America Can Stand Down in Iraq and Win
Marshall Adame
February 01, 2007
The provincial governments in Iraq, however married to tribal and religious traditions, are the real governments in Iraq. The central government in Baghdad is paralyzed by sectarian bickering, graft, corruption, absence of its elected members (many have left the country), infighting and strife. The welfare of the country, as a whole, is far removed from any real debates occurring at the central government level. My suggestion, that we could remove our troops, was met by what seems the standard reply to remarks like the ones I had just made. “Man, do you have any idea how much blood will be spilled if we pulled out our combat troops?” A legitimate question from anyone who does not understand the Arab mindset. My answer being “Not as much blood as is being spilled today”.
Although I do not consider myself an expert on Islamic thought, Arab culture, tribal traditions, or social norms in the Middle East, I have lived in the Middle East for over eight years and believe my perspective is as credible as most.
When the USA rescued the Kuwait people from the Iraqi occupation of their country, the Kuwait Government was reinstalled and America stepped back, and soon was all but gone from the visible scene. We did not attempt to “big brother” the Kuwait government back onto their feet. We did not try to bring “Democracy” into Kuwait. We did not sit in moral judgment on the thousands of wealthy Kuwaiti men who went to Egypt to sit out the war while their wives and children were being raped, killed and plundered by Saddam’s army. Saddam, was gone from Kuwait, the USA remained in a support role and the Kuwaitis went on to the business of rebuilding a devastated country, making their own decisions, planning their own future. The USA had made a real friend in the Middle East.
Two years after Saddam almost destroyed Kuwait’s capital city and stole all the wealth his people could carry back into Iraq, Kuwait was back on the world scene as a oil producing country with almost all of it’s infrastructure back on line serving it’s people. With America in a support role, Kuwait’s military had been restored and it’s ability to defend itself in tact. The point being, we did not seize on what may have been a good opportunity to impose democracy upon the Arab, Muslim monarchy.
Stability, civility and Rule of Law was restored in Kuwait by it’s own people. Had America tried to impose Democracy upon this Arab, Muslim country where “democracy” as Americans understand it, is foreign to them, almost certainly an anti-US insurgency would have been born in Kuwait. The then President George Bush Sr. understood this dynamic and acted accordingly. Today, peace reigns in Kuwait, an Arab, Muslim government lead peace. No, I am not suggesting that the invasion of Iraq was on par with our removing Saddam from Kuwait. Two very different dynamics in play. The operations cannot be equated. The point I am making is that we are dealing with the same people, same mindset, same customs, tribal loyalties, religion, pride and the very same resistant nature to occupation. Willing to accept help, but not willing to accept domination.
Freeing the Iraqis from Saddam was a magnificent moment in history, not withstanding the debate as to whither or not we had a legitimate reason to invade. I was there soon after we entered Iraq. In 2003 I was in Basrah, Iraq as the Coalition Airport Director for Basrah International Airport. I had daily interaction with the entire four hundred Iraqi employees of the airport. At that time there was a sense of liberation in the minds of the Iraqis. They felt the exhilaration of breathing air that did not belong to Saddam. The yoke of persecution was finally lifted from their lives and they looked to a future of peace and prosperity in the land of their fathers. Iraqis from all over the world were making plans to return home to be part of the new beginning for their country.
The Sunni Arab countries were bewildered and the country of Iran was rejoicing, having lost the enemy who had taunted them for decades. Having freed Iraq, America should have installed an Iraqi government and provided all the expertise and support required to allow them to resolve the looming problems of reestablishing a viable government. Our troops should have been pulled back to secure areas where we could have operated from without imposing ourselves upon the Iraqi population. Compelled to act, I believe the Iraqi people would have, themselves, reached out to their Arab neighbors and the rest of the world, who would have responded with assistance, generosity and good will. Evidently President Bush was sure the Iraqis were not capable of acting in their own best interest and began to ensure they could not. Paul Bremers regrettable act of disbanding the military and firing the police ensured the very dismal and horror-filled existence now being experienced by the Iraqi people every day in Iraq. For his failed leadership when we needed it the most, he received the Medal of Freedom from President Bush.
