The Dutch contribution

The battalion was reinforced with an engineer company, a helicopter detachment, a national support element and a field hospital. On 1 August, the Dutch battalion took over the command from its American predecessors and set up base at 3 locations in the allocated area. The battalion headquarters, the engineer company, the NSE, the field hospital and an infantry company camped near As Samawah. A 2nd infantry company was stationed at Ar Rumaythah, a village some 30 kilometres to the northwest of As Samawah.

The 3rd company set up base at Al Khidr, to the east of As Samawah, in the 2nd week of August. The helicopter detachment (with 3 CH-47 Chinook helicopters) and the contingent command moved, respectively, into an old air force base near Tallil and a British logistics base near Shaibah, in the Basra area. The contingent command was joined there by the Point of Debarkation (POD) platoon, which was responsible for the supply and transportation of personnel, equipment and supplies.

Situation Al-Muthanna

Compared to the rest of Iraq, the security situation in Al-Muthanna was relatively calm and stable at the start of the mission. Nonetheless, the marines found the shortage of public amenities, the flourishing criminal networks and the attacks on the multinational force in other parts of Iraq a threat to the stability in their own area of responsibility.

The job was thus on the one hand to quickly restore the supply of water, electricity, fuel and telephone communications and, on the other, to rebuild the police and security organisations as soon as possible. One of the main tasks for the Dutch was, therefore, to provide 20 months of training and instruction for the Iraqi security forces.

As well as setting up the training programme, the battalion’s 3rd main task was to maintain public order. For this, the battalion patrolled day and night, on foot and in all-terrain vehicles. The contacts made with the local population during these patrols turned out to be useful for obtaining information. In some cases, this information led to the arrest of individuals suspected of planning or carrying out activities directed against the multinational force.

Monitoring smuggling routes

Dutch military personnel were deployed in the south of Iraq for over 1,5 year. During this period, there were rumours that the southern province of Al Muthanna was an attractive base for extremist and terrorist elements because of the province’s long-established smuggling routes, which were probably also being used by insurgents from neighbouring countries. It was virtually impossible to monitor the nomadic tribes in the vast desert. At the beginning of December 2003, the Ministry of Defence therefore deployed a reconnaissance unit to Iraq. This unit consisted of 70 members of the Commando Corps. At the same time, the battalion’s mobility was increased by a fourth Chinook. Most members of the detachment returned to the Netherlands on 19 January 2004.

Shiite uprising

In April and May 2004, SFIR was faced with an uprising among the Shiite part of the Iraqi population. This had major implications for the Dutch detachment stationed in the Shiite south. The followers of the Shiite Muqtada Al-Sadr, mainly poorly educated and unemployed youths, were the most rebellious. Al-Sadr sought the confrontation in the hope that some of the adherents of more moderate Shiite parties would join him instead. He also tried, not very successfully, to strengthen his power base in Al-Muthanna.

The number of incidents, especially mortar attacks, involving Dutch military personnel increased. 2 service members lost their lives. The Ministry of Defence decided to boost the unit’s mortar-detection capabilities by deploying 3 mortar locating radars and 6 AH 64D Apache helicopters.

Better visibility

After the transfer of sovereignty on 28 June 2004 the number of patrols in urban areas was reduced, which meant that the contact with some of the population disappeared, thus adversely affecting the intelligence position.

After Dutch military personnel drove into an ambush in August 2004 the commander of the Dutch unit decided to raise the visibility of the Dutch military in the towns and to strengthen the intelligence position. The intelligence capacity of the battle group increased substantially. The battalion was also reinforced with extra all-terrain vehicles fitted with a MAG machine gun and additional Patria armoured vehicles, as well as 2 infantry platoons. The situation in Ar Rumaythah soon returned to normal.

British take command

On 7 March 2005 the commander of the battle group handed over command to a British unit. The last group of Dutch SFIR service members returned to the Netherlands in mid-April. 350 members of the redeployment detachment subsequently concluded a 3-month stay. Dutch military personnel remained active in Iraq, however.

Training mission

On 8 October 2004, the North Atlantic Council decided to establish the NATO Training Mission – Iraq (NTM-I). The mission was established on the proposal of Major General Carel Hilderink, who became deputy commander of NTM-I. The government made 25 service members available on 14 January 2005.

15 instructors and staff officers and 10 security guards of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee left for Baghdad on Sunday 20 February. In the first half of 2007, the Netherlands offered 14 service members for deployment in Iraq. Only 9 of these service members were actually deployed. In consultation with NATO, the decision was made to limit the Dutch contribution to NTM-I to 7 service members as from August 2007.

In December 2011 NATO decided to terminate the mission by the end of the month. Afterwards an officer and a NCO remained at NATO headquarters in Naples until 15 January 2012 to conclude the operation.