The War as We Saw It - New York Times Op/Ed

The War as We Saw It - New York Times Op/Ed

By BUDDHIKA JAYAMAHA, WESLEY D. SMITH, JEREMY ROEBUCK, OMAR MORA, EDWARD SANDMEIER, YANCE T. GRAY and JEREMY A. MURPHY
Published: August 19, 2007

VIEWED from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command.)

Read the full item.

Blackfive's GRIM takes on the task of addressing the main thrust of the soldiers' views, and does it like a brother is supposed to: Reasonable gentlemen can disagree.

My view is that rightly see that political reform cannot come before peace, but seem to miss how new Army Doctrine (Field Manual 3-24, Counterinsurgency) is being applied in Iraq. While I hold these gentlemen in the highest regard for their service, I get a very strong sense that they either have not fully digested General Petraeus' approach to this conflict, or that they disagree with it.

It is worth noting that not everyone in the Army thinks it should be engaged in conducting a major COIN. At least not with combat brigades lacking the extensive training necessary to conduct the operation as described in Army doctrine.

I would contrast the viewpoints of these soldiers with that of LTC Fred Johnson, who Michael Yon has interviewed during his embed in Iraq. Johnson seems to embody the type of soldier Petraeus had in mind as FM 3-24 took shape. The gentlemen writing in the New York Times don't seem to be.