Camp Victory, Iraq
Sunday 18 July 2004
A thought from Iraq - Initial Impressions
Like anyone headed to this part of the world, I wondered what it would be like. What does the Al Faw palace really look like & what is my job going to entail? But what I really wondered was, "What is the real outlook on the situation there & how do the Iraqi people really feel?" Well, I have some initial answers to those questions and I thought you might be interested in them.....
On 28 June sovereignty was returned to the Iraqi Interim Government (IIG). There were many who derided the transfer of sovereignty (TOS) as mere political show (I clearly remember an independent reporter on a public radio station deriding the TOS as a simple "transfer of paper in a protected bunker" and that "the pain and shame of occupation continues"). While there were no immediate and dramatic changes, the TOS was indeed real, and its effects are being seen every day.
Now, three weeks into the new Iraq, we are seeing signs that the Iraqis are slowly becoming convinced that we eventually will leave and that they will have to run everything by themselves. In many areas they clearly are not yet prepared to do so without help, and will continue to need help for some time. However, I was very gratified to hear a senior officer the other day, in talking of the Iraqis taking increasing responsibility for running their own affairs, say, "eventually the Iraqis are going to be making all these [security] decisions on their own. And guess what, people? Some of those decisions we aren't going to agree with. And we'll just have to live with it because it's their country." I can honestly report that the senior leadership here wants the Iraqis to be making security and other decisions on their own as soon as they are ready. And most of what we are doing (collectively) is aimed at helping the IIG get to a point where they are capable and ready to assume total responsibility for their security and economy.
The Iraqi people, and not just the government, are starting to respond as well. This will be a slow process because the concept of liberty, true liberty, is completely new. Their paradigm before the war didn't include having a real voice in their country's destiny. They lived for decades in a police state where the rule was, "fear or be feared." It would be like living in an urban area of the US where gangs rule the streets. You know who to fear, and you know what your limits are. You don't go outside the parameters set by those with physical power who wield it with impunity without facing their wrath. Iraq was like one big neighborhood run by a street gang. Saddam was the leader of the gang and demanded loyalty and servitude. Now those chains of bondage have been broken and the average Iraqi has been thrust into a reality that has challenged their ability to respond.
Just the idea that they, individually, have a say in the destiny of their country, is a huge step for people here. Though generally well-educated by the standards of the region, I believe that Iraq was unprepared for liberty. They had lived so long in tyranny that it seemed their situation would never change. Now the Iraqi people are taking their first tentative steps toward really controlling their government, and it is a slow process.
The more the AIF (Anti-Iraqi Forces (the bad guys)) put up resistance, the more evident it becomes that they believe they are losing. I really think that the bad guys have already had their best days. Unless we do something really wrong to turn the people against their new government, I think the average Iraqi will continue to grow increasingly disturbed by the killing of civilians by those claiming to be fighting for the Iraqi people. Hopefully this new awareness of their part in Iraq's future will continue and grow stronger.
The trend appears to be toward the good, and though we will have some bad days in our future where the AIF seem to cause the lion's share of casualties, I think the future is getting brighter. I don't see dawn on the horizon yet, but at least the night isn't as dark as it once was. In 1940, after the German bombing of Britain finally came to an end as a result of the amazing performance of the Royal Air Force, Winston Churchill said, "This is not the end. It is not the beginning of the end. But it is, I think, the end of the beginning." I think that sums up where Iraq is right now.
© copyright 2004 WJ Truax
The views are my own and do not necessarily represent the position of the US military or the US Marine Corps. or this website.
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