This is a good inside look at the efforts that were made to bring about the surge of troops and the counterinsurgency effort that helped establish the relative peace that now reigns in Iraq–and has reigned for a while now.
We have yet to hear, of course, from President Obama and Vice President Biden, who both decried and denounced the surge during their respective Presidential campaigns and during the general election. How much more successful do the surge and the counterinsurgency strategy have to be before the President and Vice President finally admit error? And with the admission of error, shouldn’t the White House admit as well that any precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would only serve to put at risk all of the gains that have been made in securing and stabilizing the country?
It’s high time for some mea culpas. We had them concerning the Tom Daschle taxcapades. We ought to have them for a far more important issue the President and the Vice President got wrong.
Steve Maley
Moe Lane
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
Great to see Odierno get his due
Ed54 (Diary) Monday, February 9th at 2:59PM EST (link)I was over there when he was in command, and I always thought he got less public recognition than he deserved. I briefed him on a few decisions and he showed big shiny brass ones in the calls he made. The other star of the trio of heroes should be AMB Ryan Crocker. He bucked the State Dept with some risky decisions that enabled Petraeus to implement his strategy of arming the tribes.
Also, belated credit to Ricks. He really slammed Odierno in “Fiasco” … an appropriately titled book. This article is a very obvious effort on his part to correct the record.
The diaries and comments aren’t on here anymore, but I was really taken to task by Streiff and others back in 05-06 for asserting that we were losing and that the guys in charge (Sanchez and Casey) were clowns who could not win. We wasted a lot of lives doing dumb stuff in pointless operations. History has shown I was right; however, I’m happy to say that I did not forsee the emergence of leaders like Odierno who could force the institutions of the US Military to do the right thing in spite of their strenuous efforts not to.
Finally, one last unsung hero in the turnaround is LTG Jim Dubik. He took command of MNSTCI from Petraeus and really got the Iraqi Army on their feet. That really is what turned the tide of battle.
“If all men were just, there would be no need of valor.”
- Agesilaus