Myths About Afghanistan
Victor Davis Hanson on whether Afghanistan is really the "graveyard of empires ..."
On November 2, 2006, I published “Missing Weapons and Iraq’s Open Border Policy.” In this post I argued that Iraq’s borders were essentially open, with inadequate border personnel or U.S. troop force levels to effect good border security. I showed that the borders were replete with traffic to the point that the border guards could only log information on passports rather than inspect them for forgery. We showed that the weapons necessary to wage jihad were already in Iraq, and that the requirements to war against the U.S. forces were twofold: cash and a fake passport.
On November 4, 2006, the Multi-National Force web site published an article entitled “Teams Build Relationships at Border.” The story is about a joint Iraqi-U.S. border transition team, and it conveys the teamwork, mentoring, challenges and friendships associated with such a team. It is quite a nice story, with the exception of the following assertion: “Observing this exchange, it becomes evident the border is not the only thing being secured in this remote area.”
The evidence I have marshalled in defense of my hypothesis includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Michael Rubin’s work showing a heavy influx of Iranian intelligence assets, money, communications equipment and military materiel into Iraq just before the war began.
- The Washington Post reported that “Iranian personnel have established safe houses throughout southern Iraq. They monitor the movement of coalition forces, tend weapons caches, facilitate cross-border travel of clerics, smuggle munitions into Iraq and recruit individuals as intelligence sources.”
- Iraqi General Nazim Mohammed, chief of Iraq’s border police in Muntheria, stated in June of 2005 that Iranian personnel were responsible for leading operations against Iraq. “We captured three men and there is proof they blew up oil pipelines near Nuft Khaneh under the orders of Iranian intelligence officers,â€? he said. “They had people working with them in Baquba too.â€?
- Michael Fumento, recently blogging from being embedded in Iraq, discussed one means of ingress to Iraq being used by jihadists. “The impact of the FOB system was shown to me on a map. The foreigners who come into this area do so along a mini-Ho Chi Minh trail from the west, namely Jordan and Syria. And the foreigners tend to be better trained. Certainly any good sniper will come from that route, because Iraqis are terrible shots and hence crummy snipers.”
- The recently, the Washington Post had an enlightening article on the porous Iraq-Syria border. In part it says, “U.S. troops in the area are concerned that controls are too loose. For instance, the passport office is sparse and includes a single officer sitting at a desk behind a barred window where travelers line up to show their passports. The officer simply enters the information from each passport into a small ledger. “The only thing he’s really doing is nothing more than creating a historical log,â€? said 1st Sgt. Richard DeLeon, 40, of Shafter, Calif., also a member of Apache Troop. “We can’t scan your passport to find out if it’s fake, we can’t scan your photo. You can come in if you have a legitimate passport or a good fake. The weapons are already in Iraq. All you really need to do is bring money.â€?
The detrimental effects of anti-military sentiments in the main stream media are well-known, especially among military and their families. There are quasi-answers to this problem, including but not limited to embedded reporters, especially military bloggers who tell not only the bad, but the good. But the answer to anti-military propaganda is not to issue forth pro-military propaganda of questionable value and accuracy.
The consequences of this includes a public who learns to ignore the press releases and other stories. Generally speaking, the public is fairly smart when it comes to assessing the veracity of press reports, and the solution is to be circumspect with words. To say that “a joint Iraqi-U.S. transition team’s assignment is to secure the border,” or “a joint Iraqi-U.S. transition is beginning to make progress towards an eventual secured border,” or some other similar statement, would be correct.
The assertion that the “border is being secured” is manifestly contrary to the evidence.
On November 6, 2006 at 6:32 pm, Chris said:
You have a very “editorial tone” — and I mean that as a compliment. It’s reasoned and balanced. That is rare in the media these days and it’s extremely scarce in the blogosphere.
Effective press relations will be crucial to the military in the 21st Century. I try and read CENTCOM releases to get more information, but they are usually late in the news cycle (takes a few days for their story to float to the website sometimes) and problematic in assertions, like this example.
On January 28, 2007 at 3:43 pm, SFC McCarthy said:
I am on a BTT team at this time. The mission statement is to “teach, coach, mentor and advise our Iraqi counterparts”. It is a challenging job but one that is starting to bear fruit. We have established a direct Iraqi chain of command, started equipping the borders and are targeting smuggling of explosive making devices and personnel. This is not to say that it has been or will be easy. Virtually all communication with our counterparts is through a translator. Tribal relationships trump mission in the same way that family comes before work to some people. Tribal leaders compete with military leaders for loyalty.
We have made a concerted effort not to disrupt as much framework that is in place already as possible while still being able to accomplish our/their mission of securing the borders. Lawrence of Arabia wrote a book based on his time spent living with the Arabs much the same way my team is doing today. He advised: “…their half right, done by them is better than our whole right with us in control.” Our goal is to leave this country and hand the keys back to the Iraqi’s so we do not want to be doing the mission ourselves but rather nudging them in the right direction.
I would like to add one more thing if I may. The media, who has been anti-military for years, has forced the public into believing that this country is lost. This is far from the case. It was a five year plan of which we are in the fourth year. I have traveled over 8,000 miles in Iraq and have seen the spectrum. The plan was to establish the military and police first. Then the reserves and the borders behind that. Last will be the customs police. The Iraqi army has self sustaining BDE’s now and the police are improving in large part to the PTT (Police Transition Team’s) made up of MP’s.
This is not to say that we are almost done. I have been blown up and shot at and am here to tell you I am not a big fan of either. However, there is progress and the soldiers here are working their tails off for a president that has always said what he thought and truly believed/believes that securing Iraq is an attainable goal.
Remember, in the United States infancy, we killed Indians because of differences and fought a sustained war with Britain for independence. Remember too that all the signatures on the constitution, all the examples we lay out for our children when we talk of our forefathers, were harassed, beaten and many died penniless because of their association with the birth of a Democratic Nation. Democracy always starts painfully but the state of mind grows in us and we come to believe it with each new success we have. My fellow Americans, don’t take this gift away from the Iraqi people while it is still in its infancy. It is an exciting thing to watch and an honor to be a part of. God Bless America.
-SFC Paul McCarthy