VIEWED from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command.)
The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered framework. Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere. What soldiers call the “battle space” remains the same, with changes only at the margins. It is crowded with actors who do not fit neatly into boxes: Sunni extremists, Al Qaeda terrorists, Shiite militiamen, criminals and armed tribes. This situation is made more complex by the questionable loyalties and Janus-faced role of the Iraqi police and Iraqi Army, which have been trained and armed at United States taxpayers’ expense.
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1 comment:
All these elected officials go to Iraq and stay in a safe place for a few days then come back and report how well things are going. The soldiers who aren't paid to lie by the Bush Administration know this is a failure. General Petraeus is going to lie because that's what he was appointed to do. If he tells the truth he will be replaced quickly. Our troops see other countries have left and gone home. Our guys have no equipment or bullets because General Petraeus let them get stolen. Contractors make about 10,000 dollars a month tax free with 3 month paid vacation while our soldiers get 3000 dollars monthly with taxes taken out and no vacation.
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