We feel a bit betrayed. Its a direct assault on our community.

Many of the citys Iraqi Christians were staunch supporters of President Trump, who in January tweeted, Christians in the Middle East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue! The did not expect to get swept up in Trumps crackdown on immigration.

My entire family voted for him because he said he would help protect Christians, Bahoura said.

The possibility that her uncle will be deported now has her fearful not only for his safety, but for her health. She suffers from a debilitating autoimmune disorder and received a bone marrow transplant from her uncle this year.

Theres a 70% chance that if my body rejects the bone marrow, Ill need another one, Bahoura said. But if they deport Kassab, theres a slim chance Ill be able to find another match.

Many of those detained in Detroit were picked up on June 11 near churches and restaurants favored by the Iraqi Chaldean community, according to immigrant rights advocates. Others were detained at their homes or at one of their regular appointments with ICE.

It was early in the morning when six ICE agents showed up at the door of Brittany Hamama, 20. They were there for her 47-year-old father, Usama Hamama, who she said left Iraq as a child.

They said hell be back tomorrow, she recalled, but I didnt believe them.

The threat of deportation has loomed over the family since he was convicted of aggravated assault in a road-rage incident. But that that was 30 years ago, his daughter said.

My dads roots are in the U.S., he knows nothing else, she said. This doesnt seem real.

Rebecca Adducci, the Detroit field office director for ICEs Enforcement and Removal Operations, said the agency targeted those with criminal convictions for removal.

The operation in this region was specifically conducted to address the very real public safety threat represented by the criminal aliens arrested, she said in a statement. The vast majority of those arrested in the Detroit metropolitan area have very serious felony convictions, multiple felony convictions in many cases.

The Department of Justice argued that the detainees should make their request to remain in the U.S. in immigration court, not U.S. district court. But the ACLU said they might be deported before an immigration judge could consider their requests.

At least eight detainees have already been sent back to Iraq, and the ACLU said others could be deported as soon as Tuesday.

Its never been U.S. policy to send people back where they could be persecuted, said Nadine Yousif Kalasho, an attorney from Code Legal Aid, a Michigan-based nonprofit that was a party to the petition. The court understands whats at stake in terms of applying this nationwide and saw the urgency.

Attorneys for the government said they would exam the judges ruling before deciding their next steps.

I cant say we are surprised, said Daniel Lemisch, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Its an extraordinary opinion, but these are very unusual circumstances in Iraq.

melissa.etehad@latimes.com

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Detroit judge halts deportations of Iraqi immigrants nationwide - Los Angeles Times

Lots of people become entrepreneurs because of an unexpected career shock, such as a corporate acquisition or layoff. Dawn Halfaker's military career was ended by an explosion and a catastrophic injury, in Iraq, in 2004. Yet Halfaker would eventually recover and form Halfaker and Associates, an Arlington, Virginia-based contractor in data analytics, cybersecurity, software engineering, and IT infrastructure for the federal government, including the Navy, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Defense. --As told to Kimberly Weisul

From an early age, I wanted to get a scholarship to play basketball. I was contacted by West Point about playing basketball there and becoming a cadet. At first I dismissed it. I didn't have a good understanding of what West Point was.

The minute I stepped onto the West Point campus, I knew it was the place for me. I was drawn to the intensity and sense of purpose. There was nothing that set any of the other schools I was considering apart--they were all about where you were going to party and hang out.

Part of the great thing about West Point was that I didn't fully understand what I was getting into. I didn't know what the plebe year was all about. It was probably better that way. The basketball coaches paint a rosy picture. Being there was a huge surprise and a culture shock. It was four years of just trying to survive.

After West Point, my first duty station was in Korea. Then I went to Fort Stewart, in Georgia, and deployed from there to Iraq in February 2004.

Our focus was on rebuilding the Iraqi police force. We were working hand in hand with Iraqis, training them, equipping them, going on missions with them. We were responsible for the security of the police station, and for protecting our area of operations from insurgents.

That's where things got a little messy. We were going on missions to flush out insurgents who were planting IEDs, shooting rockets at the embassy, or blowing up the police stations. On one of our patrols, near Baqubah, our Humvee drove into an ambush and was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. I remember being loaded into a medevac helicopter. When I woke up from the coma, my parents and doctors had to explain what had happened--and that I'd lost an arm.

I spent my 25th birthday in the hospital thinking that my life was over. It wasn't just that I'd lost an arm. It was that I no longer had a career. I had been physically fit, mentally fit, at the top of my game, and I went from that to a state of feeling basically useless. I was terrified about being just cast aside while everybody else moved on. That's what fueled me to go into business and to want so desperately to stay connected to the military and the mission.

I was constantly in pain, and I always had to think of a different way to do things. I worried about having to get in line at Starbucks and buy a coffee and get change and carry it back and open the door. Those were the things that plagued my mind, more than the bigger picture of what was going on with my life.

When you think of a wounded warrior, you think of a young male in a wheelchair. I had a hard time identifying as a veteran and fitting in as a female who was wounded in combat. People weren't laughing to my face--it was mostly probably in my head. But I look different. Whenever you're different, you're kind of vulnerable. I did an internship on Capitol Hill. It was really discouraging. There were very important issues that Congress had to deal with. Do the soldiers have the right helmets? Do we have the right equipment? Are vets getting the right care? I was amazed at how many times the debate became partisan, and people were willing to ignore the common-sense solution.

Then I thought I'd maybe work as a contractor focused on supporting the military. That's when I realized there was a big disconnect between what was going on in Washington and what was happening downrange. There were so many people who didn't have combat experience trying to make decisions and influence policy. I thought, you know what? I can do this better. I could start a company. I could hire people who have the right expertise, and provide the support myself.

