The Top Ten Myths about Iraq
There’s a guy who posts comments at Black Five on a regular basis, who goes by the name of “@thepointyend”. He claims to be a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel currently stationed in Iraq, and I’m inclined to believe him based on his knowledge and the fact that he has a AKO email address (the standard for Army personnel).
He recently posted an extremely lengthy comment (broken into several pieces) at Black Five related to what he called the Top Ten Myths about Iraq. Although I have not verified all of the following myself, and he doesn’t cite all his sources, much of it sounds familiar enough that I feel comfortable repeating them here.
UPDATE - I’ve talked to this gentleman via email and he is the real deal. He’s got one Iraq tour under his belt and is about to leave on his second.
Myth #1: War in Iraq is “All about Oil”
- Oil industry vital to regional & world stability — and Iraqi prosperity
- OIF not an effort to keep gas prices low; War in Iraq is all about freedom, democracy, self-determination and regional security in Middle East
- OIF is combating religious extremists trying to terrorize the Iraqi populace and dictate political outcome thru terror and intimidation
- Coalition efforts focused on providing security to a good and noble people/culture that has been subjected to 30 years of brutal repression
- Leaving now would result in a huge human/Iraqi catastrophe:
- Brookings Institute: Pullout would result in 750K civilians casualties (e.g., Rwanda: 800,000 Tutsis slaughtered by Hutus in ’94)
- Impact of failed state — AQI safe haven in the heart of Middle East
- Is “escalating violence” a reason to leave?
- Encourage similar efforts elsewhere in world?
Myth #2: US is Fighting Alone
- 26 nations contributing soldiers (approx 12K)
- Largest contributors: UK, Australia, Poland, Korea, Georgia (Jun 07)
- Non-US KIA (13 nations): 186
- 40+ nations contributing contract labor (approx 80K)
- United Nations Security Council Resolutions in support of OIF: 5
- US Interagency: US State Dept, USAID, DIA, CIA, etc.
- Increasingly capable Iraqi Security Forces:
- Iraq casualties: 8123 KIA, over 18K WIA in last two years alone
- Iraqi’s now have 329K security personnel (31 x IA Bdes, 9 x NP Bdes)
- 9 of 10 Iraqi Divisions are now LEADING combat ops in their areas
- Iraqi’s established Baghdad Operational Command (BOC) and assumed command & control of Baghdad and Operation Fardh Al-Qanoon
- Iraqi training base now producing 24K soldiers/year and 26K police/year
- Ramadi Recruits: Nov 06 = 4, Dec 06 = 40; Mar 07 = 1500 in 3 days
Myth #3: Iraq engulfed in full-scale Civil War
- War primarily a fight between religious extremists (Foreign fighters + suicide bombers + Al Qaeda) and coalition forces
- Baghdad + Al Anbar Province = still unacceptably high violence; other provinces relatively safe and secure
- Majority of Muslims do not want to rule the world; most are peace-loving, hard-working people that to wish to live and work in safety and peace
- Car bombs, road-side bombs and sniper attacks cause most casualties
- Religious extremists not unique to Iraq - Jim Jones, David Koresh, Eric Rudolph, Abortion Clinic bombers, etc.
- Security improving with over 35 neighborhood police stations in Baghdad – markets, banks, restaurants, soccer games, amusement park
Myth #4: Iraqi’s Better Off Under Saddam
- Since ’03 and the fall of Saddam:
- Democratically elected representative government
- Free Speech and Free Press (TV, Radio, Internet, Papers)
- Rule of Law Complex bringing justice to Sunni, Shia and Kurd extremists
- Free-Market Economy vs. State Owned Industries
- Health Services: 25% increase in immunizations; measles reduced 90%
- Sewer, Water, Trash: 20 projects ($10M)
- Providing water for 5.4M Iraqis
- Electricity:
- Before Mar 03, most of Iraq had 4-8 hrs (outside Baghdad); Baghdad had 16-24
- Now equally distributed, most country has 8-10 hrs
- 75% of Iraqis now get TWICE the power they did before war
- Demand for electricity since Mar 03 increased 70%
- Energy Fusion Center being stood up (Joint Coalition/Iraqi)
A portion of the 3704 completed projects include:
- 35 post office projects
- 4 training academy projects
- 93 fire stations projects
- 155 border fort projects (278 Nationwide)
- 13 border points of entry projects
- 36 courthouse projects
- 32 hospital renovation projects
- 51 Primary Healthcare Center projects
- 981 schools (325K students) projects
- 97 railway station renovation projects
- 20 aviation projects
- 6 port projects
- 190 village road projects
- 342 police station projects
- 136 public building projects
Myth #5: Iraqi Government Ineffective
- New government – only one year old; Dec 05 Iraqi voters approved new permanent constitution; working Constitutional Review and next round of provincial elections
- Iraq convened a regional conf of 13 nations (12 Mar 07) – neighbors, US, UN, Islamic Conf, Arab League; agreements on security, imports, refugees
- Key legislative accomplishments:
- Prime Minister’s Emergency Powers Renewal, Provincial Powers Law
- Council of Ministers Passed Hydrocarbon Law (equitable distribution of oil revenues) Feb 07; awaiting approval by Council of Reps
- Constitutional Referendum, Detainee Legislation
- Passed 2007 Budget ($41B) — Budget Execution improvement
- Established Nat’l Ops Center, Energy Fusion Ctr, Rule of Law Complex
- 4 of 18 provinces under Provincial Governor control for security
Myth #6: Economic Development Nonexistent
- IMF projects 9% growth in economy for 2007; inflation cut in half to 34%
- Saudi Arabia forgives 80% of $15B of Iraqi debt
- USAID helping to develop and reopen many closed banks; many banks now turning profits; Japanese providing loan guarantees
- Reducing corruption by stabilizing oil prices
- Oil exports revenues = $33.4B; oil provides great opportunity to jumpstart economy
- Most private and public mgmt processes: manual systems from ’40’s
- DoD’s Brinkley Group working agriculture, contracting, financial and industrial revitalization w/ key CEO’s (IBM, ITT, Caterpillar, UA, etc.)
