The neat thing about Facebook is all of the folks you find from the past. One of my lieutenants from when I was a Troop Commander recently asked my view on how things are going in Iraq. He got out of the Army and went to law school (he has many more brain cells than me) and is now a successful lawyer in New York. I thought I'd share my response, for those who are wondering if what we are doing is working:
The Iraqis are in a position now where they got what they asked for, and they are not enjoying the associated growing pains of the SOFA they signed. We stopped giving them stuff, and we placed a lot of responsibility on them. Today when I hear the troubles of the Brigade Commander and XO, my first response to them is "wow, that sounds like a hell of a problem. How are you gonna fix it?" In many ways they have risen to the challenge, but the conflicts are between generations: The old Saddam way of doing business, and the new officers. Another conflict as mentioned in the blog before is the National Government vs. tribalism-- Bribes, perceived corruption, and personal relationships (and vendettas) are acceptable forms of business. This is foregn to us, so we judge their progress with a western eye. Are they ready? It doesn't matter. We will eventually leave. We have to. But they are solving problems now by arguing and not shooting at each other.
But the regional implications of a western-style democracy are huge, and a lot of people are nervous about it. Do I think it will work? Some days yes, other days I'm not so sure. Most of the sectarian stuff from 2004-2007 was imported from other nations who have a stake in seeing Iraq as a democratic form of state fail. The Arab regions and people in general are not amenable to stability; they thrive on honor, which creates a lot of drama and conflict. For the people I have met here, I hope so. They are people just like you and me, and they just want to live their lives. Sometimes I think we forget that.
Hope you are well. Thanks for reading.
Ron
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2 comments:
MAJ Mackay,
Some of us back at the Longhorn Battalion have been keeping up with your blog, it's really interesting to read about this stuff. One of your earlier posts involved one of the IA Officers wanting to keep an IED as a trophy. I was talking to Jones about that post and he seems to think it was because the army is corrupt and they wanted to give it back to someone. What do you think about that?
-SCANLON
Glad to hear you guys are enjoying the blog. I am in a good situation in that our Brigade is actually pretty good. The leadership is very non-sectarian and the Brigade Commander understands the Iraqi Army's role and what it is charged to do. The unit I work with is very effective, and they will arrest pretty much anyone (sometimes they arrest too many people...). Sure there is corruption from a western viewpoint, but most of what I see as "corruption" Iraqis see as a way of doing business. They do get inspected a lot by MOD, and they are getting better at emplacing controls to prevent a lot of it, but at the end of the day, it's their country and they are going to do what they do.
If this doesn't answer your question, or if you have another one, shoot me a note on AKO (ronald.mackay@us.army.mil) and I'll follow up.
HOOK EM'
MAJ Mac
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