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Michael Totten: the Future of Iraq
Another report from a blogger who's actually there.. . . Most American soldiers I spoke to about the Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police, not just in Mushadah but also in Baghdad, have a dim view of their local counterparts. (The situation is strikingly different in Anbar Province, and Ill get to that in future articles.) I wanted to know what the colonel thought. Do you trust them? I said. He paused for a long time and answered very carefully. We wont tell them about sensitive operations until the last second, he said. I trust some individuals, though, because I know them. Id share a foxhole with them as far as ideology goes, but Im not sure how good their skills are when they are shot. Pride is much more important in Arab culture than it is in the West. Humiliation is therefore more painful. I wondered if this created problems when Americans train Iraqi soldiers and police officers. What must it feel like for local men to be yelled at by foreigners who showed up uninvited and knew their job better than they did? Colonel Steele insists it isnt a problem. They dont want to be babied, he said. They want to be treated as equals and adults. Their shame culture actually helps. Our new recruits recently complained about having sore feet during a march. When they noticed our female soldiers are in better shape than they are, they never complained again. Also, when we first had them try on our body armor, it nearly broke their spines. They want to be physically capable of wearing it, too. Its at least possible that some of the infiltrators may be turned over time. Some former insurgents elsewhere in Iraq are now openly siding with the Americans. There also is this: We give them rudimentary skills and a work ethic, he told me. They attend the same classes on character and honor and professional conduct becoming a soldier that our own people attend. Is he optimistic? I am optimistic, he said. But only for one single reason. Because I talk to the average Joe in Iraq. I meet the children and parents. Iraqi parents love their children as much as I love mine. I knew what he meant. Counterintuitive and contradictory as it may seem, I never felt more optimistic in Iraq than I did when I walked the streets and interacted with average Iraqis. Iraq looks more doomed from inside the base than it does outside on the street, and it looks more doomed from across the Atlantic than it does from inside the base. Major Mike Garcia said this view of Iraq is typical. Soldiers who dont leave the FOB [Forward Operating Base] are more likely to be pessimistic than those who go out on patrol. Theyre less aware of whats actually happening and have fewer reality checks on their gloom. . . . Go read it all. Posted by: Mike 2007-08-28 |
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