Austin Bay In Iraq

[Annie]

He's had some great posts, nothing like military officer turned reporter, not the MSM type:

http://austinbay.net/blog/index.php?cat=1

6/16/2005
Iraqi Whirlwind
Filed under:

— site admin @ 2:03 pm

Today began at 0600 sharp. We moved from Baghdad to Fallujah by Blackhawk helicopter. A theater commander’s flight group doesn’t merely resemble a swarm– it is a swarm, with the Apaches definite wasps. With two door guns the troop-carrying Blackhawks have a sting as well.

The Marines gave us a briefing on the situation in Al Anbar province in general and Fallujah in particular. Suffice to say Al Anbar is Iraq’s Wild West, with Zarqawi’s terror clan and Sunni rejectionists a particularly violent bunch of outlaws. And that’s the new political key. Mass murder of Iraqis by these bad guys has made political cooperation by fence-sitting Iraqi Sunni Arabs an attractive alternative. Again, I will expand on this when I have time.

We received a briefing on new techniques and technologies for manning check points and inspecting vehicles and personnel for explosive devices. Of course the Marines conducted the briefing “on the job” — at the base gate leading to Fallujah. Lance-Corporal Joe Solis of Plainview, Texas, gave a briefing on a new “background scatter” scanner. I surprised Joe twice. I not only know where Plainview is, I recognized his street address. I have an uncle and aunt who live in Plainview and The Plainview Daily Herald carries my column. Our group also got the chance to chat with USMC Major-General Steve Johnson, the commander of II MEF (Forward). Some of what we heard in the field and in briefings was on the record, much of the information was not. I know a statement like that whets appetites but operational data and analysis has to stay off the record until ops are complete. As usual, I found the Marines to be candid and articulately blunt. One of the regrets I had last year was missing out on two trips to the Marine encampment outside Fallujah– both planning meetings were cancelled, or postponed. This trip as a columnist made up for those missed opportunities in some small measure.

We flew back to Baghdad and caught a C-17 hop up north to Tal Afar. The area is covered by the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and a new Iraqi Army (IA) division. The area has seen a lot of action, including an operation that ran from June 7 through June 10. I got to interview SFC Gary Villalobos of Santa Maria, California (near Santa Barbara). I caught most of the interview on video and when I get to an internet connection where I can download video I’ll try to send this particular footage to a couple of interested websites (heads up Instapundit). On June 7 SFC Villalobos and four Iraqi soldiers defeated a close-in urban ambush. Villalobos is the mortar platoon sergeant in Fox Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3rd ACR, but he was working with a US team advising an new Iraqi Army brigade. An Iraqi Army battalion was conducting the raid with back-up provided by US troops. Villalobos described the intense action –where a US soldier died– in a careful, humble voice, but then so often that is the voice of extraordinary valor. Five insurgent fighters ambushed a US adviser in a narrow, twisting street. The resulting firefight lasted ten minutes. Part of the Iraqi platoon withdrew, but SFC Villalobos and an Iraqi Army fireteam returned fire and tried to reach the wounded US officer. Villalobos finally threw a heavy fragmentation grenade at the insurgent position, killing one and wounding three. Yes, part of this newly-minted Iraqi Army unit retreated, but part of it stood and fought. SFC Villalobos’ troop commander told me that the Iraqis followed the sergeant’s example– leadership by doing. Villalobos said that during the firefight the language barrier –his English, their Arabic– seemed unmanageable. He had to act. The Iraqi troops acted in concert. Villalobos is up for a major decoration– I have been spare on the details due to time but they will be provided. Mike Hedges of the Houston Chronicle is working on a full report which he hopes will be available Friday or Saturday.

Our last stop was Kirkuk and a visit to the 116th Brigade Combat Team (BCT). The 116th is an Idaho National Guard outfit. The Kirkuk area is one of the most ethnically complex areas in Iraq — Kurds, Arabs, Turkomen, and Assyrians collide in Kirkuk, and Sunni terrorists (Ansar al Sunna/Ansar al Islam) are active in the area. And then add huge oil fields. Coalition forces in the Kirkuk area (under the command of the New York Army National Guard’s 42nd Infantry Division) are working with Iraqi security forces to keep the area calm, encourage economic development, and protect the oil fields.

