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[QUOTE]Originally posted by dekeguy
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A few things that occur to me are:
I have seen the way American soldiers act under pressure and I am overcome with pride in them.
I think we will be here for some time as Saddam has effectively eliminated any possible opponents down to the village level. Either you were an active Ba'ath party member or you had to be totally apolitical to avoid getting the chop. This means that rebuilding any sort of effective human infrastructure will take time. This is unfortunate as most of the people here haven't a clue about Americans. They are overjoyed to be free of a thug and his murderous gang but are suspicious of Westerners. There isn't much developed talent to hand over to, so we are going to have to be patient and let some natural leaders emerge at all levels to begin transitioning to a local human infrastructure. I think it would be a mistake to be too closely identified with this process of emerging local leadership as anyone seen to be too close to us and our partners will be seen as a tool of foreign interests. There will probably have to be a semi-popular US appointed transitional structure leading eventually to a wholly home grown infrastructure that can be seen as genuinely independent. In the mean time we will need to be here to patrol the area, keep order, root out the vestiges of the bad guys, and most importantly, provide a relief structure to keep the water and electricity going and food and medical care available to the people until they can take the ball and run with it. Just my thoughts, but thats how I see it anyway.
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As you may remember, I wrote the above several months ago when my unit was still deployed forward. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out what was bound to happen as we settled down to the hard part of soldiering. What amazes me is that so many people are surprised by what was plainly going to be a long hard road while a country whose basic human infrastructure had been effectively destroyed would have to rebuild its human component from the very bottom up. I am disappointed by the attitude and actions of some of the Iraqis but not surprised. These poor people are operating in a social setting not unlike the Dark Ages and they are being incited by some self serving types who survived the Ba'ath domination and are now trying to assert power for themselves. I only hope that some true and honorable Iraqi patriots emerge and gradually take charge of their country. In the mean time its going to be a tough tour of duty for our guys who have to try and maintain some order. Well, as my old Sergeant Major used to say, "Some days you get to earn your pay the hard way". Its a volunteer Army and every soldier knows that not every assignment promises easy duty. Anyway, the President told us up front that this was going to be a long hard war against global terrorism and it seems he was right on target in that analysis. Pray for a good and honorable solution and don't forget that your Army could use a word of appreciation and support. Soldiers don't ask for much, but what comes is greatly appreciated.
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