Iraq Series - A New Day in Iraq > FreedomsWatch

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Iraq Series - A New Day in Iraq
By Megan Ortagus :: 7 Comments :: Email to a friend

Special thanks to CPT Smith, LT Acosta, CPT Reinke, TSGT Anthony, TS Huffey and A1C Callaway for the bird’s eye view of Baghdad.

Reporting from Doura

Doura is located in Rasheed, a district in southern Baghdad, and before the Surge was a case study on insurgency and asymmetrical warfare.

Prior to the Surge, Sunni residents sided with AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) because they feared for the lives of their families from competing Shia militias that promised the same indiscriminate killings. For security, Doura Sunnis looked to AQI for protection and many even gambled with blood money – planting IEDs to kill Americans for $50 – just to feed their families. However, by December 2006, AQI’s ruthless and inhumane tactics eventually wore on the minds of the predominately peaceful community and they looked to the U.S. military for protection.

It was clear that winning the hearts and minds of the population required a binary strategy: dismantling AQI’s operating abilities and protecting the population.

Doura had been cleared (killing and capturing of the enemy) several times during Operation Together Forward I & II in 2006, but the gains never held. Insurgents would creep back in once the Coalition Forces left the mullahs and returned to their base.

From January to July 2007, 5 surge battalions again cleared Doura but this time there was no rush back to base. Instead, Joint Security Stations were established in partnership with the Iraqi Security Forces. With a heavy presence of Coalition Forces, the population began to return to a cautious-yet-normal life: shops re-opened, schools held regular class times and a feeling of community began to flourish.

There’s no question that life remains difficult, and the tenuous gains still need maturation before any serious drawdown of American troops should be considered. In every Iraqi home I visited, the locals knew the American soldiers accompanying me by name. They offered us tea and told us of family life, but begged for the U.S. to stay and protect them. As the debate over the Iraq War continues, it is the Doura residents who will have to live with the tragic consequences of premature withdrawal.

Having spoken with commanders at all levels, it is clear that the 2007 victories were more exceptional than anticipated. Despite this incredible progress, the work ahead will be long, arduous and will take the dedication of America’s best and brightest to finish what we started.

Comments

By keeeemosabe @ Friday, February 29, 2008 1:49 PM

Response to lysander 2.29, 11:29 AM I am resigned to the fact that the US must pay the largest possible price short of defeat for W's mistake. I am quite sure that Iraq will now assume the position of the welfare client of the US for decades, thanks to righties who HATE welfare for individuals at home but are willing to accept client welfare nations.
U.S. resources, military and economic are finite. The solution is to avoid untimely and needless gaping morasses that risk the military mission, cause the US to have to re-build and prop up nations after their destruction and which strengthen our more relevant enemies like Iran, bin Laden, and al Qaeda. the future. And that is why I try to always annoy righties and neo-cons by pointing out their miserable failures by saying, "I told you so!" The US cannot afford the luxury of unwise and untimely wars....believe it or not.
Vetting? There is no good answer. That is why I point it out: to say, "I told you so." "I told you so." "I told you so." "I told you so."
If that angers you, well, "I told you so."

By fowder @ Thursday, March 06, 2008 1:23 AM

Keemo, When you have matured a bit and gain some historical perspective, you will slowly begin to see that perhaps the noblest and finest thing we did in our approach to the severe problem of Islamofascism was GWB's invasion of Iraq, and its subsequent reconstruction as is currently underway as an ally in this battle for the ideals of our founding fathers right in the very heart of the Islamic caliphate. Not to worry re the expenses. Iraq has a resource value that right now is 2nd only to Saudi Arabia's and will dwarf all other countries in the region by its wealth very quickly. It has enough of an ethnic mix that it MUST continue as a federal republic, and this will do more, along with its prosperity, to bring the blessings of liberty and democracy to the Middle Eastern world than anything else that might have been done in the next thousand years. And it has been done on a veritable shoestring. I know you think it has cost us so many lives and so much money. It has not. The battle of Gettysburg with its dead and the subsequent destruction of the south by Sherman and Grant was far, far worse for us. The bitterness and vituperation that you spew out is as a Sunday School lesson compared to the enormity of squalor,evil, and social destruction that we wreaked upon ourselves down the years since peace came in April 1865. Iraq will never forget us for liberating them from the deranged mass murderer Mr. Hussein and if you and I continue to befriend those little ones that are the buddies of our military men right now the alliance that is coming with these people, thru these kids, will have as much positive effect on our relations with all natioons in the Middle East as the negative effect that the Civil War had upon all of us. And yet that war too had to be fought. Perhaps, as most people who take your attitude, you regard them all as worthless towelheads. Perhaps you don't recall the "Huns" (Germans), the Slopes (Vietnamese) or the Gooks of Korea. The legacy of those who who felt this way about old enemies never abides among us. When I was a young boy on my first trip thru the south I had to fight for my life, when I said, "thank you, sir," to a black man. Those people are gone now. Get over spitting about the enormous good we are bringing to Iraq and resultant peace and good will it will bring for America down the the following centuries because of the valor, decency, bravery, and camaraderie our kids in uniform are bringing to a people who just a few years ago had been trained to think of anything American as the scum of the earth. Lean back, think about it and see what you can contribute to the enormous amount of good will that is being generated by those fantastic kids of ours in uniform. Fowder

