Operation Iraqi Freedom: Year Four

Originally posted at The Festering Swamp on May 28, 2007

I wrote this entry just under a year ago in response to the consistently gloomy news reporting taking place on the verge of the implementation of the controversial Surge, executed by General David Petraeus. Since then, the situation in Iraq has improved even more dramatically: Al-Qaeda in Iraq is diminishing day by day, the Mahdi Army of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has collapsed, and more American troops are coming home. The prophets of gloom and doom were wrong about our country's enterprise in Iraq, though they will never admit it. – Mike LaRoche

Team Cathy member Jackie Danicki once wrote: "If this post were a dinosaur, it'd be a linkalotopus." I can think of no better term to describe the entry I'm writing here.

Four years after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, how is Iraq really doing? From persistent war critics, one might get the impression that the war is lost and Iraq has become an ungovernable hell-hole. But how accurate is such an assessment?

Such an assessment is not accurate at all. First, let's take a look at the ability of Iraqis to provide for their own security. Relying on data from a Brookings Institution report titled "IRAQ INDEX Tracking Reconstruction and Security in Post-Saddam Iraq" Gerd Schroeder of The American Thinker writes:

The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) includes military, police, special police, Iraqi National Guard, and border police. From early-2005 to mid-2006 the hot topic for marking progress in the war was how many ISF were being trained and employed. However, in mid-2006 this media reporting trend almost wholly dried up, and the biggest critic of ISF training progress in Congress, Senator Biden, stopped beating the drum. Why? Look at the data on page 32 of the Index.

In July-August 2006, the number of deployed ISF jumped from 269,600 up to 298,000. The previous months had experienced much smaller growth, but July/August 2006 experienced a 10.6% jump in ISF. The numbers jumped again in September by almost 10,000 to 307,800. October rose 4,000 and November rose almost 11,000. In essence, the critics of the war lost their talking point, and shifted instead toward troop withdrawal as the idea to be pushed.

Also, consider that just a little over a week ago a raid by U.S. forces in northern Baghdad resulted in the death of Azhar al-Dulaimi. Who was he? A Shiite militant behind the capture and killing of four U.S. soldiers in Karbala this past January.

Some more good news was publicized last week by Joe Klein of Time magazine:

There is good news from Iraq, believe it or not. It comes from the most unlikely place: Anbar province, home of the Sunni insurgency. The level of violence has plummeted in recent weeks. An alliance of U.S. troops and local tribes has been very effective in moving against the al-Qaeda foreign fighters.

However, lest anyone make too much of this:

"Just because the Sunni tribesmen have joined with us in Anbar doesn't mean they like the Baghdad government," a senior Administration official told me. "They just hate al-Qaeda more."

Point taken, but the developments in Anbar province may prove beneficial to American troops down the road. In a May 28, 2007 article, Time reporter Charles Crain reports:

As in the rest of Iraq, the hope in Qaim is that the American burden will lessen as Iraqi security forces take the lead. In Baghdad and other centers of sectarian violence, where the security forces are riddled with militiamen and where Shi'ites patrol hostile Sunni neighborhoods, that hope is more like a fantasy. But in al Qaim, foreign jihadists not too long ago antagonized local Sunni tribal leaders; and now the Americans have used that local history to win cooperation from the same maligned tribes, recruiting personnel for the Iraqi army and police. "It's in our best interest to train them and trust them," [Marine Corporal Ryan] Vistek says. "We've got their back whether they know it or not. We just hope that they'll return the favor."

Over at Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds posted an e-mail from Michael Yon. Yon also believes that the situation in Iraq is not as bad as usually advertised and that the progress in Anbar province is not illusory. In addition, there may be more to the so-called "sectarian" violence in Iraq than most Americans are aware:

Iraqis have told me many times that the larger part of this war is not about religion. Fanatical groups such as al Qaeda surely have wreaked havoc, but a huge part of the war is about business, influence and resources. The American Commanding General, David Petraeus, has said repeatedly that money is ammunition in this war. The meetings I attend with local leaders around Iraq are never about religion. Religion is seldom if ever brought up. The meetings are about security, electricity, jobs, water projects. The meetings often are about influence, and politics fit for a novel.

On the matter of electricity, water availability, and other matters pertaining to infrastructure, consider this Department of Defense press release from May 24, 2007. Among the most persistent criticisms of the Iraq occupation is the supposedly meager effort to restore the nation's infrastructure. What is not taken into consideration is the fact that for the last twenty-five years of Saddam Hussein's rule, Iraq's infrastructure was largely neglected:

To those who've characterized Baghdad as being "plunged into darkness" at times, [Brigadier General Michael] Walsh noted, "Iraq never did have 24 hours level of power." In fact, he said, much of Baghdad is now often illuminated at night because of shared generators placed throughout neighborhoods.

In addition:

Prior to the start of the reconstruction program, the World Bank estimated it would cost $100 billion to bring Iraq up to speed, the general noted. The United States has contributed $22 billion toward that goal, he explained. The remainder is to be supplied by the government of Iraq and donor nations.

With the U.S. funds spent so far, Walsh said, the Corps of Engineers have completed 3,200 projects around Iraq. Average daily hours of power have increased from 11 to 13 hours per day; oil production capacity is in line with the U.S. goal of 3 million barrels per day; and 138 primary health care clinics are nearing completion throughout the country, he said.

Walsh also cautions that where infrastructure is concerned, progress is not an overnight success. It has to be measured over a course of years.

Approaching the mission from the perspective of an engineer, he observed, "I've been doing this for 29 years, and it takes a long time to put infrastructure together."

By way of comparison, he noted that large infrastructure-construction projects often take years to complete in the United States.

Expectations must be managed and context must be considered in evaluating the reconstruction mission, Walsh reiterated in his closing comments.

"So we've been at it (in Iraq) for three years, and people say, 'Well, have you made a significant change in the infrastructure?'" he said. "I would say, 'yes.' But again it's been under-funded for 25 years. We're not going to turn it around in three years."

One must also consider the matter of troop morale. To those who love comparing Iraq to Vietnam – especially where the deaths of American troops are concerned, take a look at this comparison:

There have also been reports of the armed services allegedly failing to meet their recruitment goals. Such reports are unfounded, as can be seen in Defense Department press releases from October 2006, November 2006, December 2006, January 2007, February 2007, March 2007, April 2007, and May 2007. Furthermore, those who allege that the U.S. military is scraping people from the bottom of the barrel to fulfill their recruitment goals might want to take a look at this.

The situation in Iraq is far from perfect and there is much room for additional progress to be made, but let's understand that what has already been achieved is nothing to sniff at.

I spent Memorial Day afternoon visiting my grandparents' grave at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, and as always it gives me a chance to reflect upon not only what my grandfather and his fellow World War II veterans went through, but upon what veterans in all wars have sacrificed for their country. I believe that what is being attempted in Iraq is, at its heart, a noble enterprise – just like the war in which my grandfather fought. I wish all our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all across the world the best of luck and pray for their safe return home.