Grim's Hall

Warrants and the BSA:

The SoFA, or "Bilateral Security Agreement" (BSA), contains several things that will change the way we do business here. This is one:

The security pact states that as of Jan. 1, American troops may not search homes or make arrests without warrants "except in the case of active combat operations."

That will be a big change for the U.S. military _ one of several required under the security pact that allows the Americans to stay for three more years but imposes stricter oversight on their behavior.

The agreement was ratified by Iraq's presidential council on Dec. 4, and U.S. and Iraqi commanders are now meeting to lay out guidelines for how the new rules will work on the ground.

U.S. soldiers - particularly special forces - have in the past staged raids without consulting the Iraqis when going after time-sensitive targets.

This is going to be a challenge, no doubt, but it's worth it in my opinion. "By, through and with" and "rule of law" are two of the most important concepts in bringing a COIN campaign to a close. It's going to be difficult, but 'difficult' is what the US military does.