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| Iraq |
| Youngest Iraqi general leads by example |
| 2006-05-03 |
| Brig. Gen. General Samon Talabani, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the New Iraqi Army's 5th Division, huddles with his senior officers over a map of the Baquba area, discussing their upcoming mission. At 38, General Talabani is the youngest general in the history of the Iraqi army. He's a slight man, with a mischievous demeanor, silent determination and a way with words. "I am an Iraqi Kurdish soldier in the New Iraqi Army," he said. "I am a soldier, I never work like general with my soldier, nothing is between me and my soldier." It's not bluster. Last week Talabani was on his stomach shooting back at insurgents who were firing rocket-propelled grenades at the Buhritz police station, just south of the provincial capital Baquba. He also led a chase of attackers in Udaim, north of Baquba -- he was the first through the door of the house where the attackers fled. He wounded one insurgent in the ensuing firefight and captured another. He likes to ride his motorcycle to checkpoints to check on his troops. Talabani is not a typical general. "His personality drives the brigade," said U.S. Lt. Col. Frank Muggeo, the Military Transition Team commander. "But we worry if he runs around the front he's going to get himself killed." American commanders say that Talabani is the face of the Iraqi army they want to put forward. One commander joked that "if there were more of him, we'd be home by Christmas." Talabani's brigade has 80 percent of the troops it's authorized to have. At any given time 25 percent are on leave. Subtract the wounded, and the 3rd Brigade is fighting at 60 percent strength most of the time, according to U.S. military commanders. Talabani is responsible for the security of eastern Diyala, north of Baghdad. The area is a cocktail of al Qaeda in Iraq, nationalist insurgents, leftovers from the Saddam Hussein regime and common criminals. An aggressive commander, Talabani orders about 12 missions a week. He is used to strife. In 1973 Talabani, his parents and five siblings fled their home outside Khanaqin, a small city near the Kurdish north close to the Iranian border. They lived in Iran for two years. They returned to Iraq and settled in Samara, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. Talabani said that their new neighbors avoided them for four months because senior Ba'ath party members had warned that the mountain people were coming to kill them. "But when they saw that we were normal people we had a wonderful relationship," Talabani said. The family eventually was able to move to the Kurdish north, living in Suleymaniye. Talabani started fighting at a young age, joining the Peshmerga in 1991 and attending the Kurdish military college in 1992. He was sent to the Australian Defence College after he joined the then fledgling New Iraqi Army to learn to train troops in Kirkush. In Australia, he juggled English-language and military classes. "Australian people will learn you English whether you like it or not," he said with a laugh. "They will kill you with PowerPoint and talking. I said to them, 'In Iraq we use RPG-7.' " His wife is a childhood crush, a cousin whom -- when they were kids -- he told, "You are mine, I will marry you." She is beautiful, he said wistfully. "My son is just like me: crazy, and same face," he said, speaking of his 5-year-old who is nicknamed "Little Sniper." Talabani said his 9-year-old daughter takes after her mother. He doesn't get home very often but says he makes up for it the way most men do. "Middle East women like gold. My wife has 1.5 kilograms," he said. He is a soldier but says he won't be a pawn in anyone's game. "I will not follow a government order if they try to use me like Saddam Hussein," he said. "I will quit and go home." Talabani believes in the future of Iraq. "This country needs time," he said after a long sigh. "We need to work not like before; we need to work for a new Iraq. By fighting nothing will be fixed. These are soldiers who were killing my people, I can lead them now because we forgive. If everyone can forgive his neighbor we can forget the problem. Day by day we see things getting better." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #9 Can you imagine being an honourable Episcopalian priest, trying to keep the Archbishop of Canterbury from destroying your parish? TW: That's the stuff of nightmares. *shudder* |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2006-05-03 16:57 |
| #8 Below the Martyr's Monument near the Jumhuriya Bridge over the Tigris in Bahgdad lies a subterrainian hall with huge stone tablets of Iraqi's killed during their conflict with Iran. In the center are single tablet "special commemorations." One in particular was dedicated to an Iraqi Air Force fighter pilot (as read by the translator) who, after running out of rockets and ammunition, used his MIG as an air-to-air missile, bringing down an Iranian jet. When I asked the guide how many names were inscribed, he curtly replied "count them" and walked away. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-05-03 16:12 |
| #7 Unfortunately, Iraq did not have a war hero to form a secular political party and run in the parlimentary elections. Had such a person existed and had he done well, we would be far ahead of where we are now. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-05-03 14:28 |
| #6 *rueful smile* Thus it ever is, in large organizations, N Guard. At least you military guys always know what you are doing, and why. Can you imagine being an honourable Episcopalian priest, trying to keep the Archbishop of Canterbury from destroying your parish? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-05-03 14:00 |
| #5 "They will kill you with PowerPoint and talking. I said to them, 'In Iraq we use RPG-7.' " I notice this is a fairly common complaint by smaller militaries against the Anglo-sphere/US military. I recall the former warsaw pact officers saying similar things in the 90's... Oh, well, we have to keep the echelons above reality entertained somehow while real work is getting done. Otherwise the silly twits might try to help us out in the field (shudders). |
| Posted by: N guard 2006-05-03 12:36 |
| #4 who knew there was a Kurdish Military College It is now the 2nd campus of the Iraqi military academy, IIRC. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-05-03 09:48 |
| #3 In "Whay Arab lose wars" the author (name escapes me) tells of Egyptian officers who ordered troops to form aline so they protected them (the officers) from the wind. But this guy is a Kurd, not an Arab. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-05-03 09:33 |
| #2 who knew there was a Kurdish Military College? |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2006-05-03 09:23 |
| #1 "They (Australians) will kill you with PowerPoint and talking. I said to them, 'In Iraq we use RPG-7.' " That line just bears repeating. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-05-03 07:51 |