- “Art of the Possible” = Irbil; high employment & flourishing economy
- Developing transportation infrastructure to support economic growth
Myth #7: Contractors Cost Gov’t Too Much
- 129K contractors: 21K US + 43K Third Country Nationals + 65K Iraqi (47K KBR)
- Contractor casualties (KBR): 101 KIA, 586 WIA
- General Trend: Services up, Costs down (experience, efficiencies, economies of scale)
- KBR augments at least 50% of sustainment mission–invaluable service for down-sized military; provide continuity (many here 3-4 yrs); organic support would require 3X troops
- KBR has received $19B since beginning of war (approx 5% total OIF costs)
- KBR works on 1% fixed fee guarantee, 2% award fee possible (earned 88% of available award); max return on investment = 3%
- 121 KBR employees have received the prestigious Defense of Freedom OF medal
Myth #8: Troops Aren’t Properly Equipped
- Coalition Forces are superbly outfitted
- Body Armor for all deployed troops (stops small arms and shrapnel) & chemical protection
- Over 25K Armored Vehicles in Theater; no troops off base w/out one
- Hummer – now on 6th major iteration of improved protection
- Route Clearance Equipment Cougar, Buffalo, MRAP, Frag Kit #6
- Steady stream of technology insertions and new developments
- Tactical advantage thru Own-The-Night technology
- High Quality-of-Life in operating bases
- Iraq Security Forces (Army + Police) are well equipped as well
- ISF forces equipment improving constantly — $7.3B in 2007
- Vehicles & key weapons: 3500 x UAH’s, 500 x Cougar & BTR-80 light wheeled armor vehs, 900+ mortars
- Aircraft: 80+ helicopters, 3 x C-130 multi-purpose aircraft
Currently in Iraq:
- 1200 cargo trucks delivering supplies daily (800 from Kuwait, 200 from Jordan, 200 from Turkey)
- 400,000 meals served at DFAC a day. Feed Alexandria, VA
- 1.3M gallons of fuel consumed daily – enough fuel to fill the tanks of 87K typical mid-sized cars (over 50,000 vehicles in theater)
- Produce 2 million bottles of drinking water daily.
- Produce 9M gallons of bulk water every day – enough to fill 450 residential swimming pools (approx 40 gals/person/day)
- 465 tons of ice per day – that’s 1.4 pounds of ice per soldier
- 2.8 million pieces of laundry daily – enough clothing to outfit every person in the city of San Francisco
- 400,000 lbs of mail each day in December. Dec = 50 lbs/person
Myth #9: Morale is Low
- The NEW Greatest Generation (18-30 years old): Tough, committed, adaptive and professional fighting force – representing you well
- Disciplined and compassionate; don’t pull trigger indiscriminately, go overboard to protect citizens and respect Islamic culture
- Sign of soldier morale = high retention rates
- Re-up rate continues to far exceed objectives
- Retention “simply astonishing” (GEN (Ret) McCaffrey)
- Troops have seen the polls and realize most Americans evidently don’t support the war – but appreciate the strong support Americans continue to show to those fighting it
- Amazing outpouring of mail, packages and messages from CONUS
- Reaction to troops in uniform transiting airports returning from Iraq
- Anti-war messages usually not projected against troops
Myth #10 — The Biggest Myth: We Have Lost
- New Operational Scheme getting more troops into Baghdad (US + Iraq = 87.5K): Operation “Fardh Al-Qanoon” (FAQ)
- First time, enough troops to Clear – Control – Retain – Build
- Ensuring security by increasing permanent presence in key Baghdad neighborhoods
- Establishing over 75 Neighborhood Police Stations (Iraqi Army + Iraqi Police + Coalition)
- Securing markets – life returning to city (parks, shops, restaurants, etc)
- National Tips Hotline – all-time high
- Iraqi gov’t supporting significant military actions in Sadr City for first time
- Decline in ethno-sectarian incidents (26%) since FAQ initiation
- Iraqis have committed sizeable numbers to the fight (Police + Army) = 329K
- Tribal resistance to Al Qaeda in Iraq, especially in West; Sunni tribes supplying young men to IA for the first time; AQI, “A War Against All Iraqis”
- Extremist Shiite militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr in hiding and we are working with Shiite Mayor of Sadr City, his old stronghold
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great post!
Sooo much data! One would think that American media should pick up on all of that spending as a “waste”… especially as we have already “lost”! HAHA!
Wow i really needed this for my Vietnam final. Bummer. I’ll just send him the link.