Staying in Iraq is only delaying what is inevitable, our departure. The people of Iraq will not endure any long term occupation by the United States or anyone else for that matter. At no time in their history have the Iraqi people, as a whole population, suffered in their daily lives as they suffer today, under the authority of the United States. The alliance between Iraq their Shia neighbor Iran is inevitable and a natural consequence of both populations being predominantly Shia. America, may delay, but will not prevent the close association and friendship which will develop between Iraq and Iran. Whatever its consequences, we will not prevent it. Will President Bush also impose himself on any friendship between Iraq and Iran? Iraq belongs to the Iraqi people, regardless what that may mean to America in the future.
America is a wonderful and great country. We always endure and overcome and we always will. America is great because we do not seek to conquer or loot the wealth of other countries. We understand that our strength is derives from our respect for individual freedoms and that military might does not, in itself, make a country or a people great. Contrary to popular belief, America has not taken any of Iraq’s oil since the occupation.
We need to be greater still today and win the war of character and judgment.
A good start would be:
1. Increase the size and mission of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office
(IRMO) in Baghdad.
2. Triple the scope and breathe of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) in Iraq.
3. Establish the logistical assistance capability and training elements to assist the Iraq
Provincial Governments.
4. Begin the immediate and orderly withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and
increase the readiness capability of our military components in Kuwait, Jordan, if
permitted, Saudi Arabia.
In our own civil war the greatness of our character and vision was demonstrated at Appomattox, Virginia where General Robert E. Lee and General Ulysses S. Grant formally ended the war between the States. There, General Lee offered the total surrender of the Confederate Army. Before those two gentlemen had left that place, on that day, General Grant had already begun the assimilation of the two formally warring sides by allowing all of the confederate soldiers to keep their small arms and horses. In the end, Americans were once again Americans united. Although still worlds apart in their customs and beliefs, they finally realized the greater good of ending the violence. Hundreds of thousands American men and women died, but the country survived, endured, grew and prospered without occupation or tyranny. The terror that was the US Civil war has never left the mindset of the American people and has contributed to our commitment to never allow it to happen to us again.
Over the past four years Iraq and its people have endured a great deal of suffering and turmoil. They deserve all the assistance and goodwill the world can provide, but it must be the Iraqis who find their way to peace and prosperity. The American and British governments have done their part. Ease out guys. It is time to end the fighting.
Winning must be defined by how Iraq survives in the long term. How her people integrate back into the world community and how she interacts with her neighbors. Winning is defined by how the future Iraq, without occupation, views the individual, the world and her responsibility to its survival.
The notion that “terrorist” will take over Iraq and establish a “terrorist” state is ridicules. The Iraqi people will never permit that to occur. Al Quida is not welcome in Iraq. Once permitted to act, the Iraqis will hunt down the terrorist elements in their mist and deal with them. The fear that grips Iraq today cannot endure, and the Iraqi people will not long tolerate its power over them. Iraqis must be put into the situation where they feel their own survival is at stake if they do not act. Let them act. We will be there for support, but Iraqis must act on their own behalf. Iraqis must secure their own peace, their own existence. They must settle their own internal differences without external interference.
Iraq’s future is up to the Iraqis. We win by realizing that fact.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marshall is a retired US Marine Vietnam veteran who became an aviation management/logistics consultant in 1992.
He worked in the Kuwait recovery of 1992-93 and was the senior aviation logistics manager for Kaman Aerospace in their Egypt US Government Aviation assistance programs from 1998 through 2002.
Marshall arrived in Iraq in 2003 where he was the Coalition Provincial Authority Airport Director for Basrah International Airport, In 2004 he became VP for Aviation development with an International commercial company.
In 2005, while in Baghdad, Marshall received a Diplomatic appointment by the Department of State (DoS) and was assigned as a US Advisor for logistics to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior. He later was joined the DoS Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) where he served on staff of the National Coordination Team (NCT) in the Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. (Logistics, City planning, Governance Capacity Building, Government Liaison).
Marshall is currently serving as the Sr. Analyst for an Army Defense contractor in the Northeastern United states.
Marshall, 54, and his wife Becky (Formerly Becky Ortiz), a 3rd grade teacher, have been married for 37 years and have four children, Paul, Veronica, William and Benjamin, and eleven grandchildren.
Two of their sons, William and Benjamin, have served in Iraq in the US Army. William was wounded in action on July 2nd 2006.
Home: Jacksonville NC. Marshall and Becky reside in Jacksonville North Carolina. marshall_adame@yahoo.com
Marshall Adame is a very likely 2008 candidate for the North Carolina 3rd US Congressional District seat.
Marshall is a strong supporter of John Edwards for President of The United States in 2008.
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