By fowder @ Thursday, March 06, 2008 2:01 AM

Megan, Thanks for your fine scripts. I had to spend a little time (above) to help Keemo think about our real heritage as Americans, the one Mr. Lincoln gave us, i.e., asm the "last best hope of mankind." It will be thru efforts such as yours that we do not throw away our heritage and we get to understand the tremendous importance of the work we are doing in Iraq. How glibly I say "we". I mean of course the truly great Americans you name above your piece. But let me take pride in the fact of their work for all of us Americans. I spent about 6 yrears in Vietnam as a doc (surgeon) and was so glad to see that we had won the war and kept S. Vietnam free in 1973. That is, until Congress, like petulant children, gave it all away in 1975. I penned a blurb to Keemo, as I think our nation will never again be so ugly as then, and give away the absolute glory and blessing our men and women are achieving there in Iraq today. If we had interdicted NVN's ground forces from the skies as all the Vietnamese assured me we would of course do, perhaps OBM might never have imagined he was going to simply face down some creampuffs. Keep it up, Mean. If we had more writing like yours while we were working our very souls out for years in VN, that debacle surely would not have occurred! Fowder

By keeeemosabe @ Thursday, February 28, 2008 11:48 AM

>>>>>>>it is the Doura residents who will have to live with the tragic consequences of premature withdrawal.<<<<<<<<
It is they and all the innocent Iraqis who have lived with the consequences of a mistaken invasion that has put the "war on terror" at risk, ignored bin Laden, and put our military's mission and tenure too dependent on helpful decisions by Iraqi politicians, who may well consider themselves the more passive branch of their Islamic struggle against the west. Who vetted them to see that their interests coincide with ours?

By lysander @ Friday, February 29, 2008 11:29 AM

Keemo: This article is pretty straightforward in its intent: the strategy has changed; this particular city has improved dramatically; if it deteriorates again the Iraqis that the author has met will pay the price. All of those arguments are true.

You are correct that they and all the other innocent Iraqis have lived with the consequences of this mismanaged war, and they will live with the consequences of our success or failure. So what is your objection to this article?

My solution, and of the author I'm sure, would be to start managing this war correctly, not to abandon it. My opinion, and of the author I'm sure, is that this proper management is now FINALLY being done - late, but better late than never.

I'm guessing by your quotation marks that you don't like the term War on Terror. (Nor do I, but since it has entered the lexicon I use it.) Would you prefer perhaps, The War on the Islamic Struggle against the West? I'm willing to bet Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, et al, would second that renaming.

Since bin Laden has said Iraq is the central front in their war against us - his words, not my opinion - is it best for us to leave a stable Iraq or just leave?

If you were in Iraq, how would you, Keemo, vet these Iraqis? Would you hand pick them, and set up a puppet-ocracy, and make the same mistakes the British did after WWI? Or would you allow the Iraqis to elected their representative leaders, recognize their legitimacy, and support them as they try to build the only liberal democracy in the Arab world?

By Megan Ortagus @ Saturday, March 01, 2008 9:15 AM

Hi. I'm the author of this blog post and although I don't have time to answer all the questions, I would like to make a few points.

(Internet service keeps going down out here in the desert so I'll be brief.)

The story that is not being told is the incredible relationship the Iraqi people & security forces are developing with the American military.

If you only read left wing blogs, you would think that there is a massive civl war in Iraq and that all Iraqis hate America and have some evil alternative agenda.

My friends, this is just not true. The Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police, National Police and Sons of Iraq (Sunni volunteer force) are leading operations against AQI with support from Coalition Forces. They are training with us and building a mostly Arab army that is pro-west, pro-democracy.

This is huge - in the heart of the middle east, a Arab nation (with Christains, Persians & Kurds) is joining with America to fight Al Qaeda. Imagine the message this must be sending to the rest of the Muslim world?

On a personal note: every Iraqi in Doura that I met with told me they want the American troops to stay. There are bluntly honest - life is still hard and can be danergous at times but for the first time in years, there is peace and a glimmer of hope. They realize that if America is irresponsible & rushes to withdraw troops - they will be slaughtered.

The strategy is working - it's time to build on the gains that so many have sacrificed their lives for.

Megan

By Megan Ortagus @ Saturday, March 01, 2008 11:12 AM

One quick correction to my last post: the Sons of Iraq (formally known as Concerned Local Citizens) orginated in Al Anbar with mostly Sunnis but now many of the Shia population are joining as well.

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