When I was at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, there was a colonel who wanted me to help him better understand how technology innovations could be used in the field. I was able to leverage that experience and other relationships to learn the industry and start positioning myself for a career, and to begin building the infrastructure of my company in the background.

There's no question that my military training helped me become a better entrepreneur. You go through so much training in the military, but from that first year as a plebe, what the military is teaching you is how to be resilient. You plan your mission, and you execute, but nothing ever goes according to plan. Your job as an officer is to continue to lead in not-ideal circumstances, and you're probably underresourced. Being an entrepreneur and getting something started, you never have everything you need, and things never go according to plan.

You also learn that the people who can make things happen are the ones who are challenging the status quo. There are people who figure out how to make the whole system work for them, as opposed to being a follower. From the start of my company, I recognized there were other people in my situation. As my company grew, I knew I could bring in other wounded warriors.

Hiring other veterans affects my company in a positive way. There's a similar value system, a similar understanding of the mission. Then there's the skill set to do data analytics and IT infrastructure. For the type of work we're doing, we need people who understand the military, so that's critical. But as the company grows, we value diversity. We need to make sure that employees who are not veterans can still do well here. It's something I'm aware of. I don't want to create this in-group.

Certifications help tremendously, especially in my industry, where there are hardly any medium-size companies. You're not going to compete with Lockheed Martin. But you can leverage the set-asides to have an opportunity to show what your company can do. Once you're able to do that, then eventually you can compete with Lockheed Martin. I'm not in any rush to do it. We're still finding our sweet spot and trying to refine that before we say we're the best at what we do and we can beat anybody. That's the goal.

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This Iraq Veteran Lost Her Arm--but Found New Purpose as an Entrepreneur - Inc.com

The U.S.-backed military operation to rescue Mosul from the grip of ISIS appears to be on the brink of success. But a military victory over the extremist group is only the beginning of building a stable Iraq, a country where current conditions could incubate an "ISIS 2.0."

In two weeks of meetings in Iraq with dozens of government and civil society leaders, we heard that Iraq's political dysfunction is likely to cripple any recovery and that Iraqis desperately need and still trust the U.S. to help heal their painful divisions.

Human tragedy continues to stoke anger and fear, these leaders said. A tribal sheikh from Nineveh told us that more than 300 people have been killed or kidnapped from just a dozen of his villages. ISIS continues to sow division in the Sunni communities it lost by spreading rumors about who was complicit in its crimes. Officials and activists reported blacklists and said internment camps have been set up for alleged "ISIS families."

These gaping societal wounds, beneath the overlay of existential political power struggles, threaten the military gains of the past three years and will leave Iraq susceptible to violent extremism that spreads beyond its borders. Without a concerted effort to stop revenge killings and promote lasting local and national reconciliation, there is grave potential for an even more virulent form of terrorism to emerge.

Many Iraqis are ready to take on this monumental challenge, but they need help. Bridging the country's deep, complex divisions will require that the U.S., the United Nations and other international players push for political and economic compromise by Iraqis and regional power brokers.

That will require sustained attention to the "Three Rs:" Relief, Reconstruction and Reconciliation, all of which are needed concurrently. Relief means not only continued humanitarian aid but also security assistance to protect reconstruction and reconciliation and to facilitate the return of 3 million displaced people.

Political and social reconciliation, in turn, will be needed to prevent violence and reprisals and make way for sustainable reconstruction. The U.S. should develop a plan to help resolve fundamental national and regional political issues that will allow Iraq's constellation of groups to co-exist in peace.

Already, unity is fraying among forces that stood against ISIS. Sinjar, Tel Afar and Tuz Khurmatu have emerged as flashpoints of incipient conflict. Wrangling between the Kurds and Baghdad over oil, territory and Kurdish independence continues as regional powers such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as well as Iraqi groups jockey for influence. Since the ISIS onslaught in 2014, for example, Popular Mobilization Forces militias, most supported by Iran, have established offices all over Iraq 16 just in one town south of Mosul, Iraqis tell us in a bid to gain control in areas recaptured from ISIS. As next year's parliamentary elections approach, they'll be well positioned to buy cooperation, exert authority and support to candidates, further solidifying their grip.

At the same time as talks for political reconciliation grind on in Baghdad, it's been shown that Iraqi tribal and community leaders, with solid international backing, can devise local agreements that restore peace to their devastated cities, towns and villages. Experienced Iraqi facilitators have guided six successful negotiations for reconciliation with our Institute's support, including one that averted collective revenge over the 2014 ISIS slaughter of 1,700 Shia cadets near Tikrit in northern Iraq. More than 380,000 people from the city and the surrounding province were able to return home as a result. This month, the same Iraqi organizations helped 114 sheikhs from southwest Kirkuk reach an agreement to revise tribal law so it supports state judicial mechanisms. The tribal leaders are convinced these stunning reforms will help achieve justice, security and stability in their areas after liberation from ISIS.

Such successful examples of reconciliation, accomplished in cooperation with provincial and central government officials, demonstrate that Iraqis can achieve sustainable peace. They just need the bulwark of U.S. and international support for the time being. Certainly, the challenges of unwinding Iraq's kaleidoscope of conflicts can't be underestimated. But it's the only way the country can recover from lingering effects of decades of war and prevent the emergence of yet another threat to U.S. and global security.

Sarhang Hamasaeed is director of Middle East programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace, and Michael Yaffe is vice president of the institute's Center for the Middle East and Africa.

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In Iraq, military defeat of ISIS is only the beginning - Washington Examiner