I find that this return visit to Iraq spurs thoughts of America– of American will to pursue victory. I don’t mean the will of US forces in the field. Wander around with a bunch of Marines for a half hour, spend fifteen minutes with Guardsmen from Idaho, and you will have no doubts about American military capabilities or the troops’ will to win. But our weakness is back home, on the couch, in front of the tv, on the cable squawk shows, on the editorial page of the New York Times, in the political gotcha games of Washington, DC. It seems America wants to get on with its wonderful Electra-Glide life, that September 10 sense of freedom and security, without finishing the job. The military is fighting, the Iraqi people are fighting, but where is the US political class? The Bush Administration has yet to ask the American people –correction, has yet to demand of the American people– the sustained, shared sacrifice it takes to win this long, intricate war of bullets, ballots, and bricks. Bullets go bang, and even CBS understands bullets. Ballots make an impression–in terms of this war’s battlespace, the January Iraqi elections were World War Two’s D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge combined. But the bricks– the building of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the other hard corners where this war is and will be fought– that’s a delicate and decades long challenge. Given the vicious, megalomanical enemy we face, five years, perhaps fifteen years from now occasional bullets and bombs will disrupt the political and economic building. This is the Bush Administration’s biggest strategic mistake– a failure to tap the reservoir of American willingness 9/11 produced. One afternoon in December 2001 my mother –after reading a column of mine in her local paper– called me long-distance. She told me she remembered being a teenager in 1942 and tossing a tin can on a wagon that rolled past the train station in her small Texas hometown. (Plainview– one reason I know Lanc-Corporal Solis’ hometown– it’s my parents birthplace.) Mom said she knew that the can she tossed didn’t add much to the war effort, but she felt that in some, small, token perhaps but very real way, that she was contributing to the battle being waged by our soldiers. “The Bush Administration is going to make a terrible mistake if it does not let the American people get involved in this war. Austin, we need a war bond drive. This matters, because this is what it will take.”

She was right then, and she’s right now.

 

[Adam's Apple]

It's good to see Bay's confirmation, following his visit to Iraq, of what some people are already thinking. That next to last paragraph is heavy stuff. The resolve to fight this war to the end is slowly but surely softening on the home front, just as happened during the Vietnam war. Every day we get slanted and biased reports from the left and the MSM, aimed at influencing the clueless. Every chance they get, they remind Americans of the number "needlessly" killed in this war, while too many have conveniently forgotten the 3,000 Americans whose lives were snuffed out without a second thought by the terrorists on 9.11.01. It's all politics now. Anything the leftist coterie can do to make the Bush Administration look bad they will do, without any concern for the best interests and welfare of this country as a whole. Bay is right. The Bush Administration has got to get the people involved in this war to defeat the minority's (liberal/socialist/communist) propaganda campaign.

 

[Annie]

It's good to see Bay's confirmation, following his visit to Iraq, of what some people are already thinking. That next to last paragraph is heavy stuff. The resolve to fight this war to the end is slowly but surely softening on the home front, just as happened during the Vietnam war. Every day we get slanted and biased reports from the left and the MSM, aimed at influencing the clueless. Every chance they get, they remind Americans of the number "needlessly" killed in this war, while too many have conveniently forgotten the 3,000 Americans whose lives were snuffed out without a second thought by the terrorists on 9.11.01. It's all politics now. Anything the leftist coterie can do to make the Bush Administration look bad they will do, without any concern for the best interests and welfare of this country as a whole. Bay is right. The Bush Administration has got to get the people involved in this war to defeat the minority's (liberal/socialist/communist) propaganda campaign.

I agree, have so since 9/11. There has to be a way for people to 'help', thus keeping them engaged. It may be too late now, for sure the MSM hopes so.

 

[Adam's Apple]

It's never too late, Kathianne. The "sleeping giant" can be awakened to active participation if given the facts about the WOT to counter the lies and distortions the left is bombarding us with every day. But it has to be an everyday job; you can't let the liberal BS run unchallenged and play daily on people's fears and insecurities.

 

[CSM]

I hear people saying that there is no way to help very often...but there is. Everytime some one posts the kind of crap mentioned in the article about making the US look bad, it is up to us to set it right. Everytime the MSM tries to slant the perspective, denigrate the United States, or misrepresent what is really happening, it is up to us to correct them. Everytime some idiot says they support the troops, then says in the next breath that it is an illegal war (making the US soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen accomplices in a criminal act) it is up to us to defend those warriors here on the home front just as vigorously as they defend us around the globe.

Make no mistake, the terrorists are attacking us on all fronts. The propaganda war is just as important as the rest of the war effort (remember how Viet Nam ended?) and we are the warriors on that front. Whether the propaganda comes from Al Jeers-at-Ya or the campus at Berkley, it is up to the American people to speak loudly and clearly with precision and accuracy. It is up to the citizens of the United States to cut through the bull and grasp the heart of the matter, it is up to them to expose the rhetoric for what it is...an attack on the soveriegn nation of the United States of America.

The enemies of the United States, both foriegn and domestic, have been throwing a lot of "cans" on the wagon for some time now. We need to get a lot more serious about throwing our own "cans" on the truck. If you think it doesn't matter, take a good hard look at how the result of the Viet Nam war affected this country and it's people; then speculate how a premature withdrawal from the war on terror will affect this country....