Our boys in Iraq give an honest assessment (really)
There is a great article in the International Herald Tribune, written by seven U.S. soldiers about what Iraq is really like. While its not a glowing critique of our time and activity there, it is a logical and measured assessment of where we are, what we do, and what needs to change.
Here are a few of highlights [comments by yours truly]:
“In short, we operate in a bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies, one where the balance of forces on the ground remains entirely unclear. (In the course of writing this article, this fact became all too clear: One of us, Staff Sergeant Murphy, a U.S. Army Ranger and reconnaissance team leader, was shot in the head during a “time-sensitive target acquisition mission” on August 12; he is expected to survive and is being flown to a military hospital in the United States.) While we have the will and the resources to fight in this context, we are effectively hamstrung because realities on the ground require measures we will always refuse - namely, the widespread use of lethal and brutal force.”
[I’ll raise a toast to Sgt. Murphy and his recovery. The rest of you keep your heads down, so I don’t become an alcoholic.]
“The most important front in the counterinsurgency, improving basic social and economic conditions, is the one on which we have failed most miserably. Two million Iraqis are in refugee camps in bordering countries. Close to two million more are internally displaced and now fill many urban slums. Cities lack regular electricity, telephone services and sanitation. “Lucky” Iraqis live in communities barricaded with concrete walls that provide them with a sense of communal claustrophobia rather than any sense of security we would consider normal. In an environment where men with guns rule the streets, engaging in the banalities of life has become a death-defying act.”
[Why don’t we hear this stuff when Petraeus goes on Fox News?]
“We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.”
[You guys rock and I wish we weren’t making your jobs harder with poor strategy.]
Thanks to the Men & Women of the U.S. Armed Forces. We’re